gimley reviewed Explaining Humans by Camilla Pang
Review of 'Explaining Humans' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
How does a person with ADHD ever manage to finish writing a book? Often I find it hard even to finish reading one, and this is one of those.
The main reason I stopped was because I was misled by the title. Humans aren’t being explained in this book. If I didn’t feel a need for such explanation I could perhaps overlook this mismatch but I was really hoping the author could provide me with one. Back when I was growing up, diagnoses like ADHD and ASD were hard to come by. When my parents brought me in to be “evaluated” (I had mediocre grades and no friends) I said some pretty bizarre things to the psychologist but he just ignored them because when he tested my IQ it was high so all my other problems were ignored. And I was functioning, more or less. If I could finish my …
How does a person with ADHD ever manage to finish writing a book? Often I find it hard even to finish reading one, and this is one of those.
The main reason I stopped was because I was misled by the title. Humans aren’t being explained in this book. If I didn’t feel a need for such explanation I could perhaps overlook this mismatch but I was really hoping the author could provide me with one. Back when I was growing up, diagnoses like ADHD and ASD were hard to come by. When my parents brought me in to be “evaluated” (I had mediocre grades and no friends) I said some pretty bizarre things to the psychologist but he just ignored them because when he tested my IQ it was high so all my other problems were ignored. And I was functioning, more or less. If I could finish my assignment, even if I had trouble sitting still in my seat, no one would have labeled me ADHD. Imagine if I could write an entire book!
As a child, I needed that explanation that this book promised only I didn’t know that. I just assumed it was my fault—perhaps I was too smart to get along with my classmates? Since my parents felt they were superior to our neighbors, such an explanation was in line with my family’s attitude. Like the author, I was drawn to study science but this just removed me further from my peers who were more interested in sports and celebrities.
The author complains a bit about her diagnosed disabilities but clearly is impressed with herself. I doubt she felt that secure when she was growing up though little time is spent in the book on the pain of not fitting in. I wonder if she, coming across this kind of book as a child would have been helped by it. I suspect she would not but would have enjoyed the science.
I came to this book already knowing about refraction and harmonic motion so I didn’t need to read about them. I did learn about proteins, though.
