Whilst interesting, this book didn't find the perfect balance of science and human interest for me. As someone involved in the genetics I am fairly familiar with the basis of conjoined twins. There is so much out there that we don't know, I am maybe thinking it might have been too soon to publish a book on this topic. But that could be from my perspective as someone who likes deep science. There is plenty here to enjoy it just didn't quite do it for me.

Thanks, NetGalley from the ARC.

Born Together details several historical accounts of conjoined twins, and ends with ethical considerations and representation in media. This was an engaging book - I finished it in about 3 days and really liked the various sections. I feel that I learned a lot, and enjoyed a lot of the 'conversation starter' ethical dilemmas posed in the book. It seemed that Cox was mindful of being informative without being exploitative, and gave a lot of avenues for further reading and exploration.

My only critique is that I wish the book had more of a conclusion, my copy seemed to just end with a case study. Otherwise I very much enjoyed 'Born Together', and think that even people who don't typically enjoy nonfiction would find something to like about this book.

Note: I received a free ebook copy of 'Born Together' in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting book but without a lot of the detail I was hoping for in some ways e.g. information on whether or not people were alive seems to stop in 2017, when the book is being published 3 years later. There were also some disjointed sections where the book lacked a story (for want of a better word). I learned quite a bit but it isn't a book I'd read again. Too detailed in parts for a lay person but not scientific enough from an academic perspective and, unfortunately, not an awful lot more detail than one could find on a decent Wiki page. That being said it would be interesting to dip in and out of the book if one was so inclined.

As the first non-fiction book I've read in a while, Born Together was a great book to dip my toes back in the water. I mainly enjoyed the brief overviews given on a range of conjoined twins, with the structuring and detailing of these stories done well.

Some of the phrasing was a bit awkward, and there were a few chapters which I found a lot less interesting than others. As a biologist, I appreciated the more scientific sections and would have loved to have heard more about the possible causes of conjoined twins, as well as the operations and other health aspects.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would give any other books by Michael L Cox a try,

Up front, I haven't finished this book yet. Not sure I will. Any quotes I use below are from the narration, not from any historical quotes, so one presumes it's the author speaking.

In my notes to the publisher, I said it was in dire need of a disability sensitivity reader. The topic of conjoined twins demands it be handled with care..

The author uses 'deaf mute' at least twice. This sentence made an appearance, ""Thus they were born with a quadruple handicap: they were black, slaves, female and conjoined."

It's also misogynistic, with this lovely sentence, ""The reality was quite different as the twins were short and dumpy, and frankly lacked beauty.". And it also seemed to be focusing much more closely and more often on the reproductive systems and private parts of the girls and women, and less so the boys and men.

Laloo (various spellings of his name) had a parasitic twin and this was an opportunity for the author to mention the parasitic twin could get erections and would need to urinate without Laloo being conscious of it. I mean, fascinating, right? But the author just mentions that though the twin was sometimes dressed as a girl, it had to be a boy because that's how parasitic twins and conjoined twins work. Not because the twin actually had a penis. I found that in a quick bit of Googling, so presumably this well-researched book could've uncovered it.

On the writing side of things, I found it disjointed. It didn't seem to be telling a cohesive tale of conjoined twins or the history of conjoined twins, not even on the paragraph level. The author would throw in random things like that the Bunker twins' mother-in-law was obese, or that Barnum had his obituary published before he even died. And then a complete tangent exonerating Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

If I finish reading this book, it will be for the topic, and not for the writing.

I surprised myself by really liking this book. Yes, it's about the lives of various conjoined twins but it's not exploitative in the least. In fact there are descriptions in the book about how society once behaved towards them. Deplorable.
What's great as well is that the author goes into quite a considerable detail on the science of it, how it happens and what types of joins there are. Of course, some joined twins can be separated and others not. Science has come quite a long way since the "Siamese Twins", the Asian brothers for whom the name was coined.
I'm impressed with the author's attitude. But it's the means by which the twins cope that is really astonishing. I recommend the book for anyone with an interest.

Born Together The Story of Conjoined Twins starts off with a very curious explanation on conjoined twins, what we know about conjoined twins in the past, types and other interesting information. After the intro we see detailed information about well-know conjoined twins, such as the Siamese Twins themselves. The lives of the twin pairs are told in detail, there are even some pictures from news and photos about them.
All in all, the book is a great information for someone who is curious about conjoined twins and their lives through history. I felt that the chapters told the twins' stories in a bit too great detail, but it was still an interesting read nonetheless.

*Thanks to NetGalley and The Book Guild for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.*