What do you think?
Rate this book
Blood: The Stuff of Life
In Blood, bestselling author Lawrence Hill offers a provocative examination of the scientific and social history of blood, and on the ways that it unites and divides us today.
Blood runs red through every person’s arteries, and fulfills the same functions in every human being. However, as much as the study and use of blood has helped advance our understanding of human biology, its cultural and social representations have divided us perennially. Blood pulses through religions, literature, and the visual arts, and every time it pools or spills, we learn a little more about what brings human beings together and what divides them.
This book is a fascinating historical and contemporary interpretation of blood, as a bold and enduring determinant of identity, race, culture, citizenship, belonging, privilege, deprivation, athletic superiority, and nationhood.
Blood runs red through every person’s arteries, and fulfills the same functions in every human being. However, as much as the study and use of blood has helped advance our understanding of human biology, its cultural and social representations have divided us perennially. Blood pulses through religions, literature, and the visual arts, and every time it pools or spills, we learn a little more about what brings human beings together and what divides them.
This book is a fascinating historical and contemporary interpretation of blood, as a bold and enduring determinant of identity, race, culture, citizenship, belonging, privilege, deprivation, athletic superiority, and nationhood.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
54 people are currently reading
987 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Hill
35 books1,755 followersHill is the author of ten books of fiction and non-fiction. In 2005, he won his first literary honour: a National Magazine Award for the article “Is Africa’s Pain Black America’s Burden?” published in The Walrus. His first two novels were Some Great Thing and Any Known Blood, and his first non-fiction work to attract national attention was the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada. But it was his third novel, The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins Canada, 2007) — published in some countries as Someone Knows My Name and in French as Aminata — that attracted widespread attention in Canada and other countries.
Lawrence Hill’s non-fiction book, Blood: The Stuff of Life was published in September 2013 by House of Anansi Press. Blood is a personal consideration of the physical, social, cultural and psychological aspects of blood, and how it defines, unites and divides us. Hill drew from the book to deliver the 2013 Massey Lectures across Canada.
In 2013, Hill published the essay Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning (University of Alberta Press).
His fourth novel, The Illegal, was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2015 and by WW Norton in the USA in 2016.
Hill is currently writing a new novel and a children’s book, and co-writing a television miniseries adaptation of The Illegal for Conquering Lion Pictures. Hill is a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph, in Ontario.
Lawrence Hill’s non-fiction book, Blood: The Stuff of Life was published in September 2013 by House of Anansi Press. Blood is a personal consideration of the physical, social, cultural and psychological aspects of blood, and how it defines, unites and divides us. Hill drew from the book to deliver the 2013 Massey Lectures across Canada.
In 2013, Hill published the essay Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning (University of Alberta Press).
His fourth novel, The Illegal, was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2015 and by WW Norton in the USA in 2016.
Hill is currently writing a new novel and a children’s book, and co-writing a television miniseries adaptation of The Illegal for Conquering Lion Pictures. Hill is a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph, in Ontario.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
August 21, 2025
It is always a pleasure to find non-fiction that qualifies as a gripping page turner!
If Lawrence Hill’s Blood were a musical composition, one might characterize it as a brilliant, free-wheeling and far-ranging improvisation on a single note – that single theme note (well, it’s obvious, isn’t it!) is “blood”! A couple of random quotations might serve better to illustrate Hill’s eclectic intent in pulling together such a disparate collection of essays. For example, consider this tidbit from the close of the first chapter:
“Blood, indeed, filters into every aspect of our language and defines who we are: in our emotional states, in our social ranking, in our state of innocence or moral guilt, and most important of all, in our relationships to each other.”
“Blood is truly the stuff of life: a bold and enduring determinant of identity, race, gender, culture, citizenship, belonging, privilege, deprivation, athletic superiority and nationhood. It is so vital to our sense of ourselves, our abilities, and our possibilities for survival that we have invested money, time, and energy in learning how to manipulate its very composition.”
and an excerpt of the description of Hill’s CBC Massey Lecture that formed the kernel from which he created Blood:
“Blood: The Stuff of Life is a bold meditation on blood as an historical and contemporary marker of identity, belonging, gender, race, class, citizenship, athletic superiority and nationhood.”
Racism; persecution, blood sacrifices and religion; the imaginative ways that athletes, their coaches and their doctors have devised to cheat in sports; misogyny, feminism and menstruation; blood diseases; tainted blood, homosexuality and blood transfusions; the history of the science of blood; blood in mythology; the cultural definitions of “being” black, Jewish or aboriginal; genocide; entertainment and the public thirst for blood and gore; the popularity of vampires in today’s literature – well, I think you get the idea. The breadth of topics that Hill touches on is almost dizzying in its eclecticism.
On virtually every line of every page, Blood:The Stuff of Life is informative, entertaining, provocative, thoughtful and – that element so often missing from drier and less well-executed non-fiction – it is compelling.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
If Lawrence Hill’s Blood were a musical composition, one might characterize it as a brilliant, free-wheeling and far-ranging improvisation on a single note – that single theme note (well, it’s obvious, isn’t it!) is “blood”! A couple of random quotations might serve better to illustrate Hill’s eclectic intent in pulling together such a disparate collection of essays. For example, consider this tidbit from the close of the first chapter:
“Blood, indeed, filters into every aspect of our language and defines who we are: in our emotional states, in our social ranking, in our state of innocence or moral guilt, and most important of all, in our relationships to each other.”
