Strange Medicine
A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages
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Strange Medicine
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Narrated by:
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Chris Andrew Ciulla
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By:
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Nathan Belofsky
About this listen
Now published in five languages, Strange Medicine casts a gimlet eye on the practice of medicine through the ages that highlights the most dubious ideas, bizarre treatments, and biggest blunders. From bad science and oafish behavior to stomach-turning procedures that hurt more than helped, Strange Medicine presents strange but true facts and an honor roll of doctors, scientists, and dreamers who inadvertently turned the clock of medicine backward:
- The ancient Egyptians applied electric eels to cure gout.
- Medieval dentists burned candles in patients' mouths to kill invisible worms gnawing at their teeth.
- Renaissance physicians timed surgical procedures according to the position of the stars and instructed epileptics to collect fresh blood from the newly beheaded.
- Dr. Walter Freeman, the world's foremost practitioner of lobotomies, practiced his craft while traveling on family camping trips, cramming the back of the station wagon with kids - and surgical tools - then hammering ice picks into the eye sockets of his patients in between hikes in the woods.
Strange Medicine is an illuminating panorama of medical history as you've never seen it before.
©2013 Nathan Belofsky (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Today, astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making limb transplants, face transplants, and a host of other previously undreamed-of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of medical progress. In Blood and Guts, veteran science writer Richard Hollingham weaves a compelling narrative from the key moments in surgical history. We have a ringside seat in the operating theater of University College Hospital in London as world-renowned Victorian surgeon Robert Liston performs a remarkable amputation in 30 seconds - from first cut to final stitch.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
I love this book!
- By Kristin on 08-25-19
-
Quackery
- A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything
- By: Lydia Kang, Nate Pedersen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 988
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 858
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 858
What won't we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine - yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison - was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Computer-generated Narrator. Dated Humour.
- By Nemo on 12-28-18
By: Lydia Kang, and others
-
The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth
- And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine
- By: Thomas Morris
- Narrated by: Thomas Morris, Ruper Farley
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 627
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 542
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 539
A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the 19th century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Boring Toilet Humor
- By Nemo on 01-30-20
By: Thomas Morris
-
The Royal Art of Poison
- Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul
- By: Eleanor Herman
- Narrated by: Susie Berneis
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,547
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,250
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,244
The story of poison is the story of power. For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns, and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family's spoons, tried on their underpants, and tested their chamber pots. Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications, and filthy living conditions.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Relieved and surprised
- By Amber on 09-28-18
By: Eleanor Herman
-
Under the Knife
- A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations
- By: Arnold van de Laar, Andy Brown - translator
- Narrated by: Rich Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 261
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 224
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 225
From the story of the desperate man from 17th-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers a wealth of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating room. What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell, or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery?
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Why did a surgeon need a fast horse?
- By India Clamp on 10-18-18
By: Arnold van de Laar, and others
-
The Sawbones Book
- The Horrifying, Hilarious Road to Modern Medicine
- By: Justin McElroy, Dr. Sydnee McElroy
- Narrated by: Justin McElroy, Dr. Sydnee McElroy
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,863
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,684
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,672
Wondering whether eating powdered mummies might be just the thing to cure your ills? Tempted by those vintage ads suggesting you wear radioactive underpants for virility? Ever considered drilling a hole in your head to deal with those pesky headaches? Probably not. But for thousands of years, people have done things like this - and things that make radioactive underpants seem downright sensible! In their hit podcast, Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin McElroy breakdown the weird and wonderful way we got to modern healthcare. And some of the terrifying detours along the way.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Close but no cigar . . .
- By Amanda Buffkin on 12-22-18
By: Justin McElroy, and others
-
Birth
- The Surprising History of How We Are Born
- By: Tina Cassidy
- Narrated by: Angela Starling
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
From evolution to the epidural and beyond, Tina Cassidy presents an intelligent, enlightening, and impeccably researched cultural history of how and why we're born the way we are. Women have been giving birth for millennia, but that's about the only constant in the final stage of the great process that is human reproduction. Why is it that every culture and generation seems to have its own ideas about the best way to give birth?
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4 out of 5 stars
-
important historical work, fascinating and fun
- By RT on 02-24-16
By: Tina Cassidy
-
Get Well Soon
- History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them
- By: Jennifer Wright
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,748
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,037
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,004
In 1518, in a small town in Alsace, Frau Troffea began dancing and didn't stop. She danced until she was carried away six days later, and soon 34 more villagers joined her. Then more. In a month more than 400 people had been stricken by the mysterious dancing plague. In late-19th-century England an eccentric gentleman founded the No Nose Club in his gracious townhome - a social club for those who had lost their noses, and other body parts, to the plague of syphilis for which there was then no cure.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Didn't know syphilis could be so fascinating.
