The Icepick Surgeon

I couldn't stop listening to this audio book!
It was good from start to finish.
I enjoyed the character development, the writing, the plot!.
This was a interesting, unstoppable, good audio read that I devoured!.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this awesome audio book

An informative book that discusses the ethical limits of science and exposes the most flagrant cases of immoral behavior. There are so many things that I liked about it. Firstly, Kean refuses to judge the people involved in these stories. He bases his arguments on the ethical principles that existed at the time, and not the ones we use today. He doesn’t turn these real people into stereotypes of mad scientists. Some did some good in other areas, they were not all evil. That said, he doesn’t defend the indefensible, but he makes some good arguments about the legacies that these unethical experiments have given humankind. Yes, the nazis were evil and their experiments into hypothermia were horrible and cruel but, if your daughter was suffering from it, would you refuse the insights that the nazis brought because the ways they did it were horrific? He doesn’t offer easy answers, it is up to the reader to decide. I also liked the fact that I don’t know his personal political views. He discusses bad things done by both sides of the aisle. He’s never preachy. Full disclosure, there is a chapter about animal cruelty that I had to skip altogether. The narration by Ben Sullivan is direct and fun, like an informal chat with a friend and without the professorial tone that some of the science audiobooks have. Cringeworthy but fascinating!
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/@HachetteAudio, Little, Brown & Company!

4 stars

This is the sort of novel that will make you scared to go to the doctor. Obviously I expected abuse towards humans, but readers should note there is also hard to read animal cruelty as well. I will never look at Edison the same way. Some of the stories were cut short with the author's annoying plugs for their podcast. It was inappropriate to include it so many times in the text, it should have just been a little blub at the start or end.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

An easy to listen to story, narrated by the author, who has a pleasant reading voice. Filled with tales of scientists who crossed the line in their endeavors to further knowledge. It even calls out Cleopatra for being the first to do so, trying to determine the sex of unborn children. Some great stories in here. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Tom Clavin, and the publisher.

“Science is Simply the Word We Use to Describe a Method of Organizing Our Curiosity” … Tim Minchin.
Sam Kean tells us about some crazy people and the things they did in the name of science.
This was a audiobook and the narrator Ben Sullivan was great! He always does a good job.
I love history and this kept my interest all the way through. The author convincingly wrote about the horrors. I was shocked about the Nazi’s experiments and how we learned so much from them.
If you love history and crime I highly recommend this.
Thanks Little, Brown & Co via Netgalley.

A non fiction book about ethics and science. Some sections of this read like a real life historical Bold and Beautiful, some bits was straight out nightmare porn

While the book was very interesting and deserves credit and praise, it was a bit basic. Maybe a bit more research or a scientist who wasn't American or English would have been refreshing.

I've read all of Sam Kean's books, and thoroughly enjoy them. This one is of particular interest to me due to my career in medicine. The author has done a thorough job of researching his topics, and presents the stories in a very engaging manner.

I'm not sure how I feel about the inclusion of 'links' or references to the author's podcast for more in-depth examination of some of the stories. It honestly felt a little self-promoting every time he mentioned his website and podcast. I see the draw of having another outlet for further explanation and elucidation, but again, it just kind of felt odd.

The narration was fantastic, and overall, I would highly recommend this audiobook.

This is an amazing book! I love it to the moon and back! I have learned so many interesting things, I'm going around the house and sharing them with whoever wants to listen 😁 Some chapters were freaky and disgusting, some were amuzing, but overall, this was a fantastic read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with a copy of this audioARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book details a series of dastardly deeds in the name of science, and some of them are heartbreaking. In particular, I found the chapters on Tuskegee, lobotomies, and genital surgery quite difficult to listen to so it’s worth checking the contents before you read.

I found it a well researching and interesting book. The narrator, Ben Sullivan, was very easy to listen to as well. The constant referrals to podcasts and webpages was intrusive at times but, on the other hand, I can see how hard it can be to direct listening readers(as opposed to eyeball readers) to further resources.

A book for anyone interested in true crime, malpractice, and history. It’s definitely worth a look!

*DISCLAIMER* I received a free copy of this book for review purposes. I only accept books I think I’d like because life is too short to waste on bad books. That said if I don’t like a book, I’ll say so, free or not. With that out of the way, onto the review:

This is an interesting book full of short true stories about scientists / doctors who weren’t such great people overall and who definitely violated some oaths.

Well written. Great narration. Hard to say much without spoiling things but I will say some of the included stories involve people you’ve probably heard of, while others were new to me.

If you find history, crimes, science, and / or human behavior interesting, you’ll like this one.

Format: audiobook
Author: Sam Kean ~ Title: The Icepick Surgeon ~ Narrator: Ben Sullivan
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

I enjoyed this audiobook a lot. It is full of dark deeds committed in the name of science. If you are sensitive about that, maybe it is not for you. But, if you like good and sometimes weird true history stories, then this is an excellent choice for you. Like the subtitle says, the author is writing about fraud, murder, piracy. But also about grave-robbing, animal cruelty, slavery, and more.

Most of these stories were new to me. I knew part of the story of the rivalry between Edison and Tesla and Edison's way to prove his idea is better. Since I first heard the story, I can't see Thomas Edison as a great inventor for what he is known today.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and I would recommend it to all who like unusual and not commonly known true stories. This was my first (audio)book by this author. I will make sure to read another one in the future. Also, the narration is very good and engaging.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, the stories inside were fascinating and gruesome, while also getting into the moral complexity of using research as ill-gotten gains. The Nazis are the most obvious to come to mind here, but there were lots of shady research experiments done in the past. The story that stuck out the most to me was the one from Winnipeg regarding the David Reimer case- I live in Winnipeg and I had never heard anything about this. This story was absolutely horrifying!

I did have some problems with this book, though. The author did use outdated language a few times; It mostly didn't bother me too much because due to the context, I could tell that Kean was trying to keep the language "as it was"- I believe he used Indian after referring to a group that had Indian in their name and their stated goal was to "kill Indians". While it's a term I would normally look down upon an author using today, I felt in the context to switch to "indigenous" would have felt awkward- but a disclaimer after the fact would have been nice, especially since many Americans still use the term colloquially, to help normalize it felt weird. The second irritating thing he did was to keep promoting his podcast. Such a weird thing to do. Maybe it's an audiobook thing only, and in the physical book, they are instead footnotes? Either way, it was jarring.

I recommend this book, but with some caveats. It can be pretty heavy, and it's possible the language may put you off it (or the constant podcast-advertising).

"Sinful science" is an apt phrase to describe what this book is about.

An absorbing audio book with first-rate narration by Ben Sullivan. Each chapter of Sam Kean's nonfiction holds enough ammunition for a blockbuster movie, and listening to this audio version is like watching a TV series: you keep telling yourself "Just one more episode, just one more chapter!"
You need a strong stomach for some chapters (lobotomy with an ice pick!), and those sensitive to animal abuse might find certain parts disturbing - but these are true stories, with both the genius and cruelty of Humans.

I am grateful for an Advance Reading Copy of this entertaining and informative audio book for NetGalley and Hachette Audio.

I want to forgot this book and read it all over again. It was amazing! Sam Kean goes into deep details about everything from The Tuskegee study to Nazi experiments to future hypotheticals. I love how well thought out this book was. The author is careful to examine the effects of these experiments on the victims and what they went through. Ethics is a huge concern in the book and I appreciate the conversations and debates that will come from it.

This book is a great examination of horrible atrocities committed in the name of science. Also great if you're a true crime fan!