“Blood is truly the stuff of life: a bold and enduring determinant of identity, race, gender, culture, citizenship, belonging, privilege, deprivation, athletic superiority and nationhood. It is so vital to our sense of ourselves, our abilities, and our possibilities for survival that we have invested money, time, and energy in learning how to manipulate its very composition.”
and an excerpt of the description of Hill’s CBC Massey Lecture that formed the kernel from which he created Blood:
“Blood: The Stuff of Life is a bold meditation on blood as an historical and contemporary marker of identity, belonging, gender, race, class, citizenship, athletic superiority and nationhood.”
Racism; persecution, blood sacrifices and religion; the imaginative ways that athletes, their coaches and their doctors have devised to cheat in sports; misogyny, feminism and menstruation; blood diseases; tainted blood, homosexuality and blood transfusions; the history of the science of blood; blood in mythology; the cultural definitions of “being” black, Jewish or aboriginal; genocide; entertainment and the public thirst for blood and gore; the popularity of vampires in today’s literature – well, I think you get the idea. The breadth of topics that Hill touches on is almost dizzying in its eclecticism.
On virtually every line of every page, Blood:The Stuff of Life is informative, entertaining, provocative, thoughtful and – that element so often missing from drier and less well-executed non-fiction – it is compelling.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
January 15, 2015
The human body is weird. I mean, it’s a wonder we function at all. We’re fragile bags of mostly water that support a strange and wonderful organ that seems to give us consciousness. All this happens through a complex set of interconnected systems that work to keep us alive. I’m really not down with the ickiness of my biology: bring on the robot bodies! Until that happens, though, I’m forced to agree with Lawrence Hill: Blood really is The Stuff of Life. Furthermore, how we treat blood and how, historically, our understanding of blood has led us to treat others, is a fascinating and important topic to consider.
I’m seeing a lot of reviews of this book that express dissatisfaction with the lack of scientific information and the excess of anecdotes from Hill’s life. And, fair enough: if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for, you will be disappointed. Although Hill gives a basic précis of how blood breaks down and when we learned all this, Blood is more about culture and history than it is about science—the science, when it’s there, is to illuminate the historical attitudes, rather than the other way around. Being disappointed with this is a totally legitimate attitude, but I think it’s a little disingenuous when the book never bills itself as popular science. My copy, at least, claims to be “a bold meditation on blood as an historical and contemporary marker of identity, belonging, gender, race, class, citizenship, athletic superiority, and nationhood” (woo, Oxford comma!). Laundry list aside, there’s no claim to scientific discourse here. Let’s not ignore the impulse of the Massey Lectures either, which is to discuss a topic as it relates to culture and philosophy. The whole point of this exercise is for Hill to remove blood from beneath the microscope and look at how it has affected our societies.
One point Hill wants to hammer home is that despite differences in blood types, all our blood is the same. That is, no one has ever managed to use blood to successfully replicate the cultural constructs of race and ethnicity. He examines the futility of trying to establish ancestry and descent through blood quanta. Your skin might be lighter or darker than other people; you might have hair that coils or curls or waves or stay straight; but as long as your blood types are compatible, you can share blood regardless of these surface-level characteristics. Hill reminds us that the idea we can neatly compartmentalize humans into categories like “race” is only that—an idea, promoted and perpetuated throughout the centuries whenever it is a convenient way for people in power to oppress others.
Obviously, Hill’s identity as a black man contributes heavily to this discussion, as does his identity as the child of Americans who immigrated. But he also talks about other ways in which blood has been used to oppress, separate, or otherwise distinguish people into less- and more-deserving groups. In particular, he mentions the ongoing struggle Aboriginal peoples of Canada have even in being recognized as being Aboriginal. Blood, blood quantum, and the idea that who one marries can affect whether your children are members of a certain group all contribute to allowing or denying access to certain privileges. This is a pattern of behaviour that has gone on for millennia and continues to this very day—but it has no basis in fact.
In this way, blood is one of the properties by which we determine what is human. Hill examines this from another angle when he discusses blood-doping and other steroid usage. As an amateur runner who gave up his athletic aspirations for literary ones, Hill knows a lot about the mechanics of running and the obstacles athletes face to run faster and longer. Blood plays an immensely important role in this. I never followed the blood-doping scandal when it was in the news—sports is of little interest to me. The transhumanist aspect of steroid use, however, is fascinating. Hill teases out the difficult ethical quandaries surrounding these issues, speculates how we will deal with more and more innovative ways of enhancing athletes.
Blood is definitely thoughtful and moving. It is somewhat repetitive. Though Hill promises a careful division of topics into the five chapters/five lectures of the series, he revisits the same ideas—albeit from slightly different angles. Each chapters, as a result, has some high points mixed among a lot of, “Didn’t I already read this?” Though the book never goes so far as to be boring, it is not as insightful as its length might suggest.
It’s just a coincidence that I read this just as the adaptation of Hill’s The Book of Negroes premieres on CBC. Hill’s choice of subject for the Massey Lectures was certainly apt: his writing is often about blood and the effect it has on our lives. I haven’t actually read The Book of Negroes yet, but even from his non-fiction writing I can tell that Hill is a talented and thorough author. If the subject interests you, then Blood will be satisfying guide through the cultural baggage that courses through our veins and arteries. If you’re looking for a popular science book, though, you should continue your search elsewhere.
