Reviews and Comments

“The awe of discovering the human body. The honor of being trusted to give advice. The gratitude for helping someone through a difficult illness. These things never grow old.”

― Danielle Ofri, MD via The New York Times


Dr Campbell started his long medical journey as an orderly at a local hospital during his downtime from college. His book “A Fullness of Uncertain Significance: Stories of Surgery, Clarity, & Grace” chronicles his passage through his personal life, school, and medicine. The book is a series of short vignettes chronically different aspects of his long career as a head and neck surgeon. Here, we witness his first exposure to surgery to his work in Africa (working alongside his son who, at the time, was a medical student) to his interactions with his patients. All his stories are driven by a sense of purpose, humility, and an understanding of what it is to be a doctor.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the more personal aspects of medicine, especially between doctor and patient.

Dr Campbell just recently retired from medicine, but not from writing and in fact, will be continuing his musings on his own website: www.brucecampbellmd.com/. I look forward to reading about what he thinks about retirement. I’ll bet it will be as interesting as his medical career.

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]

Understanding DNA Ancestry
by Sheldon Krimsky

When my husband asked me what I wanted for my 60th birthday, I decided it would be a treat to find out more about my ancestry. I had read good things about 23andMe, so—after having paid for two kits (one for me and one for him) and spitting into tubes (which reminded me of various experiments performed during college microbiology)—we shipped off our samples. Eventually, we were presented with a report with my ancestry composition and a list of genetic relatives.

I have noticed that, since the test was performed, my ancestry details (mostly the percentages) have changed, and I assume that’s because more and more Black Americans have had their ancestry analyzed as well.

Because I have a science background, I had a firm understanding of genetics, but what I wasn’t as familiar with was the idea that my information may be used and sold.

“Understanding DNA Ancestry” Sheldon Krimsky is a well-researched book on the industry of ancestry analysis, as well as exploring how ancestry analysis data can be used beyond constructing family trees. While I had briefly considered the privacy aspect before sending off my spittle for my personalized report, I hadn’t realized how companies can/may use the information they gather from all those samples.

While the issue of privacy wasn’t high on my list of things, I was worried about it. I understand that others could be worried about it, too, especially with the information being used in forensic genealogy, which was used to capture the elusive Golden State Killer. This case and others bring up the fact that, once your sample is submitted, it could lead investigators to a family member whom they subsequently suspect of having committed a crime.

It was also interesting to read about how the DNA sample you submit is compared against the standard that each unaffiliated ancestry company has established independently. This would explain why there could be differences in results if you request analyses from different companies.

I recommend “Understanding DNA Ancestry” to those who are interested in having their DNA analyzed, whether you are thinking about having it done, or have your results and wish to know more about the process. While the book is technical in some sections – in fact, I would suggest that readers have a basic understanding of genetics and how traits are inherited – most readers will find the discussion of privacy to be eye-opening. I know I was surprised, and I’m sure you will be just as surprised as I.

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]

Understanding DNA Ancestry
by Sheldon Krimsky

When my husband asked me what I wanted for my 60th birthday, I decided it would be a treat to find out more about my ancestry. I had read good things about 23andMe, so—after having paid for two kits (one for me and one for him) and spitting into tubes (which reminded me of various experiments performed during college microbiology)—we shipped off our samples. Eventually, we were presented with a report with my ancestry composition and a list of genetic relatives.

I have noticed that, since the test was performed, my ancestry details (mostly the percentages) have changed, and I assume that’s because more and more Black Americans have had their ancestry analyzed as well.

Because I have a science background, I had a firm understanding of genetics, but what I wasn’t as familiar with was the idea that my information may be used and sold.

“Understanding DNA Ancestry” Sheldon Krimsky is a well-researched book on the industry of ancestry analysis, as well as exploring how ancestry analysis data can be used beyond constructing family trees. While I had briefly considered the privacy aspect before sending off my spittle for my personalized report, I hadn’t realized how companies can/may use the information they gather from all those samples.

While the issue of privacy wasn’t high on my list of things, I was worried about it. I understand that others could be worried about it, too, especially with the information being used in forensic genealogy, which was used to capture the elusive Golden State Killer. This case and others bring up the fact that, once your sample is submitted, it could lead investigators to a family member whom they subsequently suspect of having committed a crime.

It was also interesting to read about how the DNA sample you submit is compared against the standard that each unaffiliated ancestry company has established independently. This would explain why there could be differences in results if you request analyses from different companies.

I recommend “Understanding DNA Ancestry” to those who are interested in having their DNA analyzed, whether you are thinking about having it done, or have your results and wish to know more about the process. While the book is technical in some sections – in fact, I would suggest that readers have a basic understanding of genetics and how traits are inherited – most readers will find the discussion of privacy to be eye-opening. I know I was surprised, and I’m sure you will be just as surprised as I.