- By Kindle Customer on 02-09-17
By: Jennifer Wright
-
The Invention of Surgery
- A History of Modern Medicine: From the Renaissance to the Implant Revolution
- By: David Schneider MD
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 23 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
Written by an author with plenty of experience holding a scalpel, Dr. David Schneider's in-depth biography is an encompassing history of the practice that has leapt forward over the centuries from the dangerous guesswork of ancient Greek physicians through the world-changing implant revolution of the 20th century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Yup, this is the one you’re looking for...
- By richard clark on 07-19-20
-
The Butchering Art
- Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
- By: Lindsey Fitzharris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,377
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,035
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,027
In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Not one boring moment!
- By WRF on 12-22-17
-
Gulp
- Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
- By: Mary Roach
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,924
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,466
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,471
Best-selling author Mary Roach returns with a new adventure to the invisible realm we carry around inside. Roach takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: The questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts?
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Funtastic Voyage
- By Mel on 04-05-13
By: Mary Roach
-
Ungovernable
- The Victorian Parent's Guide to Raising Flawless Children
- By: Therese Oneill
- Narrated by: Dara Rosenberg, Betsy Foldes Meiman
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 189
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 168
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 167
Feminist historian Therese Oneill is back, to educate you on what to expect when you're expecting...a Victorian baby! In Ungovernable, Oneill conducts an unforgettable tour through the backward, pseudoscientific, downright bizarre parenting fashions of the Victorians.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Unexpected and Hilarious
- By M. Huber on 05-21-19
By: Therese Oneill
-
Rabid
- A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus
- By: Bill Wasik, Monica Murphy
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,395
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2,076
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,081
The most fatal virus known to science, rabies kills nearly 100 percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. From Greek myths to zombie flicks, from the laboratory heroics of Louis Pasteur to the contemporary search for a lifesaving treatment, Rabid is a fresh, fascinating, and often wildly entertaining look at one of mankind’s oldest and most fearsome foes.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Unexpected and Intriguing
- By Cynthia on 06-09-13
By: Bill Wasik, and others
-
Heart
- A History
- By: Sandeep Jauhar
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 572
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 505
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 507
For centuries, the human heart seemed beyond our understanding: an inscrutable shuddering mass that was somehow the driver of emotion and the seat of the soul. As cardiologist and best-selling author Sandeep Jauhar tells in The Heart, it was only recently that we demolished age-old taboos and devised the transformative procedures that changed the way we live. Deftly alternating between historical episodes and his own work, Jauhar tells the colorful and little known story of the doctors who risked their careers and the patients who risked their lives to know and heal our most vital organ.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating Insight
- By Ironcharles on 10-27-18
By: Sandeep Jauhar
-
Birth Day
- A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth
- By: Mark Sloan MD
- Narrated by: Mark Sloan MD
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 27
"I delivered twenty babies in the summer of 1977. I was hardly more than a baby myself, just turned 24 and starting my third year of medical school." So began Mark Sloan's three-decades-long exploration of the wonders and oddities of human childbirth. Pediatrician, husband, and father, the author has attended nearly 3000 births since that long-ago summer, encountering everything from routine deliveries to tense labor-room dramas.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Book - Heavy on the History
- By Robert Ingalls on 03-16-17
By: Mark Sloan MD
-
Medieval Bodies
- Life and Death in the Middle Ages
- By: Jack Hartnell
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
Just like us, medieval men and women worried about growing old, got blisters and indigestion, fell in love, and had children. And yet their lives were full of miraculous and richly metaphorical experiences radically different from our own, unfolding in a world where deadly wounds might be healed overnight by divine intervention, or where the heart of a king, plucked from his corpse, could be held aloft as a powerful symbol of political rule.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
I really wanted to love this book, but...
- By Annie Fitt on 05-18-21
By: Jack Hartnell
-
The Knife Man
- The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery
- By: Wendy Moore
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 234
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 195
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 195
In The Knife Man, Wendy Moore unveils John Hunter's murky and macabre world - a world characterized by public hangings, secret expeditions to dank churchyards, and gruesome human dissections in pungent attic rooms. This is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable pioneer and his determined struggle to haul surgery out of the realms of meaningless superstitious ritual and into the dawn of modern medicine.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant
- By Bird on 12-02-15
By: Wendy Moore
-
The Chick and the Dead
- Life and Death Behind Mortuary Doors
- By: Carla Valentine
- Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Using the most common postmortem process as the backbone of the narrative, The Chick and the Dead takes the listener through the process of an autopsy while also describing the history and changing cultures of our relationship with the dead. The book is full of vivid insight into what happens to our bodies in the end. Each chapter considers an aspect of an autopsy alongside an aspect of Carla's own life and work and touches on some of the more controversial aspects of our feelings toward death.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Dull
- By Leah on 08-19-17
By: Carla Valentine
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Today, astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making limb transplants, face transplants, and a host of other previously undreamed-of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of medical progress. In Blood and Guts, veteran science writer Richard Hollingham weaves a compelling narrative from the key moments in surgical history. We have a ringside seat in the operating theater of University College Hospital in London as world-renowned Victorian surgeon Robert Liston performs a remarkable amputation in 30 seconds - from first cut to final stitch.