I’m seeing a lot of reviews of this book that express dissatisfaction with the lack of scientific information and the excess of anecdotes from Hill’s life. And, fair enough: if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for, you will be disappointed. Although Hill gives a basic précis of how blood breaks down and when we learned all this, Blood is more about culture and history than it is about science—the science, when it’s there, is to illuminate the historical attitudes, rather than the other way around. Being disappointed with this is a totally legitimate attitude, but I think it’s a little disingenuous when the book never bills itself as popular science. My copy, at least, claims to be “a bold meditation on blood as an historical and contemporary marker of identity, belonging, gender, race, class, citizenship, athletic superiority, and nationhood” (woo, Oxford comma!). Laundry list aside, there’s no claim to scientific discourse here. Let’s not ignore the impulse of the Massey Lectures either, which is to discuss a topic as it relates to culture and philosophy. The whole point of this exercise is for Hill to remove blood from beneath the microscope and look at how it has affected our societies.
One point Hill wants to hammer home is that despite differences in blood types, all our blood is the same. That is, no one has ever managed to use blood to successfully replicate the cultural constructs of race and ethnicity. He examines the futility of trying to establish ancestry and descent through blood quanta. Your skin might be lighter or darker than other people; you might have hair that coils or curls or waves or stay straight; but as long as your blood types are compatible, you can share blood regardless of these surface-level characteristics. Hill reminds us that the idea we can neatly compartmentalize humans into categories like “race” is only that—an idea, promoted and perpetuated throughout the centuries whenever it is a convenient way for people in power to oppress others.
Obviously, Hill’s identity as a black man contributes heavily to this discussion, as does his identity as the child of Americans who immigrated. But he also talks about other ways in which blood has been used to oppress, separate, or otherwise distinguish people into less- and more-deserving groups. In particular, he mentions the ongoing struggle Aboriginal peoples of Canada have even in being recognized as being Aboriginal. Blood, blood quantum, and the idea that who one marries can affect whether your children are members of a certain group all contribute to allowing or denying access to certain privileges. This is a pattern of behaviour that has gone on for millennia and continues to this very day—but it has no basis in fact.
In this way, blood is one of the properties by which we determine what is human. Hill examines this from another angle when he discusses blood-doping and other steroid usage. As an amateur runner who gave up his athletic aspirations for literary ones, Hill knows a lot about the mechanics of running and the obstacles athletes face to run faster and longer. Blood plays an immensely important role in this. I never followed the blood-doping scandal when it was in the news—sports is of little interest to me. The transhumanist aspect of steroid use, however, is fascinating. Hill teases out the difficult ethical quandaries surrounding these issues, speculates how we will deal with more and more innovative ways of enhancing athletes.
Blood is definitely thoughtful and moving. It is somewhat repetitive. Though Hill promises a careful division of topics into the five chapters/five lectures of the series, he revisits the same ideas—albeit from slightly different angles. Each chapters, as a result, has some high points mixed among a lot of, “Didn’t I already read this?” Though the book never goes so far as to be boring, it is not as insightful as its length might suggest.
It’s just a coincidence that I read this just as the adaptation of Hill’s The Book of Negroes premieres on CBC. Hill’s choice of subject for the Massey Lectures was certainly apt: his writing is often about blood and the effect it has on our lives. I haven’t actually read The Book of Negroes yet, but even from his non-fiction writing I can tell that Hill is a talented and thorough author. If the subject interests you, then Blood will be satisfying guide through the cultural baggage that courses through our veins and arteries. If you’re looking for a popular science book, though, you should continue your search elsewhere.
October 17, 2015
Lawrence Hill's latest book, Blood: The Stuff of Life, is a meditation on the cultural and personal meanings of blood. An essential part of our anatomy, it is perhaps the only internal aspect of our physical beings that almost all of us, at some time or another, will see outside of its natural place. And it has come to mean so many things in addition to simply the red fluid that is so much a part of what keeps us alive.
"It’s hard to imagine a single person in a school, restaurant, theatre, hockey arena, hospital room, or bookstore who does not have a set of personal stories about blood. Maybe it was the blood of a distant ancestor, persecuted because his or her blood was deemed to be impure. Maybe it was a grandfather who fell under the blade of a farm instrument and bled to death in the fields. Maybe it was an aunt who donated plasma weekly for decades, or a sister who won international attention for designing a more effective way to kill cancerous white blood cells before they multiplied madly and killed the patient. Maybe something happened to you in the blood lab, or in the operating room, and lodged so deeply in your mind that you have passed the story along to every single family member. Blood keeps you alive, for sure. Yet, the very blood in your veins and arteries can suddenly betray you. One day you feel healthy and have just hiked up a mountain with the person you most love in the world, and the next day what you thought was a routine blood test tells you that you have prostate cancer and had better decide, pronto, if you’re going to opt for surgery or radiation, or tempt the gods by doing nothing at all. Blood is the lubricant of our bodies and the endlessly circulating river supplying oxygen and nutrients to our cells. But it is far more than a sign of your physical health, or an omen of your mortality. It has the potential to reveal your most hidden secrets: How is your cholesterol level? How much alcohol have you consumed? Have you been snorting cocaine? Are there any other residual traces that might scare off an employer, or lead a life insurance company to deny your application? What has been the average amount of sugar in your blood over the past ninety days? Did you cheat in that Olympic marathon race? Are you the father of that child? Blood won’t tell all. But it can tell enough to get you in a whole lot of trouble."
