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shanaqui's reviews
888 reviews
This New Noise: The Extraordinary Birth and Troubled Life of the BBC by Charlotte Higgins
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
The BBC is a British institution, and one which has been agonised over a lot. It sometimes feels like that's something which happened only in recent years, but Charlotte Higgins' This New Noise makes it clear that we've agonised over the BBC for as long as it has existed -- and we've never had the halcyon perfect days that I think many people imagine. It's always been what it is now, and as contentious as it has been now.
At times, I think Higgins tells the story a bit out of order, making references to events she explains properly later. This might work well for someone who has been alive for a bit more of the BBC's lifespan, but I was not yet very engaged with the news for some of these! I also wasn't really aware of the various directors-general, so just mentioning their names didn't really contextualise things.
It's still an interesting history, especially where it discusses people I didn't know about at all, whose roles have been forgotten, like Hilda Matheson. She sounded pretty great (though of course it's easy to make idols of people). All in all, an enjoyable read, and a useful point of view.
At times, I think Higgins tells the story a bit out of order, making references to events she explains properly later. This might work well for someone who has been alive for a bit more of the BBC's lifespan, but I was not yet very engaged with the news for some of these! I also wasn't really aware of the various directors-general, so just mentioning their names didn't really contextualise things.
It's still an interesting history, especially where it discusses people I didn't know about at all, whose roles have been forgotten, like Hilda Matheson. She sounded pretty great (though of course it's easy to make idols of people). All in all, an enjoyable read, and a useful point of view.
Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods by Danna Staaf
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Danna Staaf's Monarchs of the Sea is a fascinating tour of the evolution of cephalopods. I'd never quite understood that ammonites were cephalopods before, somehow, so that was a surprise, and I was delighted to read more about them and the diversity of their shells. It'd be nice if some modern cephalopod was evolved from an ammonite, really, but Staaf does suggest it's pretty unlikely.
This is the kind of non-fiction I really enjoy: a deep-dive on a particular subject, not afraid to get into the weeds, and glowing with the author's fascination for the topic. I don't know if I could stomach dissection, but she makes even that sound fascinating -- I bet she's great at teaching it.
I was especially fascinated by the discussion of the modern cephalopods and what's become of their shells, the very last vestiges thereof. Fun!
This is the kind of non-fiction I really enjoy: a deep-dive on a particular subject, not afraid to get into the weeds, and glowing with the author's fascination for the topic. I don't know if I could stomach dissection, but she makes even that sound fascinating -- I bet she's great at teaching it.
I was especially fascinated by the discussion of the modern cephalopods and what's become of their shells, the very last vestiges thereof. Fun!
A Short History of Tomb-Raiding: The Epic Hunt for Egypt's Treasures by Maria Golia
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Maria Golia's A Short History of Tomb-Raiding is a slow, thorough thinking through of the different times and political/economic climates in which Egypt's tombs have been plundered. Often we think of early archaeologists and antiquarians, or even current archaeologists where big institutions are trying to grab and keep priceless, culturally important objects, but Golia begins in the past.
It's a bit of a dry read, ultimately, but it's more sympathetic to the Egyptian tomb raiders who raid their own ancestors' tombs than most accounts. Sure, they destroy context and thus knowledge -- but there's a reason they do what they do, mostly grinding poverty.
I'd honestly expected more commentary on European thieves, though; in one way this really centres the Egyptians themselves, but... European demand is also a huge part of that, and even men like Petrie (who was at least methodical) were digging among the bones of someone else's ancestors, and not always sharing that knowledge with the descendents.
It's a bit of a dry read, ultimately, but it's more sympathetic to the Egyptian tomb raiders who raid their own ancestors' tombs than most accounts. Sure, they destroy context and thus knowledge -- but there's a reason they do what they do, mostly grinding poverty.
I'd honestly expected more commentary on European thieves, though; in one way this really centres the Egyptians themselves, but... European demand is also a huge part of that, and even men like Petrie (who was at least methodical) were digging among the bones of someone else's ancestors, and not always sharing that knowledge with the descendents.
The Lost Gallows: A London Mystery by John Dickson Carr
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The Lost Gallows is, I think, one of John Dickson Carr's earlier novels, so I went in with fairly low expectations -- the melodrama and bombast of his other Bencolin books isn't entirely for me, but he's still a plotter of ingenious mysteries. I don't know if it was because I went in fully prepared for that, or maybe I've learned more sympathy through enjoying his later books, but this one wasn't so bad.
It is of course very colourful and highly dramatic, with some surprisingly prosaic explanations; it's full of atmosphere, using the London fog as a device in a similar way (though a very different tone) to Christianna Brand's London Particular. It's funny thinking about how ubiquitous that fog was, and yet I can barely imagine fog being so thick, so awful.
If you like a bit of adventure in your mystery novels, this one has that as well -- the narrator puts himself in the thick of things, and there are a couple of very breathless scenes.
