The Alarming History of Medicine: Amusing Anecdotes from Hippocrates to Heart Transplants @ richardeward.com

The Alarming History of Medicine: Amusing Anecdotes from Hippocrates to Heart Transplants
by Richard Gordon
from St. Martin's Griffin

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0

• Confusing but enjoyable if you already know who's who
  As stated by several other reviewers, this is a maddeningly random book on the history of medicine that wanders from topic to topic in a loosely organized manner. However, if you are already familiar with some of the major names in the history of medicine, which I was lucky to be before I read this book, it can definitely be enjoyable. The whole book is a jocular series of anecdotes that show the best and the worst of the healers, hacks and quacks involved in medicine from antiquity to the modern day. So...... more info

• To fall out laughing is the best medicine
  I read this book here in Ceará, a state of Brazil.I'm an agronomist and I like to read books.This book isn't for doctors, but for the general public.
  If you like to read comic books about doctors and patients, this a good choice.This book is also concise, easy to read and had a cheap price, when I bought it, here in Brazil.

• Sloppy Writing - and Publishing - From Start to Finish
  This book is not really a history of medicine. It is, rather, a sloppy garage sale of anecdotes, florid sentences, misspellings, poor grammar, and errors of fact (Leeuwenhoek did NOT, as Mr. Gordon states, invent the microscope). The only unifying theme is the author's rampant "humor," but it rarely elucidates the history of medicine. How could St. Martin's Press send this manuscript to the printer without copy editing or proof reading? Beats me.

• Ok book if you are already in the medical field
  This was an ok survey of the history of Medicine. I found that the author, (who is from great Britain), uses too many terms more familiar to other physicians. The average reader would probably not enjoy this book, as some of the language can get quite lofty, and encumbered by latin medical terms. If you want an easier read of the history of medicine this is not the book for you.

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