I’m not a big nonfiction reader, but the Royal Art of Poison I enjoyed! it had a light tone and was sufficiently informative without being too d⭐️ 3.5
I’m not a big nonfiction reader, but the Royal Art of Poison I enjoyed! it had a light tone and was sufficiently informative without being too dense (for the most part). the first part of the book describes the horrid living conditions of (I think mostly) medieval Europe. it was really fascinating. at this point I’m just amazed that humanity survived throughout all that. the second part deals with important historical figures whose deaths may have had to do something with poison. I skimmed some of those, largely the names I wasn’t familiar with. and the third part of the Royal Art of Poison discusses modern poisonings (I was not surprised at all by the country which dominated this section x.x ).
the book takes a very European-focused approach to the issue at hand, which is fine, it’s just important to set your expectations right. I think this would be fascinating for all my medieval fantasy and historical fiction girlies, to see their book husbands in a more realistic light (aka they stank and probably had eaten animal dung at some point in their lives)....more
I’m not one to rate history books but I enjoyed this one. It had some dense chapters, especially those which discussed ancient and medieval Japa⭐️ 3.5
I’m not one to rate history books but I enjoyed this one. It had some dense chapters, especially those which discussed ancient and medieval Japan, basically just listing all these different emperors and shoguns and diving into their inner court affairs, which got quite dull. but I still think I took something away from those chapters nonetheless. I especially enjoyed listening about post 17th century Japan, and I think the last few chapters were very interesting.
this one’s free on Audible if you have Premium!...more
the prose of Born To Be Hanged was lovely - funny, witty. I think I would’ve enjoyed the book much more if I had read it myself instead of liste⭐️ 3.5
the prose of Born To Be Hanged was lovely - funny, witty. I think I would’ve enjoyed the book much more if I had read it myself instead of listening to the audiobook. Half of the time I was confused out of my mind, not being able to keep track of all these ship, island, and people names. I’m definitely willing to give it another chance, this time a text version. Sometime later though...more
a fantastic book. I appreciated the memoir part so very much, however, the logotherapy in a nutshell bit didn't particularly interest me - I was a⭐️ 4
a fantastic book. I appreciated the memoir part so very much, however, the logotherapy in a nutshell bit didn't particularly interest me - I was already familiar with it from uni. still, you can clearly see how influential it has been in the way we understand psychotherapy today.
I won't go into much detail about Frankl's own experiences - it's a bit hard to process it all. I'll just say, I loved learning about his life and his attitude in the face of it all....more
it started off SO strong. I loved all the stats and facts about humanity’s progress and there were things that genuinely surprised me. I’m not goi⭐️ 3
it started off SO strong. I loved all the stats and facts about humanity’s progress and there were things that genuinely surprised me. I’m not going to lie - some of the views, especially on racism and sexism and the like, do come from a place of white male privillege, but there’s not much of it in the book where progress throughout the ages is discussed. if you liked Sapiens: A Bried History of Humankind, you will definitely enjoy what Pinker discusses in the 2nd part of the book (the biggest chunk).
HOWEVER. a big however. I did not appreciate at all the last third of the book revolving mainly about American identity politics. it was not what I was looking for. it may interest some, but it was a big deterrent to me. I’m not going to go into it because it exhausted me to no end. I kept spacing out throughout and although I finished the book in its entirety, I was thoroughly bored during the last third of it. Because of it I cannot give the book more than 3 stars, which is a personal rating. I agree that the information presented there can be of value, but that wasn’t the case for me personally.
And I was genuinely torn between a 4 and a 5 star rating at the beginning. Sigh....more
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