Sovijärvi, Arina, Halmetoja: Biohacker's Handbook

Biohacker's Handbook (affiliate link) is a giant, heavy book. A nightmare to lug home and read. My health is simply not good enough to read this book, my arms are too weak. I had to weigh this monstrosity.

weight: 2.1 kg

And then when the book is structured so that there are maybe two sentences on one page. These things could have been presented much more compactly. A terrible waste of paper. Not like this! In the end, those sources could have been left out, and published only online.

I also happen think that hardcover books should be banned by law.

What about the content of the Biohacker's Handbook then?

All food is toxic. There is actually no food that is not unhealthy and full of toxins. Plants are known to protect themselves with all sorts of toxins and antinutrients.

The authors of this book also recommend not drinking tap water.

The recommendation to drink tea with meals was strange, since tea at least prevents iron absorption.

The best advice in the book: Minimize human contact. (I maybe left out a few words from that sentence)

 

 

I personally couldn't become a biohacker, or at least not monitor myself. That would just stress me out. And I don't think it's very healthy to have electronic devices in bed, for example.

 

Sebastian Fitzek: The Inmate

I finally got to the library after a long time, and I was so happy when I was able to borrow books that had been on my reading list for a long time.

The thriller The Inmate (affiliate link) by German author Sebastian Fitzek tells the story of a man named Till, who uses a false identity to infiltrate a mental hospital to find out what a famous child murderer did to his son.

The Patient is a quick read and the plot progresses quickly, there are no idle moments. There almost were too many characters for me to keep up with.

In the thriller category, this is in the better, non-boring category. I am interested in reading more books by this author.

Ruth Ware: The It Girl - Review

I've read a couple of Ruth Ware's psychological thrillers before. Now I got The It Girl (affiliate link) as a Christmas present.

 

What is The It Girl by Ruth Ware about?

When Hannah arrives at Oxford university to study, she gets a rich and hot-tempered April as her roommate. Then April is murdered. Who killed her?

Even ten years later, the matter still bothers Hannah, who is pregnant. But April's death was only a good thing for Hannah. That way, she got the man she loved, April's boyfriend Will.

The story is told in two timelines, before April's murder and ten years later.

Appropriately, everyone is being suspected, and it's difficult to guess who is guilty. I only realized that shortly before everything was revealed.

How does The It Girl by Ruth Ware end?

Warning, obvious spoilers below!

 

Who killed April? Was it Hannah herself? Or her boyfriend Will, whom she stole from her best friend? Or was it someone from the circle of friends?  Was it Hugh, Ryan or Emily?

 

The answer is always the one the main characters never really suspects. So in this case it's Hugh.

But the way he did it is more interesting. Originally it was one of April's stupid pranks. She only played dead, to fool Hannah. But then Hugh actually killed her while supposedly giving her CPR. 

But why did he do it? April knew Hugh's dirty secret. That he didn't really pass the medical school exam. Someone else took the exam for him.

Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre

When I wasn't interested in any other book for months.

I first read Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (affiliate link) as a child, and it has fascinated me ever since. I find many similar books so boring, but this one isn't. Now a lot of time had passed since I last read it, and I wanted to see if it still fascinates me as much.

The book is about an orphan named Jane Eyre, who lives a miserable and poor childhood. On the threshold of adulthood, she gets a job as a governess from a rich man. Although the man is ugly and older than her, Jane naturally falls in love with him. What happens then?

The story is full of drama and overwhelming emotions, told in very verbose terms of course. It's hard to believe that people would actually talk like that.

The book was published in 1847 under a pseudonym, but a scandal soon emerged. That the author is a woman.

In the book a sum of money, 20 000 pounds, plays a major role. I had to check how much it would be worth in today's money: over 2 million dollars...

 

This time it took me exactly half a year to read it because I kept this book in the bathroom...