ARC Review: The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison #NetGalley #20booksofsummer2025
https://thebookstop.wordpress.com/2025/06/16/arc-review-the-other-side-of-now-by-paige-harbison/
#netgalley
Book Review: The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals by Silvana Condemi
This is a decidedly odd book. Was there a "secret" hominid that the world overlooked? While the Neanderthals get all the limelight, perhaps there was another lost species of human lurking in the background. The science seems settled - yes there was - so this book tells us how scientists reached that conclusion.
Except, it isn't really clear who this book is aimed at. Part of it is very casually written - a hint of pop science and a healthy dollop of the personal lives of the scientists. The other part is a rather dense and unforgiving science book which is slightly beyond casual readers like me.
I was suddenly bombarded with sentences about the "tiny epiphysis (tip) of the distal phalanx" and how "the famous Denisova 3, was found in a stratigraphic position" and that "Exogenous DNA comes from the numerous necrophagous organisms that attack the remains after death."
There's very little ramp-up to the science and it suffers from the "Average Familiarity Fallacy" that non-experts have a working understand of the intricacies of a complex field.
It is interesting, and parts of it are downright fascinating:
The team of researchers found that the site’s hunter-gatherers cooked giant carp of up to 6.5 feet (2 m) long, which they caught in a nearby lake. Several burnt flint microartifacts suggest they made fires. In the same layers as the burnt flints, the researchers collected around 40,000 pharyngeal teeth, carp teeth that are found at the bottom of their mouths. These teeth are all that remain of the carp, as heat softens the cartilaginous bones of fish and eradicates the possibility of their preservation. The discovery of these teeth suggests the fish were cooked at a controlled temperature rather than being grilled.
Even if we don’t know how the occupants of GBY made their fires, we do know that they stewed fish. Using X-ray diffraction, researchers established that the thermal expansion of the nanocrystals that make up the tooth enamel suggests their exposure to low to moderate heat: specifically, lower than 932°F (500°C), whereas a wood fire produces temperatures of between 1,472°F and 1,832°F (800°C and 1,000°C). It’s likely that prehistoric people cooked carp en papillote, probably by burying them near their fires after wrapping them in giant water lily leaves collected from the nearby lake.
I mean! Wow! That's some brilliant detective work.
Sadly, there is quite a lot of dusty old bones to wade through before you hit the good stuff. In the end, I found myself confused as to how different Neanderthals and Denisovans actually were.
The (pre-release) copy of the eBook commits the error of relegating all the images to the back. Several paragraphs are crying out for immediately viewable illustrations to help make sense of the text.
If you have a reasonable familiarity with palaeontology you'll probably enjoy this greatly - but it is a little too taxing for those of us with less evolved brains.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.
🆕 blog! “Book Review: The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals by Silvana Condemi”
★★★☆☆
This is a decidedly odd book. Was there a "secret" hominid that the world overlooked? While the Neanderthals get all the limelight, perhaps…
👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/book-review-the-secret-world-of-denisovans-the-epic-story-of-the-ancient-cousins-to-sapiens-and-neanderthals-by-silvana-condemi/
⸻
#BookReview #NetGalley
💻📙 Book Review 📚🐶
Hello! Check out my new #bookreview of HOUNDING A KILLER by Kallie E. Benjamin. It is the 2nd book in the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. #BaileytheBloodhoundMystery #bookreview #HoundingaKiller #NetGalley #CloakDaggerChal
https://baronessbooktrove.com/hounding-a-killer-by-kallie-e-benjamin/
Many people were critical of Colonel Tom Parker's business relationship with Elvis Presley. A new biography is coming out that explores their lives. Review--> #BookThreads #BookSky #BookBlogger #TheColonelandtheKing #LittleBrownandCo #ARCReview #ColonelTomParker #ElvisPresley #NetGalley #Biography
A queer romance set in the Catskills that's perfect for fans of Casy McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue? Enter Flirty Dancing, a thoroughly enjoyable read! Review--> #Bookthreads #BookSky #BookBlogger #Bookstagram #FlirtyDancing #StMartinsPress #LGBTQIA #Romance #NetGalley #ARCReview
Leah is proudly science-minded and woo-woo averse. Then she develops vertigo and has an astrology reading that rocks her world. Review--> #Bookthreads #Booksky #BookBlogger #Bookstagram #NetGalley #AlltheSigns #Vertigo #WomensFiction #ChickLit #Astrology #Horoscope #StarTwins #GPPutnams #PenguinBook
Xavier's family head to a cabin, and when they wake up, they find that they have been turned upside down--literally! This young adult speculative fiction story was great! Review--> #Bookthreads #BookBlogger #Booksky #Bookstagram #BestofAllWorlds #ScholasticBooks #ARCReview #NetGalley #Dystopia
Check out my review of Polly Hall's The Taxidermist's Lover - available wherever books live. #NetGalley #TheTaxidermistsLover #horror #booksky📚💙 #bookstagram #bookreview #bookthreads #bookstadon
https://strangersights.com/the-taxedermists-lover-by-polly-hall/
Happy Pride to the queer AF book people! This month we're sharing excerpts from our LGBTQ+ books. LGBTQ+ stories are a crucial part of the cultural shift we need to create a just world.
