Max Boock > Recent Status Updates

Tragedy stacked upon tragedy, all in the first chapter.

One of the best introductions for an ecological nonfiction book that I have read. Fascinating research on “road ecology”.

Title is wholly misleading. It should have been named “Origins of Fatphobia: the influences of race and religion on bodies and weight”.

Part 2 hardly comments at all about black peoples and their bodies. It’s in this part that I believe the author loses her theme a bit, focusing too much on extraneous details about race almost exclusively within the continent of Europe, and white races. It’s a lot of interesting information, but doesn’t tie into the theme the author is trying to make, which is that fatphobia stems from anti-blackness.

So far this book reads like a toned down, more accessible version of a dissertation. Very clinical in the presentation of evidence to support the thesis. I am only partway through part 2, but I feel like mostly I have just been reading opinions from white male scholars/philosophers/“scientists” of Europe. I would appreciate at least a caveat from the author that these cultural snapshots are only just that.

The discussion of disappointment was very interesting to me.

Kody asked to read one of my favorite books, and I chose this one. Rereading with him.

I like hearing definitions, examples, and Brown’s personal experiences with human emotions.

Getting a little lost in the air section on how fire is truly connected to air and other organisms, I hope it all connects

Finished Part 2: Water. A large portion of the section discussed the impact of plastics to our environments and oceans. This was really difficult to get through. Our oceans are such an important function of our earth’s systems, and it is flooded with trash, plastics, and microplastics. An analogy from the author: we are trying to mop up our mess without turning off the tap.

This book is so incredible. I am already so enamored and in awe of the earth, and yet this book makes me feel so lucky to witness it. I had heard of the Gaia hypothesis before, but the first section of the book exploring “rock” and soil defended this theory better than I have read before. And the defense behind the argument that earth is shaped by its organisms is so strong and compelling.