Doctors: The Illustrated History of Medical Pioneers

by Sherwin B. Nuland

National Book Award-winner and surgeon Sherwin B. Nuland tells the extraordinary story of the development of modern medicine through compelling studies of the great innovators and pioneers. Artfully selected illustrations bring the history of medicine to life as never before.

This brilliant collection of life portraits of physician scientists shows how their deeds and determination paved the way for future breakthroughs in medicine.

Ranging from the legendary father of medicine, Hippocrates, to Helen Taussig, the founder of pediatric cardiology, the book is filled with the spirit of ideas and the thrill of discovery.Other medical pioneers profiled include Galen, Andreas Vesalius, Ambroise ParéWilliam Harvey, Giovanni Morgagni, John Hunter, Renéaennec, Ignac Semmelweis, Rudolf Virchow, Joseph Lister, and William Stewart Halsted.

Artwork and photography are married to Nuland's vivid narrative here for the first time, turning a "reading" book by a bestselling author into a treasured gift book for medical professionals and science enthusiasts.

Genres: Medicine, Nonfiction, Medical, History

480 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 2008

About the author

Sherwin Nuland was an American surgeon and author who taught bioethics and medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine. He was the author of The New York Times bestseller and National Book Award winning How We Die, and has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New Republic, Time, and the New York Review of Books.

His NYTimes obit: http://nyti.ms/1kxNtQC

Reviews

[Jenalyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some interesting chapters but a lot of wandering off the subject

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of medicine through a focus on key personalities.

[Melsene G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book about all the great medical pioneers, some of which are familiar to us like Lister, and some are known only to medical historians. "Shep" is one of the best medical writers of our time and each and every book is thoughtful and well written. This book is extremely lengthy but don't let that be an obstacle. The book begins with Hippocrates and Galen, then heads into the Renaissance and Vesalius, followed by Pare, Harvey, Morgagni, Hunter, Laennec,and my favorite- Ignac Semmelweis known for the germ theory and handwashing. BTW, Shep wrote a great book about Semmelweis too-and I encourage you to read that and see my review.

From there we make our way to anesthesia, cells, Lister, Halsted, and Taussig-the only lady of the bunch. The book ends with transplantation and since almost a quarter of a century has passed since this book was published, new medical pioneers have certainly been born. The journey to scientific medicine has taken thousands of years and we still look at medicine as a mix of art and science. We know so much but there is still so much more to discover.

[Dr Q · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it was well written and the illustrations were brilliant, the book did not turn out as I hoped. There were many inaccuracies, some mistakes, and huge gaps. But what got me most was the "bias". Although the Author did mention at the beginning that he included only what he considered his "heros", it was unfortunate that all his "heros" were "western white Doctors". The Author even went a step further by insinuating that all medical advancement created by "western white Doctors". For example there was more than a thousand year gap between the second chapter and the third, and he named the third chapter "the Awakening" undermining the work and medical advancements done in the time between the two chapters, although the Auther did admit that the knowledge passed through a third party withthin that period. But they were not "western white Doctors", and no chapter was dedicated to any doctor from that period. In the end I suggest strongly to change the title to "the illustrated history of WESTERN medical pioneers".

For less bias work I recommend Robert E. Adler