Physicians, Plagues and Progress: The History of Western medicine from Antiquity to Antibiotics

by Allan Chapman

From earliest times, man has struggled to control his environment and his fate, and a big part of that has always been his health. From the ancients onwards, the study of medicine, including surgery, has exercised some of the greatest minds - and brought profits to some of the less great. Drawing on sources across Europe and beyond, including the huge contributions to medicine made in medieval Arabia and India, Chapman takes us on a whirlwind tour of what was known when, and what impact it had.

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Medicine

634 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 18, 2016

Reviews

[Josh Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn’t say this is a topic that sits at the top of my reading interest list. And sitting at 462 pages, this wasn’t going to be a light read. Around the halfway point I lost stamina and skimmed the rest of the book. Chapman writes in a clear way that enabled me to glide through the first half pretty easily. He dismantles a few myths that have developed over the centuries about the progress of learning happening during the so-called “Dark Ages” connected to surgery, medical knowledge, and human anatomy. Obviously there was much to be corrected over the centuries, but the scales of knowledge were not as tipped towards ignorance as some might think. The latter half of the book just didn't hold my attention as well as the first half. But even though this wasn’t my favorite topic and I didn’t finish the entire book, I still walked away with some knowledge and perspective I didn't have before.