Three reviews of short non-fiction

For reasons I can't explain I've recently requested and read 3 short non-fiction books from NetGalley. Two of them were from the Object Lessons Series, which takes ordinary things and tells you all about them.

The first one was Fat by Hannah Blank. In this slim volume she covers a lot of ground, from the personal and her relationship to her fat body, the history of fat and the racist past (and present) sexual fetishisation, fat in food and on.The story of fat is told through a political, feminist, economic and gender lens. While I definitly learnt some things there is so much serious material to cover and this is a small book. Each chapter could be an entire PHD, but it serves as an interesting taster. 

Second, also from Object Lessons is Gin by Shonna Milliken Humphry. This is a history of gin, told in a breezy, fun way. This is as apolitical as a book can be, in stark contrast with Fat. I enjoyed the history and I certainly learnt a lot about gin. I remember a couple of years ago finding out that gin is basically clear spirit with botanicals - no aging, and you can make gin with a base of a bottle of Aldi vodka, and I've kind of been wanting to try! While this book sets gin in it's various historical contexts, it breezes through economic inequality and gender issues with a very neutral eye. Perfectly valid, and it's made me think about both gin and different representations of history. And it's got a great cover.

The third was from a series called 200 Words to Help You Talk About ... which is "designed to demystify jargon-based language and make you at ease holding a conversation on the topic." I read (or attempted to read) 200 Words to Help You talk About - Philosophy. It is impossible to read the definition of 200 words and actually learn anything. There is no narrative, no link between the individual words - it's literally like reading a dictionary. Except that the entries vary from reading like they were written by a year ten student trying very hard, to someone just grabbing the first paragraph they found on Google. Lots of  the definitions seem to start with things like "it's hard to identify" or "there is lots of disagreement" or one philosophers opinion. Spout that that, and someone who who actually knows something about the topic would take you down in a conversation, or at best, look at you quizzically, shake their head slightly and ignore you.

Knowing one isolated fact would not help me participate or even understand a conversation. I understand the concept of this book, but it doesn't work when executed like this.  

Never-the-less exploring three very disparate and diverse topics in a format different from what I usually read was really fun, interesting and I learnt a thing or two. Thanks NetGalley for these three interesting  books and experiences.