Hill's book is exhaustive in its examination of matters of blood, from traditions of blood sacrifice to the gods to blood donation policies. But while the range of topics mentioned is vast, one might wish for a fuller examination of them. In being encyclopedic, Hill has sacrificed depth of analysis. For example, in one section devoted to discussing blood as a symbol of honour and sacrifice, Hill covers Aztec religious sacrifices, Japanese seppuku, and honour killings of women in just a few pages, providing the literary equivalent of sound bytes on each, but little background or individual context.
It's an idiosyncratic book, organised as much by Hill's musings about blood and his life experiences, as it is by generally accepted themes associated with blood. I enjoyed much of it, though there were times that I wished Hill had spent more time on a topic, and other times when I thought he went into too much detail for something that seemed to me to be a relatively tangential aspect. But it's also a very personal book, and in many cases the amount of space given to an issue seems at least in part determined by the strength of its meaning in his own life.
"It’s hard to imagine a single person in a school, restaurant, theatre, hockey arena, hospital room, or bookstore who does not have a set of personal stories about blood. Maybe it was the blood of a distant ancestor, persecuted because his or her blood was deemed to be impure. Maybe it was a grandfather who fell under the blade of a farm instrument and bled to death in the fields. Maybe it was an aunt who donated plasma weekly for decades, or a sister who won international attention for designing a more effective way to kill cancerous white blood cells before they multiplied madly and killed the patient. Maybe something happened to you in the blood lab, or in the operating room, and lodged so deeply in your mind that you have passed the story along to every single family member. Blood keeps you alive, for sure. Yet, the very blood in your veins and arteries can suddenly betray you. One day you feel healthy and have just hiked up a mountain with the person you most love in the world, and the next day what you thought was a routine blood test tells you that you have prostate cancer and had better decide, pronto, if you’re going to opt for surgery or radiation, or tempt the gods by doing nothing at all. Blood is the lubricant of our bodies and the endlessly circulating river supplying oxygen and nutrients to our cells. But it is far more than a sign of your physical health, or an omen of your mortality. It has the potential to reveal your most hidden secrets: How is your cholesterol level? How much alcohol have you consumed? Have you been snorting cocaine? Are there any other residual traces that might scare off an employer, or lead a life insurance company to deny your application? What has been the average amount of sugar in your blood over the past ninety days? Did you cheat in that Olympic marathon race? Are you the father of that child? Blood won’t tell all. But it can tell enough to get you in a whole lot of trouble."
Hill's book is exhaustive in its examination of matters of blood, from traditions of blood sacrifice to the gods to blood donation policies. But while the range of topics mentioned is vast, one might wish for a fuller examination of them. In being encyclopedic, Hill has sacrificed depth of analysis. For example, in one section devoted to discussing blood as a symbol of honour and sacrifice, Hill covers Aztec religious sacrifices, Japanese seppuku, and honour killings of women in just a few pages, providing the literary equivalent of sound bytes on each, but little background or individual context.
It's an idiosyncratic book, organised as much by Hill's musings about blood and his life experiences, as it is by generally accepted themes associated with blood. I enjoyed much of it, though there were times that I wished Hill had spent more time on a topic, and other times when I thought he went into too much detail for something that seemed to me to be a relatively tangential aspect. But it's also a very personal book, and in many cases the amount of space given to an issue seems at least in part determined by the strength of its meaning in his own life.
Read
July 30, 2020I believe that I listened to Lawrence Hill speaking this during the Massey Lectures Series. It was on CBC Radio a few years ago. I found it quite interesting and tuned in each night so that I wouldn't miss one of Hill's lectures. It may have been a taping of the original, as CBC has been known to do.
May 4, 2017
Wow - this was an amazing read! I wanted to savour every word, fact, and anecdote Hill presented but couldn't help myself and gorged on his writing. I sped through this short collection of Massey Lectures (presented by CBC etc. every year on different topics) in several short sittings. Lawrence Hill (of The Book of Negroes fame) is a Canadian author who in this series of lectures examines the role blood plays in our collective and individual memories, ideologies, histories, cultures, politics, and lives. He examines the role of blood in entertainment, persecution, race and self-identity politics, medicine and science, blood donations and the HIV-tainted scandals of the 1980s/1990s, and the absolute folly of a notion that blood is a scientific separator of humanity from each other (rather than the common sense idea of societal values imposed from one human to another). I particularly enjoyed his familial anecdotes - they really fleshed out the lectures and lent a personal and relatable feeling to the book.
I would give Blood: The Stuff of Life a 4.5 star read (and alas with this rating system it will be demoted to a 4 star). The only criticism I really have is two-fold: one that the topics he explored were often too short in length and depth for my liking - especially in his talented hands (which in some way is understandable considering the structure of the Massey Lectures), and that sometimes he switched topics or stories too quickly without good/smooth transitions. For example, cutting as a social phenomenon among adolescents was only briefly mentioned for several short paragraphs and then summarily forgotten about for another (albeit very interesting) topic/argument.
Overall, this was a fantastic read (especially for someone who has quite the morbid fascination with blood and all its medical and societal implications) and I now adore Lawrence Hill's writing. I cannot wait to read more of his non-fiction and actually explore his fiction.
I would give Blood: The Stuff of Life a 4.5 star read (and alas with this rating system it will be demoted to a 4 star). The only criticism I really have is two-fold: one that the topics he explored were often too short in length and depth for my liking - especially in his talented hands (which in some way is understandable considering the structure of the Massey Lectures), and that sometimes he switched topics or stories too quickly without good/smooth transitions. For example, cutting as a social phenomenon among adolescents was only briefly mentioned for several short paragraphs and then summarily forgotten about for another (albeit very interesting) topic/argument.
