The writing style is chatty and informal and especially for medical/science type books, completely accessible. The book is broken into very short articles which are grouped with related subjects.
The subjects are well researched and the science is accurate. I really appreciated that. The subjects range from medieval medical practices (generally ineffective if not downright scary (and harmful)) to scientific history and famous scientists (Semmelweis, Pasteur, Rosalind Franklin, etc).
I really enjoyed reading the entries which are short enough to fit into any spare time standing in queue etc. I think that this book would appeal to any trivia fan and/or science curious person (9 year old me would have LOVED this book! :)
There are some articles which are somewhat graphic (as the title indicates) but nothing too objectionable in my opinion. (There are, however, some fairly horrific historical medical practices described along with charlatans throughout history).
My only real objection is how abruptly the book ends. Last entry just -ends- without any sort of tying together of themes or real ending. It didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the book, but it was surprising (I went looking to see if I had not downloaded the entire book or if there was some mistake with my copy... there wasn't, it just ends).
Love the science, love the history. A fun/interesting/trivia filled read. I am a professional scientist, working in healthcare and I am not at all ashamed to admit I learned several things from this book which I'd never heard before (like the origin of the word 'toady' ). Cool stuff
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.
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