353. What the Yuck?! The Freaky & Fabulous Truth About Your Body by Roshini Raj and Lisa Lombardi

BOOK REVIEW: What the Yuck!? The Freaky & Fabulous Truth About Your Body by Roshini Raj & Lisa Lombardi

As women, we are always worried about mood flips and body blips. Sometimes it can be embarassing to divulge these details to a close one or to a gyno. Read this and you will realize that it is perfectly fine to do so!

This book contains 240 answers to the real questions you're dying to ask a doctor. It may make you blush, but at its core, this book is essential for every woman who wants to know the real truth about her health and body.

This humorous yet intensely practical book is an incarnation of the real-life doctor who wrote this book. At once witty and brilliant, it's a careful mixture of information, honesty and charm.

I found this book to be really truthful in a light-hearted way. Definitely a book to be read by mothers, daughters and sisters, this one is for the ladies!

352. A Brief History of Bad Medicine: True Stories of Weird Medicine and Dangerous Doctors by Robert Youngston and Ian Schott

 

BOOK REVIEW: A Brief History of Bad Medicine - True Stories of Weird Medicine and Dangerous Doctors by Robert Youngston and Ian Schott

Many horror stories of treatments gone wrong and doctors running amok have made us shiver at the mere thought of clinics and hospitals. Wrong doses of medicine have been known to give serious side effects, or worse, death. If your existing fears weren't enough, this book will leave you shaking.

A doctor removes the normal, healthy side of a patient's brain instead of the malignant tumor. A man whose leg is scheduled for amputation wakes up to find his healthy leg removed. These examples are part of a history of medical disasters and embarassments as old as the profession itself.

In this book, the authors have written the definitive account of medical mishap in modern and not-so-modern times. From famous quacks to curious forms of sexual healing, the book reveals everything from shamefully dangerous doctors to human guinea pigs.

Treading a fine line between the comical and the tragic, the honest mistake and the intentional crime, this book proves, once and for all, that you can't always trust the people in white coats.

The most interesting parts of the book for me were about the human experiments by the Nazi doctors and the science of cryogenics (freezing people to revive them in the future). Scary to bits, it just goes to show how the medical mind used to work in the past. For medical students or those interested in medicine, this book is a must-read.

351. Hugh Fearlessly Eats It All by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

BOOK REVIEW: Hugh Fearlessly Eats It All by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Now as a food and travel writer, I truly appreciate how much soul is put into writing a piece that reverberates with a reader. Famous for his River Cottage show, the author is a talented food writer and it is well portrayed in this book.

For almost two decades, Hugh has been writing about food in all its guises. To some, his concept of 'good eating' might seem a bit skewed - he prefers game meat to McDs - but to others he is a shining beacon of good sense in a food world gone mad.

Armed with a broad mind, a quick wit and a ready appetite, the author covers almost every area of global food culture, from Tokyo's fugu to Britain's biscuits.

Sometimes his direct approach may seem harsh but it is to direct the material at hand to the reader. Funny, passionate and always entertaining, this book was spot on!
 

350. Schadenfreude, Baby! by Laura Lee

 

BOOK REVIEW: Schadenfreude, Baby! by Laura Lee

Admit it, at some point at another you may have laughed at a friend who slipped and fell instead of lending a helping hand for him to get up. Maybe you have enjoyed seeing the just desserts served up to your rival at work. 

Whatever it may be, we humans have a tendency to be gleeful when something goes wrong to another. If you want to continue on that slant, this book was possibly written just for you! 🤣

The term schadenfreude is a German word meaning "pleasure taken in someone else's misfortune". Delighting in other people's ill luck is an undeniable part of the modern psyche.

This slightly naughty book compiles scores of schadenfreude moments, many of which are sure to provide cheer, such as heiress Paris Hilton facing a jail sentence for driving on a suspended licence or Olympian showboat Lindsey Jacobellis losing the snowboarding gold medal.

Filled with the missteps and downfalls of the famous and not so famous, this book taps into our universal longing to gawk and smirk at the people who stand for all of us. 

I'm sorry to say that I was laughing out loud for most of the gaffes in this book. Though I feel remorseful, at that moment I just couldn't seem to pity some of those bumbling individuals. All in all, this book was a hoot!

349. A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup

BOOK REVIEW: A is for Arsenic - The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup

I have heard many illuminating reviews of Agatha Christie's murder mystery novels. Through my first AC novel, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, I was instantly hooked and I exactly knew why. The red herrings in her novels paired with interesting characters and murder methods can keep one hooked.

AC revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books: indeed, she employed it more than any other murder method, with the poison itself often being a central part of the novel.

Her choice of deadly substances was far from random - the characteristics of each often provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. 

Christie's extensive knowledge provides the backdrop for this book, in which the author investigates the poisons used by the murderer in 14 classic AC mysteries. It looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, the cases that may have inspired Christie and the feasibility of obtaining, administering and detecting these poisons, both at the time the novel was written and today.

Written by a chemist herself, this book will definitely make a good companion alongside AC's novels. Further information of the poisons leads to further enjoyment of the books but don't get the wrong ideas to be a poisoner.

 

348. A Curious History of Food and Drink by Ian Crofton

BOOK REVIEW: A Curious History of Food and Drink by Ian Crofton

As we dine, I'm sure we have contemplated at one point or another the origins of a certain dish or the roots of a dish's name (Rocky Mountain oysters anyone?). Be amused and enthralled by the curious history of food and drink.

Beginning with the hippo soup eaten in Africa in 6000BC, through to the giant rabbits guzzled by the late 'Dear Leader' of North Korea, this book contains a cornucopia of intriguing stories about the things we humans have put into our mouths from the earliest times to the present.

Including the surprising origins of various well-known dishes, such as pasta and potato crisps, as well as a host of historical recipes, this is the perfect book for the inquisitive food lover. 

I found this book to be a gem in my collection of cookbooks and food-related books. Some of the origins even tickled my funny bone, others were more unbelievable. And now we shall feast upon the food laid out on yeh table....

 

347. Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa by Joan Jacobs Brumberg

BOOK REVIEW: Fasting Girls - The History of Anorexia Nervosa by Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Let's face reality, women are always trying their best to look good. Most importantly, the figure has to be an eye-catcher and what better way than to be svelte. I too was unhappy with my weight of 45kg and constantly felt "fat" although my weight and height was just perfect. When I started working, and my weight drastically dropped to a measly 30kg, I was startled to see a skeleton instead of being happy with the weight loss.

Weight and the idea of thinness have always plagued the female mind and turned to worries. Looking at myself, I finally understood that weight loss doesn't mean anything if it was going to make you look sick instead of the opposite. This book too made me realize how important it is to keep educating people on accepting themselves no matter what size they are.

When this book first appeared in 1988, anorexia nervosa was widely considered a new disease. In fact, most people thought it would go away. The author changed that perception by demonstrating when and where anorexia nervosa originated and why it has become so "popular" in our time.

A classic work that is both a biography of the disease and a sustained inquiry into the cultural forces that perpetuate it, this book - newly revised and updated - will stand for years as the authoritative book oj the subject.

I found this book very absorbing and at some points made me feel quite uneasy when vivid descriptions of anorexic patients were put forward. However, all these have served to enlighten that physical beauty isn't everything and that skills and brains are equally important.