Averageplayerzac

Averageplayerzac t1_jdxpk3x wrote

I’d be fairly cautious about using popular reception as a metric in this case, books which appear to be a breezy, comprehensive take on a given subject(“Guns, Germs and Steel”,”Sapiens”,”Zealot” and the like) tend to be very well received popularly but largely derided by subject matter experts. I would generally recommend either an academic in the field you’re interested in who also writes popular texts(a Bart Ehrman or Irving Finkle for example) or else just find an online community of scholars in the field you’re interested in and ask what their recommendations for a layperson delving into the field is.

Sorry I don’t have any more specific recs for you, nutritional science isn’t really one of my areas of interest.

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Averageplayerzac t1_itya985 wrote

I think there’s a pretty delicate balance to be struck between letting kids read what they’re already interested and pushing them to engage with material that’s outside of their comfort zone, having read many of those same books you listed I found them prettt important in broadening my conception of what literature was. I didn’t always love them but even the books I probably wouldn’t have picked myself and perhaps didn’t even really enjoy often had something valuable in terms of exposing me to different styles of prose, perspectives or historical contexts and I frankly think that’s just as important.

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Averageplayerzac t1_itg5a9o wrote

I think it’s entertaining, but no I don’t think it’s so scary you’ll want to put it in a freezer or be compelled to attack someone with kitchen utensils out of fear, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that meets that criteria. I think the film is probably the more worthwhile experience on the whole but both do their own thing and I think both are enjoyable in their own right.

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