Reviews and Comments

AnneOminous

AnneOminous@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

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Bonnie Garmus: Lessons in Chemistry (2022, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) 4 stars

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the …

Review of 'Lessons in Chemistry' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Did I read a different book? It probably doesn't help that I am a scientist and have known lots of women scientists, who could hardly be put into one archetype as books like this love to do. I have also seen what academia is like both pre and post millenium. I know when DNA and RNA were discovered and how likely it might be for a 60s chemist to pursue abiogenesis with vigor. Beyond the science, not much in this book felt realistic for the time period, and when it did, it was downright depressing and infuriating. The many frank discussions that are had also lead characters, oddly, to better things. I have had the exact opposite experience in life - people usually don't like it when they're confronted with uncomfortable truths; they're not liberated by it. And they don't appreciate hearing them. There was very little in this book …

Kate Quinn: The Huntress (Paperback, 2019, William Morrow Paperbacks) 4 stars

Review of 'The Huntress' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I really enjoyed this book, even if the characters didn't always feel totally authentic. The pacing was good, and even though the book was long I found that various narrators and their storylines interesting. But. I always have my issues with books that ignore certain historical facts while discussing others at length; one bit that was missing here is the detail that the US government took on many former Nazis as employees, conveniently omitted, though I appreciated other relevant details.