Book Review - Luke Bounds

[LUKE]

This book is certainly not for the faint of heart, and if you have a sensitive stomach, I would suggest another book. The gist of the book is in the name, Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You. This gross, intriguing yet humorous book is about how mother nature cares for no one but herself. I definitely had a few existential crises throughout this book, but I couldn't stop reading page after page. From Botflys lodging themselves in human skulls, to killer snails, to the complicated love life of the hyena. Riskin has a Ph.D. in biology and his expertise is thoroughly shown throughout this book, as he is able to make what are normally vulgar topics more lighthearted and informative. I really admire the author's use of the footer to provide additional information to the reader if they are interested. As much as this book is for us to learn and understand nature better, I feel like a lot of this book was written for the author himself; for him to understand his feelings as a new father, and to get his feelings down in writing. This book was a quicker read, only being 272, but I was satisfied and felt like it was the perfect length. I’ve noticed that nonfiction books tend to go on and on and bore the reader with the sheer amount of information, but this book was able to keep the information light, yet informative, and transition very seamlessly. Like I mentioned before, it can get very graphic at some times, but that’s the reality of the world we live in and I would highly recommend this book because of that.