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The Illustrated History of Surgery
Book by Haeger, Knut
288 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 1988
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92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 6, 2021
Maravilloso libro, que con precisión y abundante detalle nos cuenta una y mil historias de la cirugía, ligándola y desligándola de la medicina, desde los orígenes hasta la promesa (en 1993) de la cirugía por computador. Supongo que hay por ahí mil historias de la medicina y la cirugía, pero el estilo de esta es de novela de aventuras, te engancha y te tiene en vilo, a pesar de querer, por momentos, ser un texto más llamémoslo académico. Es fantástico. Imprescindible.
January 15, 2022
It was easy to see this book – that I bought from the St Clairsville Public Library – was translated but the author’s humor still came across. The book mentions far too many names and covers a lot of ground and details, perhaps too many details.
What was most interesting, and a learning outcome is how much advancement was made to save lives through better health care during wars. World War I and II, The Thirty-Year War, Napoleonic Wars, Hundred Year War, the Franco-Prussian War, Huguenot Wars, the Crimean War, and others.
The book starts by sharing that surgery is as old as humankind. The earliest surgeries and medical techniques were the most interesting – bandages of fresh leaves, splints from tree-branches, superstition and ceremony taking major roles in medicine.
Haeger has many good stories based on his research. For example, 2,000 years ago in India, Hindu doctors based their research on body’s based on children since anyone older than two were cremated; the doctors were uninformed that young children were not fully developed. Forceps started being used in the Middle Ages to remove a fetus that had died from the womb. A few pages focused on Hippocrates, a Greek doctor who was viewed as the “father of medicine” and was the origin of The Hippocratic Oath. Yes, 400’s BC. And, churches had a major role in medical technology by establishing hospitals and rules. The contribution of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was also reviewed.
Interesting, it was mentioned that in 1800, the vaccination was created – to protect against smallpox. And the start of cancer research started in the 1840’s when doctors started to look at cells. The discussion of how doctors dealt with pain and their exploration was outright frightening.
Not only were there a lot of names mentioned but they were all men except for Florence
Nightingale (1820-1910). We all hear her name, but most know little about her. Haeger provided a nice review of her life, her particular health issues, and her contribution to medical science – and humanity. She helped to introduce the simple issue that we have heard about so much during the current pandemic – washing hands with soap and warm water. By doing it, she was able to decrease mortality from 40% to 20%. Later other doctors added in surgeon’s gloves – and other simple changes that added to the safety of surgeries.
During the start of the pandemic, I read the book “The Great Influenza,” a NYT’s best seller that didn’t just review our world’s last major pandemic but also provided incredible information about the development of our health structure. This book provides another view of part of our health care development, heading back centuries ago. Haeger gives the reader an appreciation of the unusual journey of today’s surgery and the importance of the written word to get us to this point.
What was most interesting, and a learning outcome is how much advancement was made to save lives through better health care during wars. World War I and II, The Thirty-Year War, Napoleonic Wars, Hundred Year War, the Franco-Prussian War, Huguenot Wars, the Crimean War, and others.
The book starts by sharing that surgery is as old as humankind. The earliest surgeries and medical techniques were the most interesting – bandages of fresh leaves, splints from tree-branches, superstition and ceremony taking major roles in medicine.
Haeger has many good stories based on his research. For example, 2,000 years ago in India, Hindu doctors based their research on body’s based on children since anyone older than two were cremated; the doctors were uninformed that young children were not fully developed. Forceps started being used in the Middle Ages to remove a fetus that had died from the womb. A few pages focused on Hippocrates, a Greek doctor who was viewed as the “father of medicine” and was the origin of The Hippocratic Oath. Yes, 400’s BC. And, churches had a major role in medical technology by establishing hospitals and rules. The contribution of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was also reviewed.
Interesting, it was mentioned that in 1800, the vaccination was created – to protect against smallpox. And the start of cancer research started in the 1840’s when doctors started to look at cells. The discussion of how doctors dealt with pain and their exploration was outright frightening.
Not only were there a lot of names mentioned but they were all men except for Florence
Nightingale (1820-1910). We all hear her name, but most know little about her. Haeger provided a nice review of her life, her particular health issues, and her contribution to medical science – and humanity. She helped to introduce the simple issue that we have heard about so much during the current pandemic – washing hands with soap and warm water. By doing it, she was able to decrease mortality from 40% to 20%. Later other doctors added in surgeon’s gloves – and other simple changes that added to the safety of surgeries.
During the start of the pandemic, I read the book “The Great Influenza,” a NYT’s best seller that didn’t just review our world’s last major pandemic but also provided incredible information about the development of our health structure. This book provides another view of part of our health care development, heading back centuries ago. Haeger gives the reader an appreciation of the unusual journey of today’s surgery and the importance of the written word to get us to this point.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2019
The illustrations are, as promised, quite good, and the book manages to cover a significant amount of history, tracking the ebb and flow of knowledge, the development of techniques, and the ways society and laws shaped medicine. However, Knut Hæger is not without his biases. He managed to write four pages about John Hunter without using the word "graverobbing," and later refers to a "bigoted mob" destroying Post's anatomical collection. Buddy, I'm pretty sure Post earned that mob fair and square! A student of John "Graverobber" Hunter doesn't amass a significant amount of anatomical specimens in the eighteenth century without an awful lot of graverobbing, is what I'm saying. I do understand how much knowledge and skill dissection has given doctors, and how many lives it has saved, but let's not pretend all those bones and pickled bits got there consensually and ethically.
Still a good book, though.
Still a good book, though.
March 20, 2024
An excellent resource for for the history of surgery. The only drawback is that it can only give an overview and not get into much detail.
Want to read
October 3, 2009Ha Ha. Just kidding. My Grandpa owns this book. Chances are, I'll read it some day.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews