The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
I picked up this book from the library because it'd consistently been in the bestseller lists and because I, myself, could be defined as "The girl on the train".
I commute into university daily, spending about 30-50 minutes each way and I love a good thriller novel.
The book follows a woman who has recently lost almost everything her life consisted of... Her partner, her job, her home... and now she is a borderline alcoholic who lodges with a friend. She hasn't told her friend that she has lost her job, so she pretends to go to work everyday, getting the same old train.
She frequently sees the house she once shared with her boyfriend, but what interests her more happens to be his neighbours. A seemingly perfect couple, she gives the man and woman names in her head and likes to spend her train journey fantasising about their lives. That is, until one day, the girl is spotted kissing a different man.
From then on the story unfolds and the point of view is changed from the main character, the girl in her fantasies and her ex's new woman. It is a gripping book that you will have trouble putting down and I would recommend it if it wasn't for how predictable it can be near the end...

Salaam and hi everyone!
I realise my audience here is very small but hopefully you guys can help out with regards to this.
Myself and my family are climbing Ben Nevis to raise money for Imran Khan's cancer hospital. This money will go towards helping those with cancer who are too poor to pay for their medical treatment. Please donate however small and please share this link with others:
https://www.justgiving.com/Cancer-hospital
May Allah reward your generosity

How We Live And Why We Die - The Secret Lives Of Cells

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
I remember picking up this book aged fifteen, thinking it would give me a philosophical insight into my life. I was wrong, but fortunately this book does give the reader insight into microbiology and how cells work.
I picked this book up properly and ended up completing it aged 20, whilst in my first year of university studying pharmacy. It was an interesting book, but not amazingly interesting, Some of the methods of explanation were tenuous and I remember finding this book slightly difficult to follow when I was fifteen years old, with only the knowledge of GCSE biology to help me out.
GCSE to A level biology gets a lot more complicated, and even more so once you're at university, so reading it aged 20 I had no problem understanding it. I would say, however, please think about picking up a textbook before delving into this book. There are no diagrams and everything is explained using words alone, which is not how to teach biology. Sure, you can describe how telomeres shorten, but how is anyone going to grasp where the telomeres are when you can't even describe the morphology of a chromosome?
The book starts with a basic history of medicine, starting with the Greeks and their belief that we had 4 "humours" and that disease was caused by an imbalance of one or more of them. Black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm were (according to the Greeks) these so called "humours". The book then goes on to describe how we now know better, thanks to the discoveries of Robert Hooke and the like. After the basic concepts are put in place, the bigger questions are asked; What makes us age? What causes cancer? What causes life?
I would recommend this book to anyone studying biology to a relatively advanced level, because once you're confused there is no turning back, sadly. You'll just drop the book and pick up something else.