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Dark Archives: Books Bound with Human Skin

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  Dark Archives : The Bodies Hidden Inside Books A book bound in human skin sounds like an object invented for Gothic fiction: a forbidden volume locked in a cabinet, surrounded by rumors of murder, magic, and madness. Yet anthropodermic books are real. They survive in libraries, museums, medical collections, and private institutions, sometimes catalogued openly and sometimes hidden behind vague descriptions or institutional silence. In Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin , Megan Rosenbloom examines these unsettling objects with the combined instincts of a librarian, journalist, historian, and scientific investigator. Her subject is anthropodermic bibliopegy—the practice of binding books in human skin—but her deeper concerns are consent, power, medical authority, institutional responsibility, and the treatment of human remains. The result is macabre without being sensationalistic. Rosenbloom understands the morbid fas...
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Haunted by History: A Review of Ghostland

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  Haunted by History: A Review of Ghostland In Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places , Colin Dickey travels across the United States exploring houses, hotels, prisons, hospitals, cemeteries, and entire communities associated with supernatural activity. His real subject, however, is not whether ghosts exist. It is why certain stories survive, why particular places become haunted in the popular imagination, and what those legends reveal about American history. Dickey treats ghost stories as cultural evidence. A haunting may preserve memories that official histories minimize, but it may also distort the past, replacing complicated lives with sensational tales of madness, murder, and revenge. Some legends give forgotten people a symbolic presence; others exploit tragedy while erasing the identities of those who suffered. In either case, the stories disclose the anxieties of the living more reliably than they establish the existence of the dead. Combining travel writing, arch...
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Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment raises an uncomfortable question: How often does a decision depend on who makes it—or when they make it—rather than on the facts?

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   Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein explore the consequences of inconsistent judgment. Two professionals can review the same information and reach very different conclusions, even when both are experienced and well intentioned. When those decisions affect someone’s health, livelihood, or treatment under the law, that variability deserves attention. From a public health and environmental health perspective, the examples involving food inspections are especially relevant. Consistency matters for public protection, fairness to businesses, and trust in the people enforcing standards. The book invites readers to consider whether differences in professional judgment reflect meaningful circumstances or inconsistencies that should be addressed. One of its strongest ideas is that expertise does not automatically guarantee reliability. That has implications for leadership, too. Training people and trusting their experience are essential, but leaders also need to exa...
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Taking Back the Controls: A Review of Hijacked by Paula Houlihan

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  Taking Back the Controls: A Review of Hijacked by Paula Houlihan Paula Houlihan | Leadership, Neuroscience, Productivity, and Personal Development | 304 pages | Published June 23, 2026 Rating: ★★★★½ In Hijacked: The Surprising Neuroscience Behind the Choices You Think You’re Making and How to Take Back the Controls , executive coach Paula Houlihan challenges one of the most common assumptions about burnout: that exhaustion is primarily a problem of workload, scheduling, or insufficient rest. Her central argument is more provocative. Burnout, she suggests, often emerges because stress, habit, and unconscious beliefs have taken control of the choices shaping our lives. The result is a book aimed squarely at high performers who appear successful from the outside but feel depleted, disconnected, or trapped on the inside. These readers may still be meeting deadlines, advancing professionally, and fulfilling responsibilities. Yet much of that activity is happening on autopilot. Their ...
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Faith, Power, and the Horror of Disobedience: A Review of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport by Paulette Kennedy

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  Faith, Power, and the Horror of Disobedience: A Review of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport by Paulette Kennedy Paulette Kennedy | Historical Fiction, Gothic Horror, and Paranormal Mystery | 347 pages | First published March 5, 2024 Rating: ★★★★☆ In The Devil and Mrs. Davenport , Paulette Kennedy turns 1950s domestic respectability into a source of Gothic terror. Set in Missouri in 1955, the novel follows Loretta Davenport, an isolated young mother married to Pete, an ambitious assistant professor at a Bible college. Their household appears tranquil and properly devout—until Loretta develops a fever and begins hearing voices. When a local girl is murdered, the messages Loretta receives from the dead become more urgent. Pete dismisses them as the fantasies of an overheated and unstable female mind, but Loretta believes they are real. Her search for answers leads her to Dr. Curtis Hansen, a parapsychologist who regards her abilities not as illness or wickedness but as a rare gift. His ...
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