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Dead Ends!: Flukes, Flops & Failures That Sparked Medical Marvels
From New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris, a riveting middle grade nonfiction book about medicine's most fascinating failures and dead ends.
Beheadings! Bloodletting! Bodysnatching! Journey down a snaking road bristling with medicine's most astonishing “dead ends.” Marvel at the diagnoses, experiments, and treatments that were frequently useless, and often harmful, but that sometimes led doctors to discoveries that changed the world for the better.
Enjoy a whirlwind tour of the human body-from brain, to heart, to limbs-during which New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris and caricaturist Adrian Teal will guide you through centuries of medical mistakes, festooned with riveting facts, pitch-perfect humor, and vivid illustrations. Celebrate the flukes, flops, and failures that have given science a better understanding of our bodies and ways to treat them.
This fascinating book of foul-ups is sure to delight young readers, and inspire them to embrace their failures, too!
Beheadings! Bloodletting! Bodysnatching! Journey down a snaking road bristling with medicine's most astonishing “dead ends.” Marvel at the diagnoses, experiments, and treatments that were frequently useless, and often harmful, but that sometimes led doctors to discoveries that changed the world for the better.
Enjoy a whirlwind tour of the human body-from brain, to heart, to limbs-during which New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris and caricaturist Adrian Teal will guide you through centuries of medical mistakes, festooned with riveting facts, pitch-perfect humor, and vivid illustrations. Celebrate the flukes, flops, and failures that have given science a better understanding of our bodies and ways to treat them.
This fascinating book of foul-ups is sure to delight young readers, and inspire them to embrace their failures, too!
160 pages, Hardcover
Published October 14, 2025
9 people are currently reading
275 people want to read
About the author
Lindsey Fitzharris
8 books1,031 followersI am the author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, which won the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing and has been translated into multiple languages. My TV series The Curious Life and Death of . . . aired on the Smithsonian Channel in 2020. I contribute regularly to The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and other notable publications, and hold a doctorate in the History of Science and Medicine from the University of Oxford. My next book, The Facemaker, will be released in June. It follows the harrowing story of Harold Gillies, the pioneering surgeon who rebuilt soldiers' faces during the First World War.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 17, 2025
Dead Ends! is a frolicking adventure through the silly, strange, and sometimes sinister history of medicine. So many bizarre medical stories you won't be able to keep from sharing, and Adrian Teal's charming and gruesome illustrations are just the perfect accompaniment. Of course I loved learning about paleontologist William Buckland's unusual dietary preferences (which included toasted field mice and a king's heart) and the grisly medical applications of electricity in the early years of its development. But what I really admire about Dead Ends! is the lessons it demonstrates: science doesn't always get it right the first time, and that's okay. I've long been such a fan of Lindsey Fitzharris, and her latest book is a winner! Great for young readers (and elder millennials like myself).
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October 28, 2025As heard on This Podcast Will Kill You (Special Episode: Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal & Dead Ends!)
https://omny.fm/shows/this-podcast-wi...
Science doesn’t always get it right the first time (or the second, or the third, or even the ninety-ninth!). And while we may chuckle at the outlandish things people believed or the goofy experiments they tried, we forget two things: 1) those failures helped us get where we are today and 2) a hundred years from now, people will probably be laughing at the “cutting edge” medical knowledge of today! In this week’s book club episode, Erin and I chat with two of our all-time favorite science communicators, Dr. Lindsey Fithzarris and Adrian Teal to discuss their newest book Dead Ends!: Flukes, Flops & Failures That Sparked Medical Marvels. This hilarious and insightful book, geared towards middle-school readers (but enjoyable for all ages!), frolicks through some of the strangest stories in the history of medicine, accompanied by delightfully grotesque illustrations. There’s learning, there’s laughter, but most importantly, there’s a lesson: failure is okay. Not just okay but a necessary part of science. Tune in for all this and more!
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https://omny.fm/shows/this-podcast-wi...
December 29, 2025
It's always entertaining to dive into the world of medical developments throughout history with the science and humor that shows that innovation can only come from failures and flops, well-intentioned or not that could include serious bloodletting (to the point of death though they didn't know it) or electrocution or drinking out of a boiled decapitated head.
This one has the focus on medical marvels from lung transplants and laughing gas and amputations with interspersed illustrations that are black and white with the strategic red to drive home various points about scientific innovation and the pioneers who got it wrong and others that got it right.
It's an accessible text for a middle grade audience like the How They Croaked and How They Choked which are always just as informative and entertaining.
"The barber's traditional striped pole is a reminder of the long-lived but useless practice of bloodletting. The pole represents the rod that the patient gripped to make their veins bulge, making them easier to slice open. The metal ball at the top symbolizes the basin used to collect the blood. The red-and-white stripes represent the bloody bandages used to bind the wound. Once washed and hung to dry on the rod outside the shop, the bandages would twist in the wind, forming the familiar spiral pattern you can see on modern poles."
"The rubber CPR doll used to train people in first aid is known as "Resusci-Annie". Her face is based on that of a nameless woman who was found drowned in Paris's River Seine in the 1880s. The morgue guy on duty was fascinated by the girl with the mysterious half smile, so he paid for a plaster cast to be made of her face. She was called the "Unknown Woman of the Seine." In 1955, a toymaker named Asmund Laerdal helped to create what we now know as the CPR doll, using the woman's death mask as the basis for its face. So, this nameless woman who drowned in the nineteenth century is responsible for saving many, many lives the world over."
This one has the focus on medical marvels from lung transplants and laughing gas and amputations with interspersed illustrations that are black and white with the strategic red to drive home various points about scientific innovation and the pioneers who got it wrong and others that got it right.