Overall, this was a fantastic read (especially for someone who has quite the morbid fascination with blood and all its medical and societal implications) and I now adore Lawrence Hill's writing. I cannot wait to read more of his non-fiction and actually explore his fiction.
June 11, 2014
10% blood science, 40% culture around blood and 50% the authors own indulgent musings.
From a non-fiction book I wanted more tangibles - Give me the forensic history of blood science. Give me case studies on blood science. Give me hard facts!
Alas, this ended up appearing as a novelists attempt at writing non-fiction, and he couldn't help but insert himself into the narrative. I just couldn't get emotionally invested in the author's stories. I was completely indifferent about his diabetes, kids, family, and his anxiety about his cultural identity. All this he lays out with gusto and passion to the reader, but to me, it felt like the author's autobiography, clumsily shoehorned in to otherwise solid content.
I did love the roughly five references to select renaissance artwork. The story behind each piece was a treat that I wasn't expecting. The Canadian Sikh immigration boat story was something I found fascinating too.
But overall this book suffered at the hands of the authors own vanity.
2 stars: Some good stuff but it was hard work mining the book to find it.
From a non-fiction book I wanted more tangibles - Give me the forensic history of blood science. Give me case studies on blood science. Give me hard facts!
Alas, this ended up appearing as a novelists attempt at writing non-fiction, and he couldn't help but insert himself into the narrative. I just couldn't get emotionally invested in the author's stories. I was completely indifferent about his diabetes, kids, family, and his anxiety about his cultural identity. All this he lays out with gusto and passion to the reader, but to me, it felt like the author's autobiography, clumsily shoehorned in to otherwise solid content.
I did love the roughly five references to select renaissance artwork. The story behind each piece was a treat that I wasn't expecting. The Canadian Sikh immigration boat story was something I found fascinating too.
But overall this book suffered at the hands of the authors own vanity.
2 stars: Some good stuff but it was hard work mining the book to find it.
February 2, 2019
Book Review:
Blood: The Stuff of Life- Lawrence Hill
Not a scientific novel & peppered with personal stories from the authors life, this non fiction focuses on the history and different cultural beliefs surrounding blood. This novel touches on a broad list of subjects: everything from blood doping in sports, how it effects the different genders and its role on womens lives around the world, Aztec ritual sacrifice, honour killing of women, how "blood purity" is used against certain races, the political & social problems behind donating blood (in the 50's discrimination towards people of color, currently the gay community). Definitely a very interesting read! One of the best recurring themes throughout the books is: despite our many differences as a species, we are all the same on a biological level.
Blood: The Stuff of Life- Lawrence Hill
Not a scientific novel & peppered with personal stories from the authors life, this non fiction focuses on the history and different cultural beliefs surrounding blood. This novel touches on a broad list of subjects: everything from blood doping in sports, how it effects the different genders and its role on womens lives around the world, Aztec ritual sacrifice, honour killing of women, how "blood purity" is used against certain races, the political & social problems behind donating blood (in the 50's discrimination towards people of color, currently the gay community). Definitely a very interesting read! One of the best recurring themes throughout the books is: despite our many differences as a species, we are all the same on a biological level.
September 25, 2014
An extremely smart, heart-felt and genuine autobiography of blood. I thought this was brilliant!
October 13, 2020
3.5 stars. My only real complaint about this book is that it tries to be too inclusive in the scope of its audience. Inclusivity and oneness are Hill's overarching message - all blood is the same, and equal - but this mantra is applied too vigorously to his actual prose. Sentences that explain the most basic facts of life (e.g., blood carries oxygen in the body) rub elbows with whole pages dedicated to the minutiae of (for example) Canada's policies on indigenous peoples. The author makes the transitions between elementary explanations and deep topic-probing very smooth, and his attempt to make his points accessible to a broad spectrum of readers is admirable, but I suspect that both ends of that spectrum would find themselves bored by the sections that are either much too basic or much too specific for their interest level. All of that being said, I liked the way that Hill wove history, science, politics, and personal memoir together. Hill himself comes off as very sincere and affable, the sort of person one would always like to have as a neighbor. This isn't something I'm likely to ever re-read, and I don't see myself rushing out to find more of Hill's works, but I am glad that I picked this particular book of his up.
June 26, 2023
Far from being just another biology book (as I expected it to be), this is a comprehensive review of the role of blood in various societies through the ages. Hill examines the symbolism attributed to blood in everything from ancient Aztec culture and the Old Testament to evolving taboos and misconceptions about menstrual blood in modern history. He tells the story of medicinal discoveries about circulation, blood types, blood storage and transfusions and the complexities of blood doping in sport. He also discusses metaphorical ideas about blood such as race, dynasties and hereditary monarchies. I was particularly interested in Hills thoughts on race and identity. He speaks of being born to a black father and white mother and the intricacies of his identity as a mixed race Canadian, as well as the subsequent identities of his children. This book also extensively examines the myriad of societies throughout history that have used unfounded notions about blood to justify discrimination, racism, slavery and genocide. Hill eloquently writes about the absurdity of the ideas that led to these atrocities and how elements of them continue to prevail in society today. A very interesting book, inviting us to examine our own ideas about blood in all elements of life.
