NetGalley ARC | The Real Leonardo Da Vinci

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating ⭐⭐

This is going to be pretty quick, because it became clear early on that there were lots of problems that still need to be ironed out in this one.

First, more editing. This reads like a college term paper at best and does not read as a professional author writing about easily the greatest polymath in history, his scores of interests, and unparalleled genius. Books posted to NetGalley are supposed to be decently close to a finished product, and I am hoping that this will see more editing before its August 31st publishing.

There are structural changes that would help the book flow better. Within chapters, information was further broken down into sometimes very short sections - for example, when discussing da Vinci's friends. This lead to the reading being very choppy and disjointed. This occurred in other chapters as well, such as that which explored (very surface-level only) da Vinci's own words on all manner of topics. I would much rather have seen his journals quoted than for the author to attempt to tell me what he thought or meant about any given subject.

We were given far more information than necessary about the Medicis, the Borgias, and the Templars even. I found the extra information about family members not needed. Really, the only figures necessary to talk about would be the ones da Vinci worked for. The author also addresses the issue of whether or not da Vinci was a Templar, and delved into The Da Vinci Code for a few pages.

The section on Freud analyzing da Vinci was super weird. I have said many times with historical figures that it is incredibly dangerous and also not really professional for someone from the modern era to attempt to diagnose or analyze someone so far removed from our world today. (Henry VIII is an excellent example, and everyone wants to to drop medical diagnoses on him and it doesn't matter, nor will we ever know for sure.) Plus, Freud is also dead, so any questions we might have about his thoughts/findings on da Vinci can't even be clarified.

There's a ton of repetition from section to section and chapter to chapter. There's also a lot of contradictions where there should not be, despite the fact that the author tells us eleventy bajillion times that da Vinci was a man of contradictions.

With major editing and polishing, I think this could be a decent contribution to texts on Leonardo da Vinci. At this time I can only recommend it with caution in this form as an ARC.

Dead Feminists: Historic Heroines in Living Color

Rating: 4 Stars

First I am going to say what every other reviewer has also probably said and that is this book is fucking beautiful.

The broadsides are amazing and so intricately detailed that you can view them multiple times and always find something you missed before. I would love to see them in real-life and not just reprinted for this book. The colors are so vibrant and at times seem to leap right off the page; I can only imagine what seeing an original must be like, and perhaps I will be lucky enough to own one some day.

This book is not in-depth, if that is what you are looking for, so it is best to temper those expectations right away. And so many of the women featured here have (in some cases, multiple) full length biographies already dedicated to them, that too much detailed information is almost moot. Each of the twenty seven women featured are given a brief biography (2-3 pages) and interspersed are additional photos of the creators at work, the women themselves, and/or other relevant information, as well as important quotes from the text. Each broadside has its own full page, and each then each also has its own little biography, giving information about what number it was in the series, which cause it supported (money from the sale of each broadside was donated to that cause/organization), why the fonts, symbols, and colors were chosen, details of the creating, and so on. I like that the biographies focused on what makes these women feminist icons, and did not get bogged down with too much backstory. In other books that would be an issue, but for something like this where the broadside featuring that feminist is the focal point, that other information is simply not necessary. And the reader more than likely already knows a good deal about many of the women featured. You will find some women you are familiar with, especially the suffragettes, but also women from a wide variety of other fields - scientists, royalty, writers, educators, and so on. Each made important contributions to equal rights simply by being themselves and doing what they knew in their hearts to be right - even if it meant obliterating social norms of their time.

I really appreciated the wide variety of cultures and time periods that these women represented. We all know that representation matters, and when people see themselves reflected in what they are fighting for, it gives a much-needed morale boost when things get really tough. We can not just continue to focus on young white women as the only demographic which feminism represents. There are so many powerful stories from women of color, young and older alike. All of these stories matter, and all deserve to not just be told, but to be heard. We are stronger together and we must remember that every time they try to divide us.

Advice: Get a physical copy to browse through. The feel of the book, and the thickness of the paper give it that feel that for a moment you can think you are looking at an original and not a reproduction for the book. Definitely avoid e-readers for this one!

So if the news of the day has you feeling rundown and exhausted because this shit is seriously so tiring and you just want to curl up in a ball, pick this book up and remind yourself that yes indeed, you can change the world for the better.

After all...

Highly recommended.