Ethically – DaneCobain.com

Author: Alex Boese

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 290

Rating: 8/10

Alex Boese – Elephants On Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments

There’s an interesting story behind this one – I rescued it from almost certain death, after a clear out at work. We had so many books that we had to get rid of a load of them, and so I pinched this one before it went to the charity shops. I’m glad I did.

As you can imagine, it’s basically a collection of some of the strangest scientific experiments that have ever been performed, and they’re grouped into different sections so that although Boese draws from all sorts of different sources, there’s still somehow a narrative, despite it being a work of non-fiction. And boy, are the experiments bizarre – there were a few that I’d already heard of, but then I did spend about two months studying psychology at sixth form, before dropping out and going to college.

It’s not for the squeamish, because some of the details are kind of gross, but it is a great read if you’re the sort of person who likes to broaden their mind by finding out the crazy stuff that some people do for a living, like feeding LSD to elephants. But that’s what’s so fascinating – people will go to extreme lengths to test things, just to find out the answer, and that gives me faith in humanity. Although it does get grim when scientists do stuff that I don’t necessarily ethically believe in.

Overall, I’m glad I rescued this and it’s a pretty decent book – recommended from me, if you like this sort of thing. Better still, go delve into the source material afterwards.