Murder, Madness

This book is Lewis Thomas' biography and his life is an interesting tale in its own right, but it also includes a great history of modern medicine. A really worthwhile read.

I picked up this book because of my enjoyment of Thomas' earlier books, Lives of a Cell, and Medusa and the Snail. This happened about 20 years ago. I've read The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher two times since then. The Youngest Science focuses not on specific "adventures" within medicine, microbiology, and evolution, but more on the evolution of Dr. Thomas himself, from watching his father (a physician),... Read Full Review

Although he refers to himself as a watcher, Lewis Thomas was very much a participant in the major event where medicine went from being personal and in some ways useless to a science where cures were routine. He starts the book with a description of the role of a physician before the Second World War. His father was a physician who had an office in their home, although most of his work was making house calls and hospital rounds... Read Full Review

This is an enjoyable book of a lifetime spent in the field of medicine. My favorite chapters were the early ones as Thomas looked back at what medicine was like early in this century, including what he remembers from his father's medical practice. This medical reminiscence differs from most other physician's writings in that Thomas has spent the majority of his career in research rather than in the clinical practice of medicine... Read Full Review

My favorite Lewis Thomas, so far. There are many good science popularizers around, the late Carl Sagan being better known because of his TV series - Cosmos. Dr. Thomas' books stand-out as being comfy because of his "fireside chat" way of explaining and telling stories. Why do I call him a "good man"? Because his love shines through in his writing.