Be advised: this book can be quite graphical and gory with the descriptions on animal dissections. You would probably expect this from a book written by a parasitologist, but still worth the mention.

Life Lessons from a Parasite was quite different from what I expected. To be honest I hadn't really expected the links to parasitology and today's problems like racism, hate, the pandemic etc. I also didn't find them always very convincing.

But the parasite stories are cool. I've done a master's project on an oyster parasite, so I am used to these kinds of stories, but they can be quite intense. And I agree that people who are interested in parasites are a special breed of people.

Entertaining, but sometimes long-winded and graphic. I wouldn't recommend this for casual readers looking for some popular science, but more for budding parasitologists.

Life Lessons From a Parasite describes what us, as humans can learn from parasites. It delves into the working (and social) lives of experts in parasites, taking you through field work, dissections and findings. Janovy then links the findings to the real world, and the lessons we can take from these, with notable links to Covid-19 and hate being wrongly spewed at minority groups such as people of colour, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community. It is an informative book, though repetitive in places and some of the links seem tenuous at best. It was an interesting read, but not one I would be quick to read again.

2/5 stars

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I sadly have to move this book to my DNF pile. I feel like it takes a lot for a book such as this one to be captivating. I have the curiosity to want to learn more on this subject, but felt like the writing style didn't do much for me. I think it would've been more conducive for the author to try to write it as a build up. Instead, it felt like we got a smattering of science then a smattering of politics following up. I just felt like the politics was misplaced, even though I enjoy the metaphor of thoughts (especially political ones these days) being parasites was enjoyable.

I wish this book was able to captivate me more!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

The book was okay. I found it a bit all over the place and repetitive. It felt like there was no straight line. Maybe I misunderstood the summary of the book, but I was expecting too learn more about different parasites but the 'lessons' part was quite prominent. This book might be more interesting for people working in the field and who are in general interested by the work of this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

I really don’t like to write sour reviews so I’ll keep this short and sweet. There were a few interesting parasites mentioned in the book, but the connection to how ideas and information spread and “life lessons” was tenuous at best. It just needed to go deeper into that portion of the title. In the end I was left with something that didn’t feel like a full thought, more of an amalgamation of ideas that didn’t have a central purpose. Too much repetition of the methodology of animal dissection as well. At times, it also felt a little bit arrogant in terms of achievement listing/name dropping, which I’m not a huge fan of, even in academically focused works.

I never DNF books, but if I didn’t have to review this one, I would have put it down before the end.

Would only recommend reading if you’re very specifically fascinated with the authors previous research highlights since I didn’t get much else out of it. 2/5

Part memoir, and part popular science, Life Lessons from a Parasite was a unique and enjoyable read. I found both the scientific facts, and personal details in this book fascinating, and would absolutely recommend it to a friend. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC, I had a great time reading it.