April 25, 2018
I borrowed this book from the library. Every so often I like to read a science text to stretch my thinking and knowledge.
It was scientifically informative and refreshed my understanding of blood types etc. It was also interesting to read about the history of how blood is portrayed in matters of race, faith, gender and sexuality.
It was scientifically informative and refreshed my understanding of blood types etc. It was also interesting to read about the history of how blood is portrayed in matters of race, faith, gender and sexuality.
May 5, 2022
Lawrence Hill explores how our notions of blood intertwine medicine with metaphors. This book made me question how I think about blood and the role it plays in Canadian culture, history, and politics. 💯💯💯💯💯
June 14, 2023
I really wanted a book that could describe how blood was viewed or important to cultures and history. Instead I got this, the published version of Hill's CBC Massey Lectures on CBC Radio. Lawrence Hill is the author of the famous book The Book of Negroes, which had a CBC mini series so I guess he's well like by those CBC VIPs. Regardless, I was interested in reading radio lectures (yes, still not sure how that worked), especially if I could learn about blood in an up to date, Canadian context.
The first two parts were interesting enough. Hill covered the nature/functions of blood, historic practices, menstruation, blood typing, human sacrifice, honour killings, stem cells, tainted blood, blood donation, and cheating in sports. So far so good, so far pretty interesting. Long chapters, but this was the content I was interested in. Then the book went downhill for me. The last three chapters tie blood to race and religion. To me that's more genetics and cultural upbringing, but what do I know. Topics included race (heavy on Black, with some Aboriginal tie-ins), adoption, citizenship, witches (?), boxing, crime scene investigation, genocide and more race, skin colour, identity repeat etc. The concepts were interesting enough, but I wanted blood, as in cells, not blood as in racial identity.
The last 2/3s of the book was generally repetitive, if not slightly long winded, as it kept coming down to black vs white skin colour. Don't get me wrong, Hill is a great writer, accessible, poetical, but I was just looking for something different I guess. I'll fondly remember reading the first two chapters, and forget that I skimmed through the rest. In the end it's my fault - the subject heading for this books is Blood -- Social Aspects and clearly I was more interested in the science, biology, history, gruesome/gory bits. I'd still recommend this book though, especially if you're interested in how "blood" has been tied to racial identity.
The first two parts were interesting enough. Hill covered the nature/functions of blood, historic practices, menstruation, blood typing, human sacrifice, honour killings, stem cells, tainted blood, blood donation, and cheating in sports. So far so good, so far pretty interesting. Long chapters, but this was the content I was interested in. Then the book went downhill for me. The last three chapters tie blood to race and religion. To me that's more genetics and cultural upbringing, but what do I know. Topics included race (heavy on Black, with some Aboriginal tie-ins), adoption, citizenship, witches (?), boxing, crime scene investigation, genocide and more race, skin colour, identity repeat etc. The concepts were interesting enough, but I wanted blood, as in cells, not blood as in racial identity.
The last 2/3s of the book was generally repetitive, if not slightly long winded, as it kept coming down to black vs white skin colour. Don't get me wrong, Hill is a great writer, accessible, poetical, but I was just looking for something different I guess. I'll fondly remember reading the first two chapters, and forget that I skimmed through the rest. In the end it's my fault - the subject heading for this books is Blood -- Social Aspects and clearly I was more interested in the science, biology, history, gruesome/gory bits. I'd still recommend this book though, especially if you're interested in how "blood" has been tied to racial identity.
April 13, 2015
Well, this book definitely didn't go as I expected when I picked it off the library shelf!
This book isn't really a science book, despite giving the outward impression of it. About half the time is spent with the author waxing on about racism or sexism in some way. It is about blood, but more in a how it is seen in a societal way, and over time, rather than it's make-up and function (though this is touched upon).
It was interesting to read, if a bit random, just not what I was expecting. There is one thing I hated about it though. It mentions Harry Potter and claims he is a 'half blood' because his mother was a muggle, when actually she was muggle-born. Surely anyone who's read the books knows that!
This book isn't really a science book, despite giving the outward impression of it. About half the time is spent with the author waxing on about racism or sexism in some way. It is about blood, but more in a how it is seen in a societal way, and over time, rather than it's make-up and function (though this is touched upon).
It was interesting to read, if a bit random, just not what I was expecting. There is one thing I hated about it though. It mentions Harry Potter and claims he is a 'half blood' because his mother was a muggle, when actually she was muggle-born. Surely anyone who's read the books knows that!
July 16, 2014
I agree with the posters and commentators who said that this book was all over the place. However, I was interested in about 90 per cent of the topics that he's writing about, so in some ways, the scattered nature of the book was not a deterrent. I loved reading about race, passing, history and the prejudices and notions we have about blood.
Loved all the personal stories too.
Loved all the personal stories too.
September 14, 2013
I was lucky enough to read the manuscript. This is a wonderful book. Engaging, accessible and there is something in there that will be meaningful to everyone.
November 22, 2013
Interesting, but a bit too meandering and predictable...
March 2, 2022
I am thoroughly intrigued by anything that has to do with the human body, every specific function needs to be scrunitized and read about. From the workings of our gut (Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ) to what happens to your body after death (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, or From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death), I want to know it all. Of all the bodily fluids and functions, blood and the circulation are especially evocative. It's probably safe to say that every single person in this world has seen their own, and most likely also other people's blood. It's familiar to us, even thinking about it immediately provokes a reaction, and we are highly aware of the fact that we'd be dead if our heart would suddenly stop, or we'd bleed out, or a foreign substance would interfere with our blood cells. Yet, for all that it is so familiar - or maybe because it is - we also ascribe all these mystical values to it.