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I love this book!
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Written by an author with plenty of experience holding a scalpel, Dr. David Schneider's in-depth biography is an encompassing history of the practice that has leapt forward over the centuries from the dangerous guesswork of ancient Greek physicians through the world-changing implant revolution of the 20th century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Yup, this is the one you’re looking for...
- By richard clark on 07-19-20
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The Masters of Medicine
- Our Greatest Triumphs in the Race to Cure Humanity's Deadliest Diseases
- By: Andrew Lam
- Narrated by: Jason Vu
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 17
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Human history hinges on the battle to confront our most dangerous enemies—the half-dozen diseases responsible for killing almost all of mankind. The story of our medical triumphs reveals an inspiring tapestry of human achievement, but the journey was far from smooth. It is a tale replete with dramatic episodes as spellbinding as any blockbuster Hollywood movie. In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam, an award-winning author and retinal surgeon, distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world's greatest medical miracles.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Medical history comes to life
- By Clayton on 11-04-23
By: Andrew Lam
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A Gallery of Poisoners
- Thirteen Classic Case Histories of Murder by Poisoning
- By: Adrian Vincent
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Story4 out of 5 stars 19
The 13 killings-by-poison revisited in this book were committed by some of the most infamous murderers in British and American history. Presenting infamous cases from 1857-1972, Adrian Vincent recounts their sinister tales and reveals the lure of money, lust, and deviancy that drove them to pure evil.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Harsh, subjective descriptions of females that are irrelevant to the story
- By michelle on 10-16-24
By: Adrian Vincent
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Empire of the Scalpel
- The History of Surgery
- By: Ira Rutkow MD
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Despite passionate debates about health care and the media’s endless fascination with surgery, most of us have no idea how the first surgeons came to be because the story of surgery has never been fully told. Now, Empire of the Scalpel elegantly reveals surgery’s fascinating evolution from its early roots in ancient Egypt to its refinement in Europe and rise to scientific dominance in the United States.
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5 out of 5 stars
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EXCELLENT FROM START TO FINISH.
- By Michael on 03-01-24
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The Demon Under The Microscope
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The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered diseases, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of antibiotics. This incredible discovery was sulfa, the first antibiotic medication. In The Demon Under the Microscope, Thomas Hager chronicles the dramatic history of the drug that shaped modern medicine.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book!!!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 05-21-08
By: Thomas Hager
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Blood and Guts
- A History of Surgery
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Today, astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making limb transplants, face transplants, and a host of other previously undreamed-of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of medical progress. In Blood and Guts, veteran science writer Richard Hollingham weaves a compelling narrative from the key moments in surgical history. We have a ringside seat in the operating theater of University College Hospital in London as world-renowned Victorian surgeon Robert Liston performs a remarkable amputation in 30 seconds - from first cut to final stitch.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I love this book!
- By Kristin on 08-25-19
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The Invention of Surgery
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Written by an author with plenty of experience holding a scalpel, Dr. David Schneider's in-depth biography is an encompassing history of the practice that has leapt forward over the centuries from the dangerous guesswork of ancient Greek physicians through the world-changing implant revolution of the 20th century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Yup, this is the one you’re looking for...
- By richard clark on 07-19-20
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The Masters of Medicine
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Human history hinges on the battle to confront our most dangerous enemies—the half-dozen diseases responsible for killing almost all of mankind. The story of our medical triumphs reveals an inspiring tapestry of human achievement, but the journey was far from smooth. It is a tale replete with dramatic episodes as spellbinding as any blockbuster Hollywood movie. In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam, an award-winning author and retinal surgeon, distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world's greatest medical miracles.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Medical history comes to life
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A Gallery of Poisoners
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- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Story4 out of 5 stars 19
The 13 killings-by-poison revisited in this book were committed by some of the most infamous murderers in British and American history. Presenting infamous cases from 1857-1972, Adrian Vincent recounts their sinister tales and reveals the lure of money, lust, and deviancy that drove them to pure evil.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Harsh, subjective descriptions of females that are irrelevant to the story
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Wondering whether eating powdered mummies might be just the thing to cure your ills? Tempted by those vintage ads suggesting you wear radioactive underpants for virility? Ever considered drilling a hole in your head to deal with those pesky headaches? Probably not. But for thousands of years, people have done things like this - and things that make radioactive underpants seem downright sensible! In their hit podcast, Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin McElroy breakdown the weird and wonderful way we got to modern healthcare. And some of the terrifying detours along the way.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Close but no cigar . . .