It all ends up feeling almost too prosaic for the fantastic atmosphere, but it works out interestingly enough.
It is of course very colourful and highly dramatic, with some surprisingly prosaic explanations; it's full of atmosphere, using the London fog as a device in a similar way (though a very different tone) to Christianna Brand's London Particular. It's funny thinking about how ubiquitous that fog was, and yet I can barely imagine fog being so thick, so awful.
If you like a bit of adventure in your mystery novels, this one has that as well -- the narrator puts himself in the thick of things, and there are a couple of very breathless scenes.
It all ends up feeling almost too prosaic for the fantastic atmosphere, but it works out interestingly enough.
Murder in the Basement by Anthony Berkeley
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Anthony Berkeley was a clever writer, and never one to rest on his laurels. I'm not a fan of his detectives, nor particularly the way he wrote female characters, but Murder in the Basement was structured really interestingly, and it's not the first book by him that played around with structure. In this case, the middle section of the book is a fictionalisation of the chief suspects, written by Roger Sheringham before the crime was committed, and which allows us to begin to guess at the motives -- and identity -- of both murderer and victim.
I found it a little frustrating to go so long without being able to guess even who the victim was, and I'm not certain that part was really fair-play. But perhaps it'd have made it too obvious too soon to reveal it earlier...
Anyway, the story itself is fascinating, and Berkeley's playing around with the rules of the genre as well, so it's not the cosy and neatly contained package that some classic mysteries are. I definitely admired it, even as I wished he could just once like a woman and portray one positively!
I found it a little frustrating to go so long without being able to guess even who the victim was, and I'm not certain that part was really fair-play. But perhaps it'd have made it too obvious too soon to reveal it earlier...
Anyway, the story itself is fascinating, and Berkeley's playing around with the rules of the genre as well, so it's not the cosy and neatly contained package that some classic mysteries are. I definitely admired it, even as I wished he could just once like a woman and portray one positively!
Murder in Vienna by E.C.R. Lorac
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really love E.C.R. Lorac's work, for a lot of reasons I've written about before, and it boils down to two gifts that she had. One, she was good at characters, and especially at creating likeable characters. Two, she has a great sense for place, and for showing how a place is lived in -- I thought at one point she was mostly good at describing rural locations and small towns, but this book (and others set in London) show she just had a gift in general of making anywhere sound lovely in its way. In this case, post-WWII Vienna.
The other thing to bear in mind is that even a character you like a lot might turn out to be a murderer, and that someone who's a bit of a slimeball needn't be the one who killed someone. If you read only one or two of her books, it's easy to think that she'll always point the finger at a certain type of character, but it isn't the case.
Murder in Vienna captures the unsettled feeling of a city uneasy with what some of its inhabitants have done. The collaborators walk free, and it's unclear who collaborated because they felt that they had to and who collaborated willingly. That isn't completely germane to this story, it's just part of the feeling of everything. But Vienna itself is beautiful in Lorac's words, and through the eyes of Macdonald, one of the most human of the detectives of classic fiction (in my view). I found it all really enjoyable, not so much the mystery itself, but how the mystery inhabited Vienna and the anxious minds of those trying to believe that the ordeal is over and normality has returned.
Poor Macdonald really should be allowed a proper holiday at some point, though. If he could please be returning from holiday at the start of a book or something, that'd be nice. No more busman's holidays for him, please.
The other thing to bear in mind is that even a character you like a lot might turn out to be a murderer, and that someone who's a bit of a slimeball needn't be the one who killed someone. If you read only one or two of her books, it's easy to think that she'll always point the finger at a certain type of character, but it isn't the case.
Murder in Vienna captures the unsettled feeling of a city uneasy with what some of its inhabitants have done. The collaborators walk free, and it's unclear who collaborated because they felt that they had to and who collaborated willingly. That isn't completely germane to this story, it's just part of the feeling of everything. But Vienna itself is beautiful in Lorac's words, and through the eyes of Macdonald, one of the most human of the detectives of classic fiction (in my view). I found it all really enjoyable, not so much the mystery itself, but how the mystery inhabited Vienna and the anxious minds of those trying to believe that the ordeal is over and normality has returned.
Poor Macdonald really should be allowed a proper holiday at some point, though. If he could please be returning from holiday at the start of a book or something, that'd be nice. No more busman's holidays for him, please.
The Cactus Hunters: Desire and Extinction in the Illicit Succulent Trade by Jared D. Margulies
informative
reflective
slow-paced
1.0
This is much less about succulents than I hoped, and much more about the author's theories of psychoanalysis surrounding that. Academic and dry.
Didn't help that I'm not a fan of Lacan.
Didn't help that I'm not a fan of Lacan.
Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
informative
slow-paced
4.0
It would be easy for a book like Cat Bohannon's Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution to get all gender essentialist about things, and I was completely braced for it. I also wouldn't have been surprised if the book just ignored the existence of trans people, since how we currently understand and perceive gender variance is often quite divorced from stuff that might be obviously related to evolution.
