Zophie Leslea

An ABSOLUTE DELIGHT!!! I longed for more…

Revisado: 11-08-23

Gentle audible listeners! Do NOT be swayed by the naysayers! This essay is such a sweet love letter to Atwood’s mother that it is a gift to have a seat at the table of their relationship for a few moments. Atwood describes the lifelong ebb and flow of her relationship with her eccentric mother and absentee father. As she ages, matures, and becomes a mother herself, she discovers the beauty and hidden logic behind her mother’s seemingly obtuse behaviors and takes a page from her guidebook to steer her own teen (who, incidentally, would have lasted about ten seconds in my childhood home with that mouth, and that is something to say!).

Huber (the narrator) brilliantly captures the spirit of Atwood’s panoply of characters, bringing the bright story even more to life.

Truly a wonderful hour to spend with Atwood-completely unexpected and a thoroughly enjoyable experience. My instinct is to say I wish it was longer because I want to spend more time with the characters; but truly it was just the perfect amount of time for the story. It is much more difficult to write a succinct and punchy essay like this one than a rambling and verbose one.

Bravo! Margaret Atwood and Bravo! Hillary Huber as well!

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HEARTBREAKING & ALL TOO COMMON MEDICAL STORY…

Revisado: 08-29-23

A well researched and told story of a heartbreaking and all-too-common phenomenon in medicine. That this abhorrent crime was perpetrated on mental patients with genuine psychological conditions is terrible enough and to now know it was routinely and knowingly performed upon seemingly unruly children and women that refused to behave at home is heartbreaking in the extreme although unfortunately unsurprising. This maniacal, Ivy League educated physician cut a swathe of pain, death and horror through the world to feed his insatiable ego; dragging unsuspecting and trusting patients and their families (& frankly, their physicians and caretakers-at least initially) with him. Sadly this is a story we see all too often in the Western medical establishment.

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FANTASTIC! & What’s up with all these naysayers (negative reviewers)?!

Revisado: 08-19-21

This book is just great. Well written, performed well, enjoyable to listen to, and well researched. For the most part, Kean seems to try and stay as neutral as possible on most subjects, a difficult skill, yet an essential one when writing historical medical history. Only with regard to one story so far (I’m at Chapter 8) does he seem to fall short of the mark when, for some reason, he specifically provides extensive personal details of the main nurse involved in the Tuskegee “study”. I’m sure these details are publicly available, somewhere; but was it really necessary to call out this one nurse by giving out her married name and other specifics in an internationally available book? To spotlight her (she has passed but now her family will now be known forever, when at least before they had some kind of anonymity from time and separation from her married name not being common knowledge. She did not create that study, although she was an intimate part of it. But why visit upon her living family the debt that she alone incurred from her dubious participation in the horrendous affair that was Tuskegee?) and not any of the other (aside from the creator and a few key players in DC) white or African American Drs/nurses/collaborators that were involved in the continuation of Tuskegee seems unfair and unjustified in the extreme. Why such a vilifying, withering focus on Nurse Rivers? Was it because she was Black? No, because he did not focus at all on the African American DRS that voted to continue the study, knowing full well what was happening and having much more power to halt it than a Black nurse would have then. This was a definite moral fail, and doesn’t make sense when compared to his other exemplary work. So four stars, Sam Kean. Boo.

Gripe no. 2: I do NOT understand all these negative reviews that complain about Kean plugging his website and podcast. I am in chapter 8, and I can count on one hand how many times he has mentioned them. So…these people are butt-hurt that the author is giving his readers FREE, well-researched, FURTHER content going into greater detail on the subjects that they are interested in (or presumably they would not have purchased this book)? Oh, you’re right-how DARE he! I am OFFENDED! How ridiculous is that? He doesn’t, but if Sam Kean wanted to toot his horn about his podcast and website? Well, OK then, go ahead, Sam Kean; because he is a great writer who does good work, and he deserves credit for that work, so there. But he doesn’t. Not once, at least so far-he just references it, as in, “if you want more of this story, go to my blah-d-blah for it”. Thanks, Sam Kean. I think I will.

Job (mostly) well done.

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esto le resultó útil a 73 personas

THIS BK IS SCIENCE MAGIC!!!

Revisado: 08-12-21

I absolutely adored this book! I listened and re-listened to so many parts of it. There’s so much to learn, and it’s written so well it’s just a fantastic ride. I enjoyed the author I enjoyed the reader just a fantastic experience overall! Thank you so much Erika!

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