Maybe we should stop climbing Everest guys

Mostly interesting and accessible book about the history of witch trials in Scotland. I knew nothing about them, and witch trials in general are so interesting, so I enjoyed reading about them and learning new things. Great that they are bringing attention to them through this book and their podcast. Some interesting discussion was had about the religious and social beliefs that ultimately led to innocent people being executed. Overall I had an OK time. Hence the 2.5 stars.

I just can’t help but feel however that they oversimplified the causes of witch trials. I also wish we got more context regarding witchcraft and the history of it, and Scotland’s attitude towards magic/the occult and how that changed.

Also some of their claims seem to be poorly researched or referenced. Facts about the lives of these historical people are presented particularly during interviews, but are not sourced or referenced. They seem to come to conclusions about people just on vibes. To make these claims with no evidence makes me more sceptical as to the integrity and extent of their research on a whole.

ALSO if you’re trying to make the point that these were real people who met horrific ends and we should take the history of witch trials seriously, why make a joke about burnt chicken? During the chapter where we learn how they died? The author made jokes in the footnotes of the chapter where the reader learnt the explicit ways in which the bodies of the accused broke down from being burnt at the stake. Dark humour is fine but this just seems weird in the context of the authors’ apparent objective to get us to reflect on the trials and executions as if these were people we knew, or lives that we lived. It was a little off-putting.

Not a fan of the half-baked satirical guide that this was meant to be. If that’s how you want to frame your book then great, but stick to it! The chapter titles and chronological structure of the book felt awkward because they changed their minds about making it a “guide” but still kept the skeleton of the idea. Either make it a “guide to the patriarchy” or don’t.

The end of the book really runs out of steam and begins to ramble IMO. Also, it includes AI art. I just don’t support AI use in art no matter the justification and this really peeved me off and turned me off the rest of the book. So disappointing. Don’t use a computer to try and replicate the real human emotions of those who witnessed executions.

A fun end to the series but ultimately I think this is the worst of the three, with the first the best. Everything wraps up very quickly and very conveniently and it feels somewhat rushed or just brushed over. Not as much mystery in this one which I had appreciated in the previous two. The characters by this point seem a little repetitive, particularly Wendell.