So I'm going to say up front that it doesn't go in that direction, and Bohannon mentions trans people and trans bodies where relevant, often with the caveat that (unfortunately) we don't have the same volumes of data to go on, and in some cases studies just haven't been done. The book does focus on sex rather than gender, mostly (there's some stuff about stereotype threat that's more gendery), but transness is mentioned where appropriate.
It's a chonky book, and there are a lot of footnotes, sometimes multiple per page; at times, that makes it a bit too dense and overwhelming. Each aside takes you away from the main point of the narrative, and ultimately I found it rather distracting, even where the footnotes were useful or interesting. Sometimes it kind of had the effect of a student trying to show you they know a lot about a topic by inserting an only slightly relevant footnote on the topic (I've never done that, I swear); sometimes it just felt like a digression.
Regardless, I really enjoyed it, even if the organisation felt a little overwhelming at times. It focuses on the ways evolution had to work on female bodies: pregnancy and lactation, the implications of pair-bonding for offspring, behaviours that needed to go with the physical changes, etc. It isn't my exact area of interest, so it's hard to evaluate some of the claims: evolution must've acted on male bodies too, but sometimes it seems like there's not much left that can be about the males of the species, based on this! But it's interesting, and Bohannon writes very clearly about a whole range of topics.
So I'm going to say up front that it doesn't go in that direction, and Bohannon mentions trans people and trans bodies where relevant, often with the caveat that (unfortunately) we don't have the same volumes of data to go on, and in some cases studies just haven't been done. The book does focus on sex rather than gender, mostly (there's some stuff about stereotype threat that's more gendery), but transness is mentioned where appropriate.
It's a chonky book, and there are a lot of footnotes, sometimes multiple per page; at times, that makes it a bit too dense and overwhelming. Each aside takes you away from the main point of the narrative, and ultimately I found it rather distracting, even where the footnotes were useful or interesting. Sometimes it kind of had the effect of a student trying to show you they know a lot about a topic by inserting an only slightly relevant footnote on the topic (I've never done that, I swear); sometimes it just felt like a digression.
Regardless, I really enjoyed it, even if the organisation felt a little overwhelming at times. It focuses on the ways evolution had to work on female bodies: pregnancy and lactation, the implications of pair-bonding for offspring, behaviours that needed to go with the physical changes, etc. It isn't my exact area of interest, so it's hard to evaluate some of the claims: evolution must've acted on male bodies too, but sometimes it seems like there's not much left that can be about the males of the species, based on this! But it's interesting, and Bohannon writes very clearly about a whole range of topics.
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
Nothing madly innovative here. Listen to people, show them you're doing so, make them think you care, identify what's at stake in conversations to get on the same wavelength as the person you're talking to. Revolutionary...
If you struggle with specific ways to do the above, it's probably more helpful.
If you struggle with specific ways to do the above, it's probably more helpful.
The Missing Lynx: The Past and Future of Britain's Lost Mammals by Ross Barnett
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Once upon a time, megafauna were common all over the world, but after a certain point in time, they began to disappear. Mammoths. Mastodons. Cave lions. Cave bears. Aurochs. Irish elk. And what was the common factor? Well, as Ross Barnett says in The Missing Lynx, probably us. Probably humans.
The Missing Lynx digs into the lives of a few of these different creatures, trying to understand where they came from and where they went, focusing mostly on the lives of animals once found in the British Isles which are extinct now (in some cases worldwide, in others just in the UK). In some ways it's a sad story -- think of all we've lost. But Barnett is enthusiastic, fascinated, and that made the book pretty compulsive reading.
I did find it weird that beavers apparently count as megafauna: I always think way bigger, somehow! But apparently beavers count, and they are indeed pretty cool.
It's easy to get pessimistic when you read books like this, showing how humans were a major driver in extinctions. Somehow Barnett's enthusiasm wins out over that, with some optimism that if we can learn to look at ourselves, we can begin to fix this through reintroductions, rewilding, and perhaps (though he's sceptical of this and rightly so) resurrection.
The Missing Lynx digs into the lives of a few of these different creatures, trying to understand where they came from and where they went, focusing mostly on the lives of animals once found in the British Isles which are extinct now (in some cases worldwide, in others just in the UK). In some ways it's a sad story -- think of all we've lost. But Barnett is enthusiastic, fascinated, and that made the book pretty compulsive reading.
I did find it weird that beavers apparently count as megafauna: I always think way bigger, somehow! But apparently beavers count, and they are indeed pretty cool.
It's easy to get pessimistic when you read books like this, showing how humans were a major driver in extinctions. Somehow Barnett's enthusiasm wins out over that, with some optimism that if we can learn to look at ourselves, we can begin to fix this through reintroductions, rewilding, and perhaps (though he's sceptical of this and rightly so) resurrection.