The latter is what Hill focuses on. This was a strange book, different than I expected. There are a few medical terms here and there, but mostly, 'Blood' is about the cultural significance of the liquid, and what it means in different situations. Debating such topics as shedding blood for your country or a deity, or blood from 'others' being seen as impure or tainted, Hill mostly muses on the way perceived 'blood ties' can both separate us and bring us together. He discusses how those ideas are based on nothing much and yet they are incredibly powerful, and hard to erase.
While I found it thought-provoking, and Hill shows certain topics from a completely different angle (I found his few paragraphs about menstruation more insightful than the entirety of Period. It's About Bloody Time), the way the book was set up made it seem a bit rambling. For all that Hill outlined at the start what he would discuss per chapter, the topics overlap and I couldn't really see why it was divided up that way. Because of that, it felt a bit like a drawn-out essay in places - it might have worked better in a shorter, essay-like form. Still, I've ticked off another of the bodily functions, and I can't help but think how nicely morbid the paperback looks on my shelf. (Superficial, but still important.)
The latter is what Hill focuses on. This was a strange book, different than I expected. There are a few medical terms here and there, but mostly, 'Blood' is about the cultural significance of the liquid, and what it means in different situations. Debating such topics as shedding blood for your country or a deity, or blood from 'others' being seen as impure or tainted, Hill mostly muses on the way perceived 'blood ties' can both separate us and bring us together. He discusses how those ideas are based on nothing much and yet they are incredibly powerful, and hard to erase.
While I found it thought-provoking, and Hill shows certain topics from a completely different angle (I found his few paragraphs about menstruation more insightful than the entirety of Period. It's About Bloody Time), the way the book was set up made it seem a bit rambling. For all that Hill outlined at the start what he would discuss per chapter, the topics overlap and I couldn't really see why it was divided up that way. Because of that, it felt a bit like a drawn-out essay in places - it might have worked better in a shorter, essay-like form. Still, I've ticked off another of the bodily functions, and I can't help but think how nicely morbid the paperback looks on my shelf. (Superficial, but still important.)
June 2, 2018
I went into this book expecting an anthropological perspective on blood - a survey of other cultures and how they thought and felt and acted in relation to blood. The author touched on some medical history (already covered more extensively in another recent read - Blood An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas Starr), a few fun cultural facts (like Aristotle's theory on why women have periods), and mostly meandered into personal stories and issues about race and genetics. This book is not primarily about "blood: the stuff of life" but blood and ancestry. It's not about life, it's about perception. There are repeated lengthy personal segues in each chapter that start to grate on one's nerves after a bit (as they take up more space than the cool history and cultural bits), and a lot of focus on blood is viewed sociologically. What is most annoying is that the author emphasizes that these perceptions of race are pointless because our blood is essentially the same regardless of our background, and yet continues to bring up historical issues and discussions where the opposite of this belief drove the actions and tone of the situations presented. There is a lot of personal bias in the information presented and I get the impression that all of his books (he refers to others several times throughout the course of this one), both fiction and nonfiction are driven by his own personal experience and life story.
When I finished the book I was completely unsatisfied with the amount of historical and cultural information I'd gleaned from it. It seemed too much like a personal essay about how race is perceived and not enough like a factual look at blood itself.
When I finished the book I was completely unsatisfied with the amount of historical and cultural information I'd gleaned from it. It seemed too much like a personal essay about how race is perceived and not enough like a factual look at blood itself.
December 6, 2019
I read this book by mistake. When I bought it, I thought I would be reading an update of the Bell Telephone TV science special "Hemo the Magnificent" (1957) narrated by Dr. Frank Baxter. I was wrong. I expected to swim (mentally) through the serum learning fascinating facts about platelets, hemophilia, bone marrow, leukemia, clotting, genetic markers and the glories of hemoglobin. There is a bit of all of that in Hill's book, that it is incidental to his thesis: that blood is a social construct which determines identity. One's blood has functions well beyond the merely biological; it is culturally relevant to notions of gender, race, social class, nationality, citizenship, inheritance, and religion. Hill has already written extensively on the subject: "Any Known Blood" (a novel, 1997); "The Book of Negroes" (a novel, 2007); "Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada (memoir/essay, 2001). In 2013, he was invited to deliver the Massey Lectures, a public lecture series which was broadcast by CBC Radio. This book expands upon those five-hour broadcasts. The book was useful in several respects. Not only did it raise issues which tend to be invisible to a privileged white male (for which I am the poster child) but it also shares the feelings of a writer of "mixed blood" to the entire subject. He concludes that race is unreal, a social construct at best, and that therefore notions of mixed blood compound the unreality. It was good for me to read this.
January 14, 2018
Blood meanders between memoir and pop science without quite establishing depth of field. The title is a bit of misnomer in that Hill sweeps together both the medical concept of blood and metaphorical expressions of blood through race and ancestry.
Hill considers on his own experience growing up in a multiracial household in Canada. That narrative lends warmth to the work, but it's not quite enough to supply Blood with a unifying theme. Ideas keep flickering past without much depth or analysis, so when Hill ultimately concludes that we're all human and it's important to get along, that statement doesn't have as much weight as it should. So while Blood might be a fun erudite conversation between grad students, it's not getting past the thesis committee.
