The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse: A Chronicle of Medical Mysteries, Curious Remedies, and Bizarre but True Healing Folklore by Butcher, Nancy (2004) Paperback

by Nancy Butcher

The history of healing is rich with curious remedies - some based time-honored folklore, others straight from the medical journals. With uncommon wit and insight, Nancy Butcher has assembled a rare collection of medical facts and fallacies, from arcane remedies to contemporary healing "miracles." This book is enlivened with intriguing stories of rare diseases, unusual healing methods, bizarre beauty practices, and a glimpse at what medicine has in store for our future. By turns instructive and awe-inspiring, this compendium is a captivating look into the history of humankind's quest for perfect health and fascination with the functions of the human body.

Genres: Nonfiction, Medicine, Science, Health

Paperback

First published January 5, 2004

About the author

Nancy Butcher has written on health and wellness subjects for WholeHealthMD.com and other websites as well as creating wellness booklets for Time-Life Books. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling children's book It's Snow Problem, and 101 Ways to Stop Eating After Dinner.

Reviews

[Edel Waugh Salisbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this was a gross and informative little read. Wow .. a hypochondriacs dream between these pages!! If you are interested in medical history and the weird and wonderful illnesses through the years then this is the book for you. I would read this if you are not easily grossed out my disgusting medical details/illnesses.. Not for the faint hearted..Many times I spent shouting Yackkkkkk through reading this.

[Cole Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book The Strange Case Of The Walking Corpse is just one of the many books that author Nancy Butcher has written. This book isn’t about anything specific, it’s a collection of amazing stories of great medical mysteries. Throughout the book, the reader gets to see an organized group of recorded stories telling true medical cases that are very unusual and interesting. This book gives information of both medical and historical facts about how and when these mysteries happened. Every new chapter gets more interesting as you go on.
The content in this book can go from pretty much any kind of unusual case you can think of. There are examples of uncommon treatments from the past and they include how we now use that same treatment today in a different way. The book makes sure to include charts to make sure the reader can get all the information possible. If someone were to read this, they wouldn’t need to have any background information about medical topics. Also, the author put in a glossary at the end of every chapter to make things more convenient. Overall this book is just a fun, interesting, and informative book to read in your free time.
If you like interesting medical facts or even just interesting facts I think you would enjoy this book. You would enjoy this book if you also like to read informative non-fiction books. The only part I didn’t like about this book is that occasionally I found it hard to follow some of the charts in the chapters. However, everything else I found very interesting and helpful for me to read. It was interesting to read about these medical wonders and how they have impacted the medical world today. This book is an enjoyable book of facts, but doesn’t take too long to complete.

[Jo Hammer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a medical nonfiction. It is all about bizarre diseases, horrifying symptoms, and strange cures. It includes topics such as mental illnesses, parasites, and sleep dysfunctions.
I liked that this book was very informative on some of the most bizarre medical topics there are. However, it seemed that a lot of the information was gathered off of the internet. I found this acceptable though, because all of the information was gathered into one easily accessible location, instead of scattered around the internet. I really liked the section on "Unusual Mental Illnesses" (however wrong that may sound) because I found that to be the most interesting topic.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the bizarre, strange side of medicine. This might be compared to Ripley's Believe it or Not, because of the topics covered in both books.

[Truff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a broad overview of some strange and weird maladies that affect humans. The author writes very short synopsises and quotes from a lot of disease and medical books (good ones), with a sarcastic tone.

Personally, I didn't like this book much, I like books about strange diseases and morbid topics, but found the author's tone detracted from the subject matter. Generally, I like sarcasm, but this book was not enjoyable for me to read.

This is more like a coffee table book, or a book to take along on a short trip when you won't have the attention span to get into more detail. This is a good book for a layperson with curiosity about the medical, microbial world who is not seeking too much information. The author's sources however, are excellent books for further reading.

[Sarina Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse online while looking for an interesting book online. When I finally found the book at my local bookstore, it was a bit different than I had assumed. The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse describes the strange and somewhat disgusting diseases and remedies of humankind’s history. Though it presented very interesting information, it was an easy read and not all that scientific. I certainly found this book exciting to read and it managed to keep my attention, but I felt that I could have included more cases and more information. I recommend this book to any one who would like a quick and easy read on the curiosities of the medical world

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the explanation of the title was meaningful. So...read up on Cotard syndrome (walking corpse syndrome).

