Medical Mysteries Across History

By: Roy Benaroch MD, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Roy Benaroch MD

In medical school, every patient is a teaching case - and every patient can be your teacher. For hundreds of years, medical students around the world have learned the secrets of medicine by looking at real cases, involving real people and featuring real symptoms.

But what happens when those medical cases are a mystery? How do doctors diagnose illnesses and save lives using the best knowledge they have about health and disease? What differences (and similarities) are there between the ways doctors work today and the ways they worked thousands of years ago?

In these 10 eye-opening lectures by a practicing doctor and medical educator, you’ll walk through a series of medical mystery cases ripped from history and involving well-known historical figures whose identities are nevertheless hidden from you. Every one of these cases (featuring presidents, scientists, singers, kings, and queens) requires you to use your detective skills to identify and diagnose the mystery patient just like the doctors that attended them. In the process, you’ll learn fascinating insights into medicine: both the medicine that was practiced thousands of years ago and the medicine doctors practice today.

What are the historic and modern consequences of fever? How do doctors diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease and alcoholism? How does radiation and heavy metal poisoning affect the human body? What so-called “modern” diseases were actually documented in the ancient past? Solving these mystery cases will give you a new perspective on how the human body works - and on some world-changing figures whom you’ve never viewed from a doctor’s point of view.

©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.

sleuthing

a fun was to explore medical diseases of the past and present. easy to listen to.

Fabulous journey through time and medical investigations

Can’t recommend this course enough. Very entertaining, intriguing, and enlightening. Got part 2 before I finished this listen.

Very enjoyable!

I enjoyed listening to all of these biographies and trying to figure out the cause of death for these “celebrities.” Highly recommend!

A great read for any time!!

I loved this series. The narration held my attention, was very informative, and the way in which the main characters were presented was very catchy. It is also appropriate for all ages; road trip worthy.

I really enjoyed listening to this book.

Learning while driving to work is a great experience and really makes the drive a lot more enjoyable.

A Medical Journey

I was shocked at how fast this all went. Each lecture is a quick 30 minutes and honestly the story telling sucks you right in. The lectures are not heavy with medical jargon but carry enough medical detail that anyone more on the science side can follow along or dig deeper. If you are not a science or medicine geek - no problem. Each lecture tells a tale that will engage you and to be honest at times blow your mind.

Very good!

Very engaging (even if the twists on who the figures are are not very difficult)!

Well done!

One of the few medical programs which doesn’t talk down to the listener. Well researched and well presented.

I need more stories written like this!

I’m a med science nerd and this was a super fun read! Love the historical contexts added, very fun 🤩

So interesting!

I’m not a medical professional by any means, but I do pay attention to my health and have had a couple issues that required some digging to discover root causes (luckily I have had good doctors!) So I found this so very interesting; not only because of the process of uncovering and understanding symptoms and causes but the historical aspect included with the lectures. I am looking forward to additional courses by Dr Roy!