Review: Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery

Temple Grandin is a woman who changed the world of livestock industry. She advocated for better conditions for livestock animals and humane ways to kill them. She is also an advocate for autism and shows how autistic people can contribute to society.  I first learned about Temple in college and I remember watching a short … More Review: Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery

Review: Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Trigger Warnings: Discussions of racism, domestic abuse, sexual abuse,  miscarriages, abortions, gun violence, police violence, harassment, fatphobia, eating disorders, food insecurities PTSD, suicide, victim blaming, mental illness, human trafficking, femicide, cultural appropriation, teacher discrimination and bullying.  “One of the biggest issues with mainstream feminist writing has been the way the idea of what constitutes a … More Review: Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Review: Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind by Sue Black

Trigger Warnings: Discussions of pedophilia, murder, serial killers, prostitution, child death and abuse, rape, molestation, survivors guilt, torture, and executions. Graphic descriptions of dead bodies.  Forensic anthropologist Sue Black takes on a journey to show how pieces of our remains can be used to solve crimes. She draws on her own experiences and case work … More Review: Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind by Sue Black

Review: Jews Don’t Count: How Identity Politics Failed One Particular Identity by David Baddiel

Trigger Warnings: Discussions of antisemitism, racism, blackface, Islamophobia, conspiracy theories, transphobia, J.K. Rowling, cancel culture.  Jews Don’t Count: How Identity Politics Failed One Particular Identity discusses the ignored history of antisemitism and how people don’t count Jews as real minorities, even when they should.  This book was great. David Baddiel talks about a lot of … More Review: Jews Don’t Count: How Identity Politics Failed One Particular Identity by David Baddiel

Review: The Chick and The Dead: Life Behind Mortuary Doors by Carla Valentine

Trigger Warnings: Miscarriage. Grief. Cheating. Depression. Detailed descriptions of animal deaths. Autopsies on babies discussed. Detailed descriptions of autopsies.  Death of family members. Discussion of suicide victims and their bodies. Negative work environment that included jokes against weight, disabilities, and emotions.  Carla Valentine is a pathologist who worked for years doing postmortems, but is now … More Review: The Chick and The Dead: Life Behind Mortuary Doors by Carla Valentine

Review: The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows: Witchy Wisdom at Your Fingertips by Deborah Blake

The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows is a beginners reference book for those who are looking to build their practice from the ground up. This book gives basic introductions and quick references for all the basics of witchcraft elements, like candle magic, divination, stones, gods and goddesses and so on. Within each section there are … More Review: The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows: Witchy Wisdom at Your Fingertips by Deborah Blake

ARC Review: History Comics: The National Parks: Preserving America’s Wild Places by Falynn Koch

This was an informative graphic novel that takes us through the history of national parks, with Bigfoot as the narrator. It starts with the creation of the very first national park, Yellowstone, and leads to the creation of the National Park Service (NPS).  I enjoyed this graphic novel but it was a bit chaotic at … More ARC Review: History Comics: The National Parks: Preserving America’s Wild Places by Falynn Koch

Review: The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Mammals by Merlin Tuttle

This book was fascinating! The Secret Lives of Bats is basically an educational memoir about Merlin Tuttle’s life learning and saving bats. His journey started when he was a child exploring caves with his parents and it led him to spend a lifetime educating the public on the good that bats can do.  Like I … More Review: The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Mammals by Merlin Tuttle

Review: How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

“The history of slavery is the history of the United States. It was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. It is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it. This history is in our soil, it is in our policies, and it must, too, be in our memories.” Clint Smith … More Review: How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

Review: The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds by Sam Kean

Trigger Warnings: suicide, slavery, animal torture and death, Nazi experimentation and torture, experimental misconduct, miscarriages, forced impregnation and abortion, murder, torture, grave robbing, lobotomization, mental health, intentional infection of diseases, psychological experiments, electric chair deaths,  “But when we sacrifice morals for scientific progress, we often end up with neither.” The Icepick Surgeon exposes the crimes … More Review: The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds by Sam Kean