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By: Justin McElroy, and others
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In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Not one boring moment!
- By WRF on 12-22-17
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Under the Knife
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-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 224
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From the story of the desperate man from 17th-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers a wealth of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating room. What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell, or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Why did a surgeon need a fast horse?
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Dr. Mutter's Marvels
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Imagine undergoing an operation without anesthesia performed by a surgeon who refuses to sterilize his tools - or even wash his hands. This was the world of medicine when Thomas Dent Mütter began his trailblazing career as a plastic surgeon in Philadelphia during the middle of the 19th century. Although he died at just 48, Mütter was an audacious medical innovator who pioneered the use of ether as anesthesia, the sterilization of surgical tools, and a compassion-based vision for helping the severely deformed, which clashed spectacularly with the sentiments of his time.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Morbidly wonderful
- By serine on 04-08-16
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The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth
- And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 627
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 542
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 539
A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the 19th century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Boring Toilet Humor
- By Nemo on 01-30-20
By: Thomas Morris
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Bellevue
- Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital
- By: David Oshinsky
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 992
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 987
David Oshinsky, whose last book, Polio: An American Story, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, chronicles the history of America's oldest hospital and in so doing also charts the rise of New York to the nation's preeminent city, the path of American medicine from butchery and quackery to a professional and scientific endeavor, and the growth of a civic institution.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 12-14-16
By: David Oshinsky
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The Chick and the Dead
- Life and Death Behind Mortuary Doors
- By: Carla Valentine
- Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Using the most common postmortem process as the backbone of the narrative, The Chick and the Dead takes the listener through the process of an autopsy while also describing the history and changing cultures of our relationship with the dead. The book is full of vivid insight into what happens to our bodies in the end. Each chapter considers an aspect of an autopsy alongside an aspect of Carla's own life and work and touches on some of the more controversial aspects of our feelings toward death.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Dull
- By Leah on 08-19-17
By: Carla Valentine
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Patient Zero
- A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases
- By: Lydia Kang MD, Nate Pedersen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
From the masters of storytelling-meets-science, Patient Zero tells the long and fascinating history of disease outbreaks—how they start, how they spread, the science that lets us understand them, and how we race to destroy them before they destroy us. Written in the authors’ lively style, chapters include gripping medical stories about a particular disease or virus—smallpox, Bubonic plague, polio, HIV—that combine “Patient Zero” narratives, or the human stories behind outbreaks, with historical examinations of missteps, milestones, scientific theories, and more.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Can’t listen to the reader
- By Doug Clyde on 07-21-22
By: Lydia Kang MD, and others
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Gory Details
- By: Erika Engelhaupt
- Narrated by: Mari Weiss
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 406
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 360
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 360
Filled to the brim with far-out facts, this wickedly informative narrative from the author of National Geographic's popular Gory Details blog takes us on a fascinating journey through an astonishing new reality. Blending humor and journalism in the tradition of Mary Roach, acclaimed science reporter Erika Engelhaupt investigates the gross, strange, and morbid absurdities of our bodies and our universe.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Feels like old school Discovery channel
- By Anonymous User on 02-15-23
By: Erika Engelhaupt
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Botanical Curses and Poisons
- The Shadow-Lives of Plants
- By: Fez Inkwright
- Narrated by: Leslie Howard
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 104
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
In both history and fiction, some of the most dramatic, notorious deaths have been through poisonings. Concealed and deliberate, it's a crime that requires advance planning and that for many centuries could go virtually undetected. And yet there is a fine line between healing and killing: The difference lies only in the dosage!
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2 out of 5 stars
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The narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 05-23-22
By: Fez Inkwright
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Dark Archives
- A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin
- By: Megan Rosenbloom
- Narrated by: Justis Bolding
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 117
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
On bookshelves around the world, surrounded by ordinary books bound in paper and leather, rest other volumes of a distinctly strange and grisly sort: those bound in human skin. Would you know one if you held it in your hand? In Dark Archives, Megan Rosenbloom seeks out the historic and scientific truths behind anthropodermic bibliopegy - the practice of binding books in this most intimate covering.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Abbey Pflegl on 11-21-21
By: Megan Rosenbloom
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The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
- The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery
- By: Sam Kean
- Narrated by: Henry Leyva
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,433
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,262
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,263
Early studies of the human brain used a simple method: Wait for misfortune to strike - strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, horrendous accidents - and see how victims coped. In many cases their survival was miraculous, if puzzling. Observers were amazed by the transformations that took place when different parts of the brain were destroyed, altering victims' personalities. With the lucid, masterful explanations and razor-sharp wit his fans have come to expect, Kean explores the brain's secret passageways.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Detailed but not overly Technical
- By Michael on 05-06-15
By: Sam Kean