You can now download our latest LGBTQ+ title, What a Fish Looks Like by Syr Hayati Beker. https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/652133
#netgalley #WhataFishLooksLike #SyrHayatiBeker #bookdownload #reviewcopy #lgbtqbooks #lgbtq #Pride2025 #LoveIsLove #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIA+ #PrideMonth #Pridebooks #ReadsforPride #books #bookstodon
I have an ARC of The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E O'Keefe through #NetGalley
This book is so good so far (just shy of halfway through) characters bouncing off each other, banter, surprises that are inevitable in hindsight, the conspiracies and dread for when things will unravel is just excellent.
My a.r.c. review (en/de) of "Slayers of Old" by Jim C. Hines, due on October 21st, 2025. My thanks to Netgalley & DAW books for letting me read this entertaining book in advance!
#fantasy #urbanfantasy #cozyfantasy #jimchines #slayersofold #humourousfantasy #netgalley #dawbooks
https://auntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com/2025/06/01/jim-c-hines-slayers-of-old/
Auntie Terror's Readingauntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com@auntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com
2025-06-01Jim C. Hines: Slayers of Old
[German version below] [EN] Transparency note: I was allowed to read this as an e-arc by DAW via Netgalley. A very entertaining cozy-ish urban fantasy spin on your typical chosen-one(s)-saving-the-world storyline, "Slayers of Old" has a heroic trio of "formers" who are suddenly forced to return to lives they thought they'd long left behind to save the world from eldritch horrors once more: Temple Finn who feels his formerly formidable powers as well as his life fading these days, Jenny […]https://auntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com/2025/06/01/jim-c-hines-slayers-of-old/
WWII fiction is still a hot topic because of the many different stories across the world; this book is set on Martha's Vineyard, where German U-Boats patrolled. Review--> #Bookthreads #Booksky #BookBlogger #Bookstagram #TheMarthasVineyardBeachandBookClub #BallantineBooks #NetGalley #ARCReview #WWII
Book Review: Little Child Gone by Stacy Green #NetGalley #BooksOnTour @bookouture
Book: Little Child Gone Author: Stacy Green Genre: Thriller Publisher: Bookouture Publication Date: 29th May 2025 Description The wind from the storm outside blows through the house, making Nikki’s eyes sting. The secret room is hidden behind a wardrobe in the dusty, abandoned living room. A light flickers to reveal a dark stain on the floor, and two sets of fragile bones…
Wisconsin Author alert! On a trip to an island where her fiancée died, a woman suspects the death was no accident. This slow burn suspense novel was excellent! Review--> #Bookthreads #Bookstagram #BookSky #BookBlogger #TheLastFerryOut #ARCReview #NetGalley #LGBTQIA #LockedRoom #BallantineBooks
This one is really good so far. Amandine and Faven are both clever banterers and Im looking forward to how they play off each other.
#TheTwoLiesOfFavenSythe #NetGalley #Bookstodon
(comment on The Two Lies of Faven Sythe)
I read another one of my #NetGalley review copies! I've read every book this author has published so far and liked all of them. This one I liked this one a little less than the others, but I think it was still a pretty good read.
My review is a little bit vague because this is a sequel that has a premise that completely spoils the ending of the first book, but I tried my best to express my feelings about it. Check it out if you're interested!
Auntie Terror's Readingauntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com@auntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com
2025-05-27Tashan Metha: Mad Sisters of Esi
[German version below] [EN] Transparency note: I was allowed to read this as an e-arc by DAW via Netgalley. This is one of the few cases where I wholely understand and subscribe to the comparison to another well-known novel: "Mad Sisters of Esi" by Tashan Mehta is indeed a fitting recommendation for anyone who enjoyed "Piranesi" by Susanna Clarke, I think. And yet it is very much its own thing that doesn't need to borrow graces or glories from others. I will keep my review as vague, […]https://auntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com/2025/05/27/tashan-metha-mad-sisters-of-esi/
I had the chance to read "Mad Sisters of Esi" by Tashan Mehta before its publication on August 5th. It was amazing. Please find my longer review in both English and German here:
#Madsistersofesi #Tashanmehta #dawbooks #netgalley #arc #reading
https://auntieterrorsreading.wordpress.com/2025/05/27/tashan-metha-mad-sisters-of-esi/
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