The Alarming History of Medicine: Amusing Anecdotes from Hippocrates to Heart Transplants

I seek another book like this one! I read this and found myself laughing out loud in public places such as airports -- I absolutely loved it. I'm interested in medicine and the history was fabulous. Super-entertaining, exceedingly well-written, witty and intellectually stimulating non-fiction -- just my cup of tea.

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.

Thumbs up to Gordon for taking the reader of a mesmeric stroll through the oft-unusual characters and events that shaped the history of modern medicine as we know it. My sentiment wasn't initially thus. Half way through the first chapter I slapped the price sticker back on the rear cover, prepared to return it to the bookstore. Luckily (for me), I'm always up for a challenge, and something deep inside urged me to press on. Ah, woe is me; I couldn't put this book down (and this is certainly a text I look forward to rereading!). Perhaps the biggest qualm that I have with this text (and the reason I referred to it as literally discombobulating) is that 30 pages (or 12% of the book) were out of order! After discovering that the "The Gold-headed Cane" wasn't a mere page and a half chapter, but a full 27-pages; I actually had to read backwards! Bad move St. Martin's Press. In short, this is a terrific text for ANYONE interested in learning more about the history of medicine. Gordon's tone is vivid and funny; the pace is fast; the language rich (if your vocabulary/verbal reasoning is slightly above average or below- be prepare to have a dictionary near by). The text also features a couple dozen resourceful illustrations. There are NO misspellings in this text, only differences in British and American Standard English usage (i.e. using an "s" instead of a "z"- organisation vs, organization). - Great book for the mature-minded, well-versed reader. Enjoy!

I am fascinated by this subject, hence the reason for my reading this book, and I happen to be British, hence my appreciation of Richard Gordon's humour. After having read numerous histories of medicine and surgery for both my professional and personal interests, I can honestly say that I was finally able to see many of the famous names as people. I loved the parts about the condom laundry and the fact that we humans, along with cows, are physically responsible for the hole in the ozone layer. Just two examples that spring to mind from this mine of humorously viewed information. Informative and a damn good laugh.

Richard Gordon is a physician, a writer and a humorist. His history of medicine is, indeed, alarming. It was not so much what wasn't known that mattered, but what physicians thought they knew and did not. The book is light and quick paced. At times I wished Gordon had quit trying to be funny and had spent a little more time expounding on his massive knowledge of medicine and its history. I am not an expert in this field, but I did make an effort to check some of his facts...and he was right on target. The book is packed with medical trivia and funny gossip (sometimes horrible gossip) about its practitioners. Much of the information is astonishing if not alarming. The book lacks an index, which is infuriating and should be forbidden in these days of computers. It does have a few pages of references. In all I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I certainly learned a great deal of new and interesting facts, despite the author's obsession with the quick, witty phrase.