For undemanding readers looking for some interesting reflections on race and medicine, Blood might be a worthwhile read. But the work is not deep or disciplined enough to earn an unqualified recommendation.
Hill considers on his own experience growing up in a multiracial household in Canada. That narrative lends warmth to the work, but it's not quite enough to supply Blood with a unifying theme. Ideas keep flickering past without much depth or analysis, so when Hill ultimately concludes that we're all human and it's important to get along, that statement doesn't have as much weight as it should. So while Blood might be a fun erudite conversation between grad students, it's not getting past the thesis committee.
For undemanding readers looking for some interesting reflections on race and medicine, Blood might be a worthwhile read. But the work is not deep or disciplined enough to earn an unqualified recommendation.
February 22, 2022
“I’m interested in how it weighs on the human mind, and how it influences our perception of who we are, to whom we belong, and how we experience our humanity.” • The book gives an excellent and sometimes eclectic, wide-ranging social history on blood and switches effortlessly between Hill’s own personal narratives and in-depth research into biology, medicine, history, forensics, policies, politics, and so much more. Time and again throughout the book Hill shows us how something than unites us is more often used to divide us. While some sections felt like they had been covered before without much new to add (think blood doping scandals, fighting in hockey, and the Twilight series), other sections could’ve probably been explored even more - but where to drawn the line with such a vast topic. The book never felt dry to read thanks to Hill’s writing style and I appreciate him for compiling so much information, presenting it in a digestible and enjoyable way.
July 5, 2017
I said I finished this book; that's not true. I am about two thirds of the way through but I cannot read another page.
I appreciate the effort that went into this book. Mr Hill has clearly done some research and occasionally we get a glimpse of that in between all the excessively florid sentences that bulk out the book but add little to no value. It is infuriating to read several pages of prose in which there might be two anecdotes about Hill's life, several pages worth of filler and then, hidden in there somewhere, one little fact about blood which is actually quite interesting.
I thought this would be a book about he history of human perception of blood. It reads like 300 pages of disjointed rambling.
I appreciate the effort that went into this book. Mr Hill has clearly done some research and occasionally we get a glimpse of that in between all the excessively florid sentences that bulk out the book but add little to no value. It is infuriating to read several pages of prose in which there might be two anecdotes about Hill's life, several pages worth of filler and then, hidden in there somewhere, one little fact about blood which is actually quite interesting.
I thought this would be a book about he history of human perception of blood. It reads like 300 pages of disjointed rambling.
December 21, 2025
This book succeeds at bombarding you with every niche reference or historical moment involving blood, ever. I definitely learned a lot, especially in a Canadian context: from HIV-era discrimination in homosexual blood donation that persists today, to the dated laws defining Indigeneous ancestry based on blood fraction, all the way to the people who were able to lie about their race to evade persecution or prejudice.
However, not every reference is created equal, and this book lacks a central thesis beyond “blood unites and divides us.“ There are some pretty egregious juxtapositions at the end: a comment on self-harming teenagers is quickly twisted into how teenagers watch Twilight, and the transition from Renaissance art to stem cell/bone marrow donation is jarring. I wish he’d taken the time to flesh out core ideas on race, sex, and sexuality more, rather than attempt to discuss EVERYTHING to do with blood.
However, not every reference is created equal, and this book lacks a central thesis beyond “blood unites and divides us.“ There are some pretty egregious juxtapositions at the end: a comment on self-harming teenagers is quickly twisted into how teenagers watch Twilight, and the transition from Renaissance art to stem cell/bone marrow donation is jarring. I wish he’d taken the time to flesh out core ideas on race, sex, and sexuality more, rather than attempt to discuss EVERYTHING to do with blood.
October 6, 2017
Très intéressant mais je m'attendais à une étude un peu plus poussée de nos représentations ou usages du sang. Au final, si l'écriture est agréable, j'ai appris peu de choses que je ne connaissais déjà. Tout est resté un peu trop général à mon goût, l'auteur ayant voulu toucher à trop de domaines à la fois et donc n'a pas pris le temps d'approfondir quoi que ce soit.
August 21, 2018
This was not my favorite of the recent Massey lectures. I am not a big fan of the Massey Lectures where an author talks about something they are interested in; its much better when experts present their view. This book has some interesting discussions of race and 'blood', but it feels a bit wandering at times, for example the prolonged section about athletes that use performance-enhancing drugs.
May 4, 2020
A great non-fiction read! Hill analyzes and discusses the importance "blood" has in society. From racism, lineage, family, sports, steroids and Indigenous rights this book makes you think.
Very easy read and easy to follow. Length is manageable and I read through this book so fast because it had very fascinating content.
Very easy read and easy to follow. Length is manageable and I read through this book so fast because it had very fascinating content.
November 25, 2020
Despite the lengthy chapters, this book about all things about blood is well-written and fascinating. Canadian writer Lawrence Hill looks at human blood phenomenon from various viewpoints ranging from biology, diseases, racial supremacy, history, slavery, literature, sports and so on. A bloody informative read!
February 13, 2019
Blood is a vital part of humanity, and has tinged many aspects of culture. This books attempts to cover all of them, which is a wee bit ambitious. The discussions about the blood, racism, and homophobia are good and important. I value that there's Canadian connections in the book.
August 20, 2019
Based on the 2013 Massey Lectures series that he delivered, Lawrence Hill has written about his research and opinions on the relationship of "blood" in the world's societies and how blood has assisted and harmed individuals throughout history.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews