Book review

War Doctor (David Nott) is a gripping real-life story about a British doctor volunteering to work as a frontline surgeon in war zones. Nott emphasises the gruelling nature of the battlefield, and the devastating damage that soldiers have to face. He includes brutally honest and clinical descriptions of his surgeries, and a glimpse of the human experience in the midst of war. This read reminds people of the futility of life and presents the importance of compassion for those who have suffered both emotionally and physically from war.

PB Tanawattanakul

The Language of Kindness (Christie Watson) is about the twenty-year nursing journey of the author. The book reveals the inner workings of hospitals with some little stories about patients. It is easy to follow the flow of story as she talks about her nursing experience in a chronological order, starting from maternity, young children, A&E, and palliative care at the end of life stage. It is astonishing to see how much work a nurse has to do and the kindness and compassion nurses give to the patients despite the heavy workload. From this book, you will learn the power of kindness from Christie as it makes a huge impact on one’s life, just by listening to and accompanying the patients during their most vulnerable time. I truly recommend this book to anyone, not only those who are interested in nursing and medicine, to spread the power of kindness and make a difference to someone’s life just by a simple, kind act.

Emily Ng

Water Always Wins (Erica Gies) is a report of the many ideas and initiatives which aim to reverse the way that humans have abused and mismanaged water over many centuries. The author has visited many places around the world to investigate new ways of managing water. She looks at the effect of dams, the reintroduction of beavers and how we can allow and manage the effective development of mangrove swamps and marshes. This book will appeal to people who would like an introduction to how they can manage their water use differently.

Jude Richardson

Sapiens: A brief history of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari) looks at the origins and development of humans from over 100,000 years ago until today, exploring the development of our social interactions and our differences in culture. Harari talks about the introduction of the human language and how our imagination has been shaped over thousands of years. The book shows that while humans have not evolved much biologically in the last 100,000 years our social interactions have advanced significantly. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the science of human advancement, as well as more psychological and sociocultural changes.

Eleanor Langley