Nicole's Updates en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:17:47 -0700 60 Nicole's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7526594978 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:17:47 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole added 'Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection']]> /review/show/7526594978 Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green Nicole gave 4 stars to Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection (Hardcover) by John Green
This was a nice little read! But tbh I’m shocked at the amount of glowing reviews, lauding this as a “like nothing you’ve ever read before� book. Another reviewer put it nicely: “perfect nonfiction book for people who do not read nonfiction�. I would add to this that it reads like an episode of Freakonomics or Radiolab. Well written and thoughtfully researched, but more wide than deep on the content.

John Green weaves the history of Tuberculosis thought cultural, socioeconomic and political context, as he tells the story Henry Reider, a young boy diagnosed with drug resistant Tuberculosis, living in Sierra Leone. In what feels like a long form essay, he dances across a range of topics that ripple from the history of TB; social stigmas of treating communicable diseases, impact of big pharma on accessibility, biases and prejudices in healthcare, and our general priorities as a human race. It reminded me a lot of the book “The Mosquito� � which explores a similar theme on how Mosquitos and subsequently their transmission of Malaria, which could give TB a run for its money (depending on where you do your fact checking). Overall, props for writing an accessible and informative book with a call to action, but as a massive consumer of research, podcasts and scientific nonfiction, I didn’t find this book quite as ‘novel� (see what I did there?) as other readers.

Lots of good information to binge here, but so many areas where I would have liked to see the themes explored with more context. For example, a brief section about pasteurization mentioned that treatment of milk products helped stopped the spread of TB, following the industrial revolution. Yes, it did, but hand in hand with government regulation around testing food products/adulteration, safety standards in production and efforts to provide consumers with more information about product safety/choice. Would also be a great time to go off on the raw-milk fanatics and tie back to current debates rooted in first world ignorance about why we started mandating such practices in the first place. BUT I DIGRESS....

Overall, a good quick non-fiction read, very of the moment in a post-covid / anti-pharma society, but not sure this one will go down in the history books.
]]> Comment290048494 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:17:43 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole made a comment on Gaby Roman’s status]]> /read_statuses/9364856430 Nicole made a comment on Gaby Roman’s status

girl hurry up ]]> Rating852502482 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:17:34 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole Bertsche liked a readstatus]]> /
Nicole Bertsche liked Gaby Roman’s status update
Gaby Roman Gaby Roman is currently reading We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
]]> Review7526594978 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:15:06 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole added 'Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection']]> /review/show/7526594978 Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green Nicole gave 4 stars to Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection (Hardcover) by John Green
This was a nice little read! But tbh I’m shocked at the amount of glowing reviews, lauding this as a “like nothing you’ve ever read before� book. Another reviewer put it nicely: “perfect nonfiction book for people who do not read nonfiction�. I would add to this that it reads like an episode of Freakonomics or Radiolab. Well written and thoughtfully researched, but more wide than deep on the content.

John Green weaves the history of Tuberculosis thought cultural, socioeconomic and political context, as he tells the story Henry Reider, a young boy diagnosed with drug resistant Tuberculosis, living in Sierra Leone. In what feels like a long form essay, he dances across a range of topics that ripple from the history of TB; social stigmas of treating communicable diseases, impact of big pharma on accessibility, biases and prejudices in healthcare, and our general priorities as a human race. It reminded me a lot of the book “The Mosquito� � which explores a similar theme on how Mosquitos and subsequently their transmission of Malaria, which could give TB a run for its money (depending on where you do your fact checking). Overall, props for writing an accessible and informative book with a call to action, but as a massive consumer of research, podcasts and scientific nonfiction, I didn’t find this book quite as ‘novel� (see what I did there?) as other readers.

Lots of good information to binge here, but so many areas where I would have liked to see the themes explored with more context. For example, a brief section about pasteurization mentioned that treatment of milk products helped stopped the spread of TB, following the industrial revolution. Yes, it did, but hand in hand with government regulation around testing food products/adulteration, safety standards in production and efforts to provide consumers with more information about product safety/choice. Would also be a great time to go off on the raw-milk fanatics and tie back to current debates rooted in first world ignorance about why we started mandating such practices in the first place. BUT I DIGRESS....

Overall, a good quick non-fiction read, very of the moment in a post-covid / anti-pharma society, but not sure this one will go down in the history books.
]]> ReadStatus9363541738 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 13:45:12 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole wants to read 'Wild Dark Shore']]> /review/show/7526569631 Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy Nicole wants to read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
]]> ReadStatus9363540391 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 13:44:49 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole is currently reading 'The Sun Was Electric Light']]> /review/show/7526568681 The Sun Was Electric Light by Rachel Morton Nicole is currently reading The Sun Was Electric Light by Rachel Morton
]]> ReadStatus9324436348 Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:25:30 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole wants to read 'James']]> /review/show/7499365955 James by Percival Everett Nicole wants to read James by Percival Everett
]]> ReadStatus9232752093 Tue, 25 Mar 2025 19:55:47 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole started reading 'By Any Other Name']]> /review/show/7435595254 By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult Nicole started reading By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
]]> Review7435593624 Tue, 25 Mar 2025 19:55:36 -0700 <![CDATA[Nicole added 'Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering']]> /review/show/7435593624 Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell Nicole gave 5 stars to Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering (Hardcover) by Malcolm Gladwell
]]> Review7350927898 Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:09:06 -0800 <![CDATA[Nicole added 'The Life Impossible']]> /review/show/7350927898 The Life Impossible by Matt Haig Nicole gave 3 stars to The Life Impossible (Hardcover) by Matt Haig
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