Each quarter, we feature a new collection of book reviews covering a wide range of topics—some thought-provoking, some purely for enjoyment, and all well worth your time. This small but mighty selection is designed to spark curiosity and may even inspire your next visit to the library or bookstore. We are grateful to Jeanette S. Ferrara, MFA, who contributed all of this quarter’s reviews.

Review: Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy

By Mary Roach

ISBN 9781836431558

As ever, Mary Roach’s latest book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, a collection of investigations into regenerative medicine, delivers her signature blend of dedicated reporting and empathetic journalism. The cutting-edge technologies Roach explores range from nasal reconstruction to cataract surgery to Brazilian Butt Lifts to organ transplantation. Replaceable You showcases Roach’s ability to find the humor in a seemingly humor-less subject matter while maintaining respect for her sources, their research, and their patients.

Due to the subject matter and Roach’s attention to descriptive detail, Replaceable You might not be the best fit for a more squeamish reader. That said, each chapter is a self-enclosed exploration of a regenerative medical technology. So, if reading about cataract surgery really turns your stomach, you can just skip that chapter and read the rest and you won’t know what you are missing (it’s a fascinating chapter though, just read it!).

Roach’s dedication to her work, and the humanity she breathes into every chapter, is delightfully refreshing in an era where it seems like everything online is someone AI-generated or AI-augmented. Her efforts to interact not only with these researchers at the forefront of their fields but also with patients who have benefited from their work brings a requisite level of empathy to Replaceable You that really cannot be replaced by any modern technology.

Review: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

ISBN 9781837260867

Chloe Dalton’s pandemic memoir Raising Hare is as heartwarming and moving as it is unique. When the COVID-19 pandemic found Dalton working from home remotely in the English countryside, fate left a baby hare (known as a leveret) on her doorstop. Dalton cared for the leveret without domesticating it or claiming it as her own. Her memoir documents her daily routines with the leveret as it grew into an adult hare with leverets of its own. Raising Hare is both a deeply personal recollection of a specific time in Dalton’s life and an introductory course on everything to do with hares.

Dalton takes the reader through her own learnings and revelations about forging a bond with a wild animal and with wildness itself. Dalton includes a number of personal and philosophical musings, driven by the conflict between wanting the initial leveret (and subsequent offspring) to survive and not wanting to interfere with the course of nature. Her ultimate conclusion is that the hare is a wild animal and meant to be wild. She lets it have free roam of her house and garden, never closing the door and never putting it in a cage (with the exception of an early incident in her relationship with the hare). The hare never has a name, nor do any of its leverets. Dalton harbors no illusions that this is a wild animal, and she would be arrogant to think she has tamed it.

Raising Hare is beautifully and accessibly written, easy to read and highly enjoyable for anyone with a love of animals and an appreciation for the sanctity of wildness in nature.

Review: The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne

By Chris Sweeney

ISBN 9781668025840

Chris Sweeney’s The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne is unputdownable. Whether you are a birder, a fan of TV shows like Bones, an aviation aficionado, a true crime lover, or a casual reader of biographies, The Feather Detective has something for everyone. And you’d be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Roxie Laybourne, as Sweeney’s is the first published biography of her life and work.

Laybourne was the FBI’s go-to expert for many years for bird-related crime. If a wife smothered her husband with down feather pillow, Laybourne could match the feathers from the pillow to the feathers on the deceased mouth to the feathers on the murderer’s hands. If a man wearing a down jacket stabbed his wife, Laybourne could match the feathers in his jacket to feathers found at the crime scene. While Laybourne’s expert testimony in court cases did not always lead to a conviction, Sweeney outlines the various investigations where Laybourne’s expertise lent law enforcement the edge they needed to narrow down the suspect pool, including details about her testimony in court and how it was received by the jury in each case.

Laybourne also did a tremendous amount of work regarding deadly bird strikes in aviation in the latter half of the 20th century. Her work helped identify which bird species were the culprits in numerous deadly bird strike-induced crashes. She consulted for the fledgling Federal Aviation Administration, the United States military, and private companies like General Electric, a well-know airplane engine manufacturer. And as part of her work with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Laybourne helped put away criminals poaching on American soil.

Laybourne’s professional demeanor and breadth of work is colorful and entertaining enough that the lack of detail about her personal life is almost unnoticeable. Sweeney respects Laybourne’s established boundaries between personal and professional life and focuses on her career trajectory and her work across various federal agencies and private corporations for any and all bird-related mysteries. The result is a delightful read about an unsung hero of ornithology.