AJaneClark (3975 KP) rated The Prison Doctor in Books
Apr 19, 2020
I am not a regular non-fiction reader, but reading Adam Kay’s: This is Going to Hurt, inspired me to find and read further uniquely real life stories.
Dr Amanda Brown does not disappoint when recalling her departure from medicine in a general practice to handling very different and sometimes scary situations working as a doctor in prisons. We follow the doc on her journey from a boys youth prison, through Wormwood Scrubs and finally HMP Bronzfield. Dr Amanda Brown shares with the readers some of the highs and lows she faced when working with prisoners and briefly recounts the battles she faced with herself and with the politics of working in an institute with rules and regulations. For anyone that likes this genre I would definitely suggest giving this one a read.
Staring at Lakes: A Memoir of Love, Melancholy and Magical Thinking
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Throughout his life, Michael Harding has lived with a sense of emptiness - through faith, marriage,...
Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and His Brothers
6.0
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Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and His Brothers in the Civil War The Civil War is seen anew,...
walt whitman non-fiction civil war history letters
Stolen from the Garden: The Kidnapping of Virginia Pipe
6.0
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On a July afternoon in 1972, two masked men waving guns abducted forty-nine-year-old Virginia Piper...
non-fiction true crime kidnapping minnesota
The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines That Divide Us
10.0
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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Brilliant, passionate and political . . . The Book of Trespass will...
Non-Fiction
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
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The story of Chernobyl is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. Adam...
Uncommon Friends: Keeping Chickens the Animal Lovers’ Way
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Ask not what your chickens can do for you; ask what you can do for your chickens. Gone are the...
chickens non-fiction home and garden
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated The Mechanical in Books
Apr 27, 2018
The Mechanical is a wild ride through the lives of three characters; a catholic priest pretending to be protestant and smuggling information to New France, a female spy known in the legends as The Tallyrand, and Jax, the mechanical in question. The characters stories intertwine together to create a rich well-developed adventure of excitement, love, treachery, betrayal, and euphoric freedom. The book looks you in the eye and challenges the idea of free will, religion, and the tendency for us to believe everything the government wants us to believe.
In the beginning, I found the narrator hard to listen to, maybe because of his pacing, and steady non-fluctuating voice. But as I got more and more into the story, learned more about this world and what was going on, fell in love and hatred with the characters, I appreciated the way he read more. It worked for the characters and for the story.
I am super excited for the rest of this series and highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a well thought out story. Ages 17 + for some violence and sexual scenes.
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Seven: The Number for Happiness, Love, and Success in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Rating: 3/5
Seven is an intriguing book about the phenomenon of the number seven, the appeal we feel for it, the psychology behind the appeal, and so on. Unlike some non-fiction, Seven is very readable and interesting, and is written in a way that doesn’t make it funny or witty, but doesn’t make it dry either. There is the perfect balance of information and interest to make it quite enjoyable.
Seven is filled with interesting stories, ranging from Tiger Woods’ religion to Josh Waitzkin’s martial arts experience to robot’s facial expressions. Seven has many lists of sevens that make a lot of sense—seven reasons why people still smoke, seven strategies for a successful start-up in a company, comparing the seven media items in 1956 to the thirty-five (at least) in 2008, and so on.
Seven is a thought provoking book that will hopefully give its readers insight into the psychological attraction to numbers, and also some valuable advice for day to day life.
Recommendation: Ages 12+. I would recommend reading a chapter here and there on a lonely boring rainy day (hey, it worked for me!) with a cup of hot tea at your side. Leave plenty of time for musing and meditation while you read this one, and be prepared to entertained by this read!
**Thank you to Anna from Hachette for providing my review copy!**
Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated Engineered!: Engineering Design at Work in Books
Jun 18, 2018
Each story highlights the key components of the design process, taking kids on the journey through different types of engineering (aerospace, biomedical, chemical, mechanical, electrical, civil, geomatics, computer, and environmental) from seeing a problem to creating effective solutions to implementing their ideas. Coupled with great illustrations, Engineered! is sure to be a favorite of any budding engineer!
There is a lot of information crammed onto each page (some pages easier to read than others, due to text size, background colour, and minimal spacing between lines of text). However, this is also works to an advantage, as there's a lot to take in on each page, with full pages of busy geometric-style illustrations. Each time you look at the images you'll be sure to find something different!
There is a helpful glossary at the end, which is useful to look back on if necessary, as there certainly is a lot of information to take in.
I received this ARC from Kids Can Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.