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Tom Nichols – The Death of Expertise | Review

Title: The Death of Expertise

Author: Tom Nichols

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count: 254

Rating: 4.5/5

This is easily one of the best non-fiction books that I’ve picked up this year and so I was a very happy bunny. It’s also pretty cool because it was recommended to me by one of my clients, to the point at which he paid for me to purchase a copy of it.

It’s basically all about the way in which everyone thinks they’re an expert today. We overrule doctors because we can Google our symptoms, but we also overrule experts in their different fields instead of taking their hard earned advice.

This is a huge problem, of course, but it’s even more of a problem in the midst of a global pandemic when people are convincing themselves that there’s some sort of secret conspiracy to deprive us all of our liberty by getting us to wear masks in shops. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I found this book more enjoyable than I normally would have because of the time in which I read it.

Arguably my favourite example in the whole book was that of American attitudes towards military action in Ukraine. It turns out that the less people knew about the Ukraine, the more likely they were to demand military action. Those who thought it was in Australia or South America were those who were most likely to support military involvement. What a world, man.

Learn more about The Death of Expertise.

Tracy Abbey – Blue Sun | Review

Title: Blue Sun

Author: Tracy Abbey

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 368

Rating: 8/10

Tracy Abbey – Blue Sun

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book – at first glance, I was worried that it might be badly written, purely because it’s released through CreateSpace and their track record is sometimes dubious. But thinking of this book like that is doing it a discredit – it’s a gripping read, and a page-turner, too.

Okay, sure – it is a little bit hippie-ish in places, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the book explores what happens when hippie stuff clashes with science, with interesting results. As it’s set on the Isle of Man, it also features some Manx references, but not so many that it makes it difficult to read. It reminds me of the Hiraeth series by Liz Riley-Jones, which have a heavy Celtic theme to them – they’re fantastic books as well, and the third one is about to come out. If you like this then you’ll like that, and vice versa.

Loosely speaking, we follow the story of a girl called Imogen (‘Ginny‘) as she moves to the Isle of Man with her father, a scientist who’s ostensibly researching forms of alternative energy. However, all is not as it seems – the island harbours a secret, as Ginny discovers as she begins her new life, at a new school, with new friends and new enemies. As an alternative YA read, you can’t fault this book – personally, I thought that the ending was a little weak, and that the cliffhanger that the author left ahead of the next book in the series felt more like an arbitrary pause in the manuscript than an actual ending, but it does at least leave the reader looking forward to reading more.

Overall, I feel like part of the reason for the high rating here is that it exceeded my initial expectations, although I will admit that they were relatively low to begin with. This book won’t be for everyone, but if you’re into this sort of thing then I think that you’ll probably enjoy it.