Book Review: 100 Disasters That Shaped World History by Joanne Mattern

100 Disasters That Shaped World History by Joanne Mattern is a children's nonfiction book. From the Great Fire of London to the Challenger explosion, earthquakes, crashes, floods, and accidents have been major turning points throughout history. In 100 Disasters That Shaped World History, young readers will be introduced to some of the most notorious disasters known to mankind, discovering how these fateful events unfolded-and how they changed the world as we know it.

100 Disasters That Shaped World History is a book that covers a wide range of disasters, including some I would not have never thought to include, like the MGM fire and a molasses flood. The impact of these crisis are covered- such as how laws and regulations followed and how people's behavior did (or did not) adjusted afterwards. This many incidents is a great deal of ground to cover, so some are cover in much more depth than others, but this is an interesting and informative read. I thought the illustrations were less than stellar, but they are credited to the publishing group rather than an individual so that is not terribly surprising. I did like the trivia and project suggestions at the end, but that could have been made even better with some suggested resources for further reading as well. This is an interesting and engaging read for young readers that like history and learning about things that have gone wrong in the past. 

Audiobook Review: All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work by Hayley Campbell

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work was written, and the audiobook narrated, by Hayley Campbell. We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we’re so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look? Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work is a fascinating read, or listen as the case may be. I think the author did a great job as narrator, and found it much easy to get past some of the more gruesome moments on audio instead of trying to read it on the page. Campbell did a great job of getting her experiences, and those of the individuals she interviewed, together into one book that explored not only how they view death, and the way society as a whole treats death, but how the people that deal with death everyday as part of their jobs have come to be in their position and how the deal with it all. There were moments that were very hard to listen to, and I cannot imagine being someone that has to deal with the autopsies, embalming, or clean up crew that follows a death. However, I could see stepping up as a bereavement midwife or part of a disaster relief team in some compacity, but if I am honest I do not think I would be prepared for the emotions and trauma involved with any of them. I was amazed at the levels of day to day work involved in the death industry, and sad that I never thought about how much unseen labor is involved. Although, I should not be surprised because the behind the scenes work of most industries often gets ignored or forgotten.

 All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work is a thought provoking book with in depth research and honesty that will make you think a bit more about death, and life.