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]

Miles has a girlfriend.

At least, that's what Eloise thinks of herself as. However, when Miles finally "breaks up" with Eloise, she is found dead leaving Miles as the main suspect.

Of course, my favorite octogenarian isn't going to take this lying down and insists on dragging Miles along with her to exonerate him.

Another great and fun read!

Lana finally decides that it was high time that she learned now to cook Chinese food. Ironic since she manages a noodle restaurant. Not wanting to suffer the teasing of her family, she enrolls in a night class for cooking.

Unfortunately, after the first class, she finds that her instructor has been killed, dragging her once again into investigating the case.

As with all the other books, this is another delightful entry in the series. As I've said previously, it's worth reading the books in order.

When it comes to books on medical subjects, I tend to be a snob. Consequently, it is rare that I will give a medical book a five star rating (last one was Emperor of All Maladies) but this book deserves it.

To say that I loved this book is an understatement. Immunity is a very complicated subject because this is the human body we are talking about and our immunity system has to protect us against all invaders. To do so, our body has evolved a very complex system of ways to defend our bodies and trying to decipher it can be a daunting process. I’ve tried over the last few months to learn the complexities of the immunity system but every time I thought I understood it, I’d read more into the subject and become confused all over again.

Author Philipp Dettmer has not only managed to explain human immunity but makes it fun. So many science authors take their subjects very seriously – which they should – but there is nothing wrong than having fun with the subject and Philipp has a ton of fun.

This book is for those who are interested in the subject but don’t know where to start as well as those seasoned veterans who are interested in a fun read.

I cannot recommend this book any higher.

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]

Philosophy or philosophical discussions isn’t something that I willingly seek out. I hated philosophy in college and my opinion hadn’t changed. This also extends to anyone’s personal philosophy.

I enjoy medical history and I enjoy cozy mysteries so reading this book was a stretch for me and one I ended up enjoying.

Richard takes us through his life from growing up on the “wrong side of the tracks” in Hollywood to him living in Hawaii for many years. As we go through his life, he explains his acting philosophy interspersed with his own persona philosophy and how through the many years of therapy and spiritual journeys, he was able to reconcile himself the actor to himself the person.

Because I also grew up with an alcoholic father, so I could totally identify with that portion of the book and having to understand myself and my place in the world.

This is not a book for everyone. If you are looking for more of a discussion of his acting, you won’t necessarily be disappointed, but understand that this isn’t the focus of the book.

I’m not sure this is a book that I would want to read again, but I can honestly say that I was happy to have read it.

Lana reluctantly takes on the case of proving Shirley's twin sister June not guilty of the murder of Mildred in the beauty parlor despite all indicates that June did it (and Lana thinks so too).

Just a few complications stand in Lana's way. Firstly, she doesn't like Shirley or June. Secondly, Lana's ex boyfriend repeatedly tries to talk to her to "explain" his side of the breakup.

This is another fine book in the series. As I've said before, you really want to read the books in order and the perpetrator took me by surprise.

One of my undergraduate degrees is in Biology/Human Anatomy and Physiology and as a requirement of the bachelor’s degree, I had to take Comparative Anatomy.

At the time, I didn’t really enjoy the course but as I read more and more books on various Human Anatomy and Physiology subjects, the more I appreciated what I had learned in the course.

Pump: A Natural History of the Heart takes the reader through the anatomy and some physiology of the heart. Not just human, but all critters -- vertebrate and invertebrate -- because no matter what kind of critter you are, you need to get sustenance to your various cells and organelles. To do this, all your cells need to either directly access the substances or have a circulatory system of some kind to get stuff to your individual cells.

I was particularly taken with the story of the beaching of a blue whale and the fascinating efforts of scientists to harvest the heart, which was huge! There is an illustration of the author sitting next to the displayed heart and he is dwarfed by its size. Since I mentioned the illustration, the book is full of great pencil illustrations by Patricia J Wynne. These drawings really helped me understand the points that Dr Schutt was making (and brought me back to my undergrad days). The rest of the book is just as enchanting.

This isn’t to say that this book is a hard read. Not at all. Dr Schutt takes the complex subject of showing the reader how various species pump or diffuse blood and nutrients throughout the body culminating on how the human heart pumps blood as well as the various instruments that doctors use to monitor and keep the human heart healthy. And he does all these heavy discussions with a liberal dose of humor. (As a side note, I wish I had taken biology courses with Dr Schutt as just about all my teachers in college were dour.)

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject, even those, like myself who have had advanced schooling. Dr Schutt is a really gifted writer who took a complex subject and made it fun to read and when you add the illustrations, it made it a joy to read and I suspect, you’ll enjoy it too.

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]