A well-researched and enlightening book of popular science.
A celebration of women’s reproductive organs.
Hazard, a midwife for Britain’s National Health Service and host of the podcast What the Midwife Said, offers an informative, thoughtful investigation of “the complexity of birthing bodies,” focusing particularly on the uterus: its structure, microbiome, and “how it grows, bleeds, births, and transforms with life’s ever-changing tides.” Drawing on considerable research, interviews, and her own experience as a midwife and mother, the author offers a comprehensive overview of female anatomy and the problems and challenges that may occur at different stages of life. She explains the development of the uterus and its vital role in conception; the surprisingly rich composition of menstrual tissue; and the process of birth. This includes labor, which may involve induction with a synthetic hormone; delivery, increasingly by elective Cesarean section; and postnatal care. She discusses the unfortunate outcomes of some pregnancies when chromosomal abnormalities, maternal infection, or medical conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes result in a stillbirth; or when wombs inexplicably “tighten and surge” before full term has been reached, expelling a fetus that is not viable. Hazard looks at many common maladies, such as fibroids and endometriosis, as well as interventions such as hysterectomy and the controversial use of hormones to suppress menstruation. As she traces gynecological and obstetric history, dominated by male physicians and scientists, she debunks terms and assumptions that demean a woman’s natural functions: menstruation, for one, often viewed “as embarrassing, gross, and downright dangerous.” Similarly, if a woman has trouble conceiving or maintaining a pregnancy, she risks being diagnosed with a “hostile” or “irritable” uterus or an “incompetent cervix.” Hazard’s investigation has taken her to the forefront of scientific innovation, such as uterine transplants, but she points to inequities in funding for women’s health. As she clearly shows, the womb is “linked inextricably to our biological, social, and political destinies.”
A well-researched and enlightening book of popular science.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063157620
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.
A duo of French mathematicians makes the scientific case for God in this nonfiction book.
Since its 2021 French-language publication in Paris, this work by Bolloré and Bonnassies has sold more than 400,000 copies. Now translated into English for the first time by West and Jones, the book offers a new introduction featuring endorsements from a range of scientists and religious leaders, including Nobel Prize-winning astronomers and Roman Catholic cardinals. This appeal to authority, both religious and scientific, distinguishes this volume from a genre of Christian apologetics that tends to reject, rather than embrace, scientific consensus. Central to the book’s argument is that contemporary scientific advancements have undone past emphases on materialist interpretations of the universe (and their parallel doubts of spirituality). According to the authors’ reasoned arguments, what now forms people’s present understanding of the universe—including quantum mechanics, relativity, and the Big Bang—puts “the question of the existence of a creator God back on the table,” given the underlying implications. Einstein’s theory of relativity, for instance, presupposes that if a cause exists behind the origin of the universe, then it must be atemporal, non-spatial, and immaterial. While the book’s contentions related to Christianity specifically, such as its belief in the “indisputable truths contained in the Bible,” may not be as convincing as its broader argument on how the idea of a creator God fits into contemporary scientific understanding, the volume nevertheless offers a refreshingly nuanced approach to the topic. From the work’s outset, the authors (academically trained in math and engineering) reject fundamentalist interpretations of creationism (such as claims that Earth is only 6,000 years old) as “fanciful beliefs” while challenging the philosophical underpinnings of a purely materialist understanding of the universe that may not fit into recent scientific paradigm shifts. Featuring over 500 pages and more than 600 research notes, this book strikes a balance between its academic foundations and an accessible writing style, complemented by dozens of photographs from various sources, diagrams, and charts.
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9789998782402
Page Count: 562
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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