It's an accessible text for a middle grade audience like the How They Croaked and How They Choked which are always just as informative and entertaining.
"The barber's traditional striped pole is a reminder of the long-lived but useless practice of bloodletting. The pole represents the rod that the patient gripped to make their veins bulge, making them easier to slice open. The metal ball at the top symbolizes the basin used to collect the blood. The red-and-white stripes represent the bloody bandages used to bind the wound. Once washed and hung to dry on the rod outside the shop, the bandages would twist in the wind, forming the familiar spiral pattern you can see on modern poles."
"The rubber CPR doll used to train people in first aid is known as "Resusci-Annie". Her face is based on that of a nameless woman who was found drowned in Paris's River Seine in the 1880s. The morgue guy on duty was fascinated by the girl with the mysterious half smile, so he paid for a plaster cast to be made of her face. She was called the "Unknown Woman of the Seine." In 1955, a toymaker named Asmund Laerdal helped to create what we now know as the CPR doll, using the woman's death mask as the basis for its face. So, this nameless woman who drowned in the nineteenth century is responsible for saving many, many lives the world over."
October 18, 2025
Lindsey Fitzharris is back with another fantastic medical history book for kids. Dead Ends! is all about the many weird medical cures that were mostly useless and often harmful, but sometimes led to an occasional discovery that would lead to an actually helpful thing.This book covers things like bloodletting, beheadings, body snatching, CPR, brains, amputation, and quite a few other things.
This was a wonderful blend of medical history and humor that is just perfect for kids, or for adults too, especially those who are just dipping their toes into medical history. I have enjoyed all of Fitzharris’ books so of course I was going to get this book, even if it was a kids book. I learned quite a lot about some of the failed treatments in medical history. I found the CPR chapter to be the most interesting because it was something I had never researched before so finding out they would puff air up bums to try and bring people back was a bit amusing, and horrifying.
After finishing this audiobook, my physical copy came in the mail so I was able to look at the illustrations that Teal did. The artwork was wonderful and worked perfectly with the text. I loved how it was all done in black and white with red accents that really made the images pop. My favorite image is probably the Nosferatu putting blood on toast in the blood-letting section.
Overall, this was another great children's book on medical history from Fitzharris. I think kids will love this, especially kids who like macabre and weird things.
This was a wonderful blend of medical history and humor that is just perfect for kids, or for adults too, especially those who are just dipping their toes into medical history. I have enjoyed all of Fitzharris’ books so of course I was going to get this book, even if it was a kids book. I learned quite a lot about some of the failed treatments in medical history. I found the CPR chapter to be the most interesting because it was something I had never researched before so finding out they would puff air up bums to try and bring people back was a bit amusing, and horrifying.
After finishing this audiobook, my physical copy came in the mail so I was able to look at the illustrations that Teal did. The artwork was wonderful and worked perfectly with the text. I loved how it was all done in black and white with red accents that really made the images pop. My favorite image is probably the Nosferatu putting blood on toast in the blood-letting section.
Overall, this was another great children's book on medical history from Fitzharris. I think kids will love this, especially kids who like macabre and weird things.
November 18, 2025
Gross and fascinating which is exactly the kind of nonfiction I love. I learned a lot about medical history and, as always when I read gross medical history, I'm happy to live in the day and age we live in! Thank goodness for pain medication.
Anyway, a good recommendation to kids/young teens looking for gross nonfiction. It is pretty graphic (and the illustrations add to that) so it's definitely a know your audience type of recommendation. I think I'd bring it on school visits and just make sure the kids know that it's not for the faint of heart.
Anyway, a good recommendation to kids/young teens looking for gross nonfiction. It is pretty graphic (and the illustrations add to that) so it's definitely a know your audience type of recommendation. I think I'd bring it on school visits and just make sure the kids know that it's not for the faint of heart.
January 12, 2026
A lot of this was information I'd already gleaned from years of listening to TPWKY, or from reading other popular medical history books, but it's a good intro for young fans of the gross and the macabre! I think a 4th grader could read this, but only the least squeamish. Otherwise, I'd save it for 5th grade and up!
October 20, 2025
Don’t read this while eating! Very interesting and accessible for kids who want to learn about the body, medicine, or gross stuff. There is humor throughout, but also appropriate respect for tragedy. I highly recommend it!
never-finished
November 2, 2025I didn't get very far in this--too gross for me, which means it's perfect for middle schoolers with a love for all things ghoulish and gory and disgusting. Thanks to Libro.FM for a free educator copy of the audiobook.
Read
January 9, 2026This was a super interesting juvenile non-fiction read about all the weird things doctors tried throughout the ages to cure patients of various sicknesses. It was well researched and I think older elementary students would really enjoy learning all the crazy facts included!
alc-libro-fm
October 30, 2025(Audio courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing, Lindsey Fitzharris, and the Libro.fm Audiobook Listening Copy Program.)
November 10, 2025
A bit repetitive of the other books by Fitzharris if you’re an avid fan as I am. As a standalone piece it is great and super insightful!
November 23, 2025
Loved all the illustrations and medical history for an interesting and entertaining read!
December 5, 2025
Gross, Gory, and Fascinating.
January 1, 2026
Extremely easy read!! Middle school reading level, but still extremely interesting medical history information!
January 1, 2026
Exciting tidbits about medical feats, both good and bad. Super accessible for the intended audience.
December 2, 2025
I found the stories very interesting, and the lesson for young readers, that failure often leads to success is an important one. There's a good amount of gross stories to satisfy kids who are looking for icky things. While this topic may not interest all kids, it's certainly gripping for those who are looking for it.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews