Happy Atheist Forum

General => Media => Topic started by: Sandra Craft on February 19, 2020, 06:06:52 AM

Poll
Question: What book shall we read in March?
Option 1: A Fly for the Prosecution votes: 2
Option 2: Monster of God votes: 1
Option 3: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek votes: 1
Option 4: The Sky's the Limit votes: 1
Option 5: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running votes: 1
Title: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Sandra Craft on February 19, 2020, 06:06:52 AM
A Fly for the Prosecution: how insect evidence helps solve crimes, by M. Lee Goff.  The title pretty much says it all, adventures in court with forensic entomologists.

Monster of God, by David Quammen.  The significance of alpha predators (specifically, in this book, the Asiatic lion, crocodiles, tigers and brown bears) and the humans who live alongside them. 

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard.  Dillard's personal narrative highlights one year's exploration on foot in the Virginia region through which Tinker Creek runs. The result is an exhilarating tale of nature and its seasons.

The Sky's the Limit, by Anna Magnusson.  In 2004, Vicky Jack completed the Seven Summits - the highest mountains in each of the seven continents. Whilst pursuing her climbing dream, she also carried on a high-flying career. This book tells her story.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: a memoir, by Haruki Murakami.  Based on Murakami's journal about training for the NYC marathon, it's about writing, running and how they intersect.

Title: Re: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Davin on February 28, 2020, 04:54:57 PM
No tie breaker needed this time.
Title: Re: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Davin on February 28, 2020, 08:05:28 PM
I'd like to add in:

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum

Quote from: Matthew Pearl, author of The Technologists and The Dante Club
The Poisoner's Handbook opens one riveting murder case after another in this chronicle of Jazz Age chemical crimes where the real-life twists and turns are as startling as anything in fiction. Deborah Blum turns us all into forensic detectives by the end of this expertly written, dramatic page-turner that will transform the way you think about the power of science to threaten and save our lives.

Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang and Nate Pederson

Quote
Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious "treatments"—conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)—that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.
Title: Re: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Davin on February 28, 2020, 08:09:23 PM
Well, I should get the book on Sunday, I couldn't find it in the shop for my Nook.
Title: Re: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Sandra Craft on February 28, 2020, 11:25:19 PM
Love the suggestions!
Title: Re: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Davin on March 13, 2020, 08:31:42 PM
I finished the book. I think overall it was a good read. There are parts that are a little tedious to get through, but they're not that bad. It's only that after the tenth case involving the same larva and fly, it tends to wash together. However, I think the author did a good job limiting that without excluding pertinent information.

The author talked about some gruesome deaths, but I think they handled it very respectfully and tried their best not to gross out the reader.

I liked the writing style, very too the point, no beating around the bush or getting too flowery. It was also a shortish book and I think that was great. The cases and and stories were interesting, the tie ins were very well done, and the chapters are well divided for easing into the subject matter.

I did a feel of light arrogance from the author, but nothing unexpected from this type of book. I do find it odd how these guys get high educations, go to lots of training courses, do so much learning, build themselves up so high, then go on to explain the process in such straight forward and clear ways to make it look their job is as easy as plugging in data and getting an output.

I don't have that much more to say about it. I think it was a good book and the subject matter was very interesting.
Title: Re: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Sandra Craft on March 16, 2020, 03:38:53 AM
Quote from: Davin on March 13, 2020, 08:31:42 PM

I don't have that much more to say about it. I think it was a good book and the subject matter was very interesting.

Still reading it, but finding it a lot more interesting than the bone book.  Thing that's standing out most for me is how some of the most disgusting bugs have the most beautiful names.  It's like a consolation prize we're giving them.
Title: Re: HAF Book Club: March poll and discussion
Post by: Sandra Craft on March 31, 2020, 04:50:43 AM
From my review on FB:

A Fly for the Prosecution: how insect evidence helps solve crimes, by M. Lee Goff.  This was a surprisingly fun read, helped a good deal by Goff's sense of humor. 

Goff is a forensic entomologist (a career I should have gone into if I'd had the grades, or the stomach for maggot covered corpses) in Hawaii, tho he's called in as a consultant to medical examiners and an expert witness to lawyers all over the States.

First of all, let me say I had no idea, none at all, how many different kinds of blow flies there are.  I swear, as far as corpses go, they almost seem to out-number beetles.  Second, I was astonished at how so many disgusting bugs (and I say that with affection) have the most beautiful names.  Just for instance:

Phaenicia cuprina (a blowfly)
Chrysomya rufifacies (another blowfly)
Boettcherisca peregrina (a flesh fly)
Czenspinkia transversotriata (a mite)
Piophila casei (a fly called, believe it or not, a cheese skipper)

The book is mostly vignettes from his experiences in studying bugs:

About a decomposition experiment he conducted at his home involving a 50-lb pig:  "Several things happened during the course of this experiment.  I had considerable support from my dog and my daughter's cat, who seemed to think this was the only useful thing I'd done in years.  I discovered that my wife and daughters were even more tolerant than I expected.  And I was surprised to learn how much attention a couple of my neighbors paid to what went on in my backyard."

About the delicacies of testifying in court:  "During this portion of the testimony, slides, photographs, or insect specimens are usually introduced as evidence for the jury.  Utmost sensitivity is called for in the presentation of such evidence.  The prosecuting attorney I am testifying for wants to make as much of an impact on the members of the jury as possible, while the defense does not want the members of the jury to look at a series of pictures of the victim covered with a mass of feeding maggots.  Somewhere a little past the middle of this range is a point at which the horror of what is being presented so overwhelms the individual jury members that they disregard my testimony in disgust.  At this point in the trial, the jury and I both get a break while the judge and attorneys argue over the repulsion factors of the various exhibits."

On surprising servers at conferences:  "I arrived a few minutes after the start of presentations, and walked up to the portable bar at the rear of the room.  I did not see a bartender, but as I stood there, I heard a voice from under the bar ask what I wanted.  I peered over the bar and saw the bartender and his assistant crouched behind the bar looking at the wall.  I ordered a beer and it was promptly handed to me, and I paid and received my change, all without having either man look at me.  Apparently the bartenders had thought they would be working at a flower show that was scheduled for later that week, and instead of the evening of orchids they were expecting, they were being forced to listen to a pathologist from England talking about the fatal results of a do-it-yourself sex-change operation."

Despite the frequent gruesomeness of the subject matter, I very much enjoyed this book.