Not quite a book on zombies, and yet....still kinda horrific. Especially the parasite chapter.

the parasite chapter is the most disturbing. This is a pretty short book that tries to cover a large topic, so the reader gets just tidbits on the various medical curiosities. It is a good fast read, but will not give you everything you want to know. I guess that is where the bibliography can come in handy!!

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much information in this book, and some useful, while others odd. This book showed me a lot of cool old remedies that worked and didn't work to normal/strange things that occur like head aches or a possible cure for acne; lemons. This book also had a lot of information over strange conditions like a hairy tung, and helped me understand a little better the ways in which people dealt with aliments in the past.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

When you can't remember from one page to the next that it's Norman Cantor and not Norman Kantor ... sorry, not interested. Also, some of the home remedies listed are helpful, but this book doesn't provide enough information to use them correctly.

[Jade17 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would hardly describe this book as a 'rare collection of medical facts' when it looked like it was written by a high school student. Also add the fact that almost all of the sources were from the Internet.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great reference book about medical mysterious and folklore legends for those who are not in the medical field because it provides witty commentary from the author, extensive research and cases.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will probably come off quite snarky, but I mean it sincerely: Ms. Butcher has managed to take what appears to be a very busy week of Internet research and transform it into something approximating a cohesive whole. I certainly appreciated how well-referenced it is.

[Tera · Rating 2 out of 5]

This ws not what I was expecting at all.....it was ok but thought it would be more interesting.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another $0.94 deal from Snowbound Books.
** A very interesting read. Oodles of bizarre stuff from waaaay back. Current stuff, too.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course I would like this book; descriptions of actual diseases and cures (and not cures) used throughout time.

[Bonnie Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and easy read that is equally entertaining and informative. I just wish it was a bit longer!

[Katherine Kingman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A go-to manual for those who love medical curiosities.

[Seawood · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you don't know anything about medical curiosities and can't work Wikipedia, this is for you. Otherwise, eh, most of it is scraped from the internet.

[Manda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting info but never really explores anything in-depth

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but it seemed like a collection of anecdotes gathered from the internet.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books you can read in sections, in any order, at any time, without needing anything else to anchor it. You know, a "bathroom book."

But it's also an interesting study in how quickly discussions about medicine (and, sometimes, non-fiction in general) can become outdated. It is particularly noticeable in the "scientific" discussion on stem-cell research.

One might look past that as a matter of course but even the style seems old-fashioned. There are a lot of tongue-in-cheek comments that would be inappropriate if this book really wanted to teach us something. Instead it's meant more of a "shocking tales" thing. Though definitely more on the Reader's Digest than Mutter Museum level.

Leave this one for the hypochondriacs and bored teenagers.

[Emily Kidd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just another anecdotal collection of “medical mysteries, curious remedies, and bizarre but true healing folklore” complied by the author (who primarily relies on a previous, similar publication and several websites). In other words, I found the research to be unoriginal and the presentation rather bland; this is just a curated collection of facts. But hey, it grabbed my attention in the first place and I finished it 🤷🏻‍♀️

Spoiler Alert: the walking corpse was a man with a mental illness, he just THOUGHT he was a walking corpse #iwasdisappointed

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parasites and sexual depravities and diseases oh my!

Not as gross as her introduction would have you believe, this is nonetheless a gloriously disgusting book by the aptly named Nancy Butcher. Full of fascinating tidbits such as the fact that there were 3 waves of plague and the third wasn’t considered done with until 1960. This delightful romp through medical horrors is enlivened by a strong sense of morbid humor.

[Mia Milne · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're stuck in quarantine and this book happens to be sitting in your bookshelf, then I suggest giving it a try. But, otherwise you're better off just searching online for weird diseases or reading the DSM. There's some fun facts but most are just quoted off with the internet with no connecting theme, running jokes, or consistent structure.

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Medical anecdotes from the internet, not well done.

[Ryan (Glay)]

Padding my monthly reading goals by including this one.

[Eneida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book , really easy and relaxing to read actually . Only feedback sometimes there was so much copy paste that felt like a amateur thesis paper

[Jen Garuti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun to read, but the whole book seemed to have been researched from websites and felt at times like patched together summaries of stories off of webpages. Also it had a school report feel because each chapter started "In this chapter we will discuss..." But still, I had a lot of fun reading the book.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a little informal, made me think of a couple of friends talking over a glass of wine. It's a book for a lazy Sunday afternoon and yes this is a collection of internet facts but seriously who has time to find it for yourself, I don't! I work full time and have two kids.
It is for light reading and if you are sad like myself and read the introduction, it tells you not to try any of the home remedies. But who really wants to eat chopped up kitten stuffed in a roast goose.