Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss

8 reviews

mbrogs2024's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, War, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Grief, Blood, Medical content, Mental illness, Cancer, and Medical trauma

lenaricharz's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

bramlee's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

I put off reading this book for a while, at first because I thought it was too technical for me to digest and then because the world was facing a global pandemic. I started reading this at the beginning of the pandemic, amid the first lockdowns and the overwhelming fear of the unknown. I put it back on the shelf and didn't pick it up again until after I had been vaccinated against this new virus. I don't regret my decision to be vaccinated. In fact, this book helped me feel proud of that decision despite the whirlwind of misinformation and negative public opinion in my small town. I'm glad that this book exists to demonstrate the history of vaccination in a succinct, well-researched way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Pregnancy

felofhe's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Medical content, Violence, Body horror, Xenophobia, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Antisemitism, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Slavery

ladymedievalist1's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Cancer, Child death, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

nibs's review

informative medium-paced

3.0

I picked up this book since it is the current book for Life's Library. I would not have read it otherwise, so I was a bit timid going into it, particularly because of the current pandemic in 2020. However, this book exceeded my expectations. It took a while to get into (mainly because the earlier parts were focused more on anti-vaxxer stuff than science), but I found it to be very informative. It discussed the historical and cultural factors surrounding immunisation in the US. I would have preferred it discussed more things in a global context - it was very focused on western ideas, and although it acknowledged the impact of the wealth of nations in their healthcare, it didn't go into much cultural context. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Racism

massivepizzacrust's review

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Honestly, I thought this was going to be a drag and I wasn't sure I was going to finish it. But it turns out the chapters are super short and easy to get through, and the book actually made me feel... more compassionate? Hopeful? It reminded me that we're all struggling to figure out what the best thing to do is, there aren't a lot of people out there who are 100% sure they are doing life right. As a senior in college during covid, that's actually pretty reassuring. 

The only thing I can immediately say I didn't like is the way the notes were included in the end of the book. This structure basically only makes it possible to read notes if you're constantly keeping track of the page numbers, which feels like a chore. I'm a big fan of random trivia and tangents, so it was disappointing to not really be able to read the notes in context. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, and Sexism

adel's review

informative fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racial slurs, and Racism