The Sawbones Book: The Hilarious, Horrifying Road to Modern Medicine

by Justin McElroy, Sydnee McElroy, Teylor Smirl (Illustrator)

A compelling, often hilarious and occasionally horrifying exploration of how modern medicine came to be!

Wondering whether eating powdered mummies might be just the thing to cure your ills? Tempted by those vintage ads suggesting you wear radioactive underpants for virility? Ever considered drilling a hole in your head to deal with those pesky headaches? Probably not. But for thousands of years, people have done things like this—and things that make radioactive underpants seem downright sensible! In their hit podcast, Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin McElroy breakdown the weird and wonderful way we got to modern healthcare. And some of the terrifying detours along the way.

Every week, Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin amaze, amuse, and gross out (depending on the week) hundreds of thousands of avid listeners to their podcast, Sawbones. Consistently rated a top podcast on iTunes, with over 15 million total downloads, this rollicking journey through thousands of years of medical mishaps and miracles is not only hilarious but downright educational. While you may never even consider applying  boiled weasel to your forehead (once the height of sophistication when it came to headache cures), you will almost certainly face some questionable medical advice in your everyday life (we’re looking at you, raw water!) and be better able to figure out if this is a miracle cure (it’s not) or a scam.

Table of Contents:
Part One: The Unnerving
The Resurrection Men
Fun w Galvanism
Weird Weight Loss
Miracle Cure: Opium
Black Plague
Heroes of Misguided Medicine: Pliny the Elder
Erectile Dysfunction
The Doctor Is In: Listener Questions Answered
Don’t Drill a Hole in Your Head

Part Two: The Gross
Mummy Medicine
The Guthole Bromance
The Unkillable Phineas Gage
Max Drank Poopy Water
Heroes of Misguided Medicine: Robert Liston
Golden Showers of Health
Miracle Cure-All: Radium
Dr. John Romulus Brinkley
The Doctor Is In Q&A
Just (Four) Humour Me
The Camel Dung Miracle

Part Three: The Weird
The Dancing Plague
Bad Medicine: Tobacco for Health
The Seasick-Proof Saloon
Miracle Cure-All: Vinegar
The Doctor Is In Q&A
Heroes of Misguided Medicine

Part Four: The Awesome
The Poison Squad
Bad Medicine: Self Experimentation
Eat Your Chocolate!
Heroes of Misguided Medicine
Parrot Fever
Miracle Cure-All: Honey
The Miraculous Polio Vaccine
The Doctor Is In

 

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Humor, Medicine, Medical, Audiobook

216 pages, Hardcover

First published October 9, 2018

About the author

Justin Tyler McElroy is a co-host of My Brother, My Brother and Me. He is the oldest brother of Travis McElroy and Griffin McElroy, and son of Clint McElroy. Justin McElroy was a founding Editor-At-Large (meaning editor on the loose–an editor who cannot be contained) of Polygon (the video-game/ pop-culture site of Vox media). Justin and Griffin left Polygon in 2018, but implied they'd still appear in/contribute to video content.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The content of this book is great. Sydnee and Justin's contrasting takes on Kellogg was one of the funniest things I've ever read, and Teylor's art is wonderful. But I had bought this book to give to my brother, a doctor, as a Christmas gift, and I just can't do it - not because the book is so good and I want to keep it for myself (my original fear), but because it is so obviously unfinished that it feels insulting.

To call the writing a "rough draft" is generous. Almost every page contains misspellings, grammatical errors, duplicate words, page placeholders, and other mistakes. The editor and publisher dropped the ball so badly that I felt a sense of dread with each page I read, waiting for the next example of how little attention was given to cleaning up and editing the writing. There wasn't a need for the different parts, either - the stories often didn't seem to fit well in the categories they were assigned to. Finally, and most atrocious of all, there are eight pages at the end that are simply missing - the publisher just GLUED TOGETHER the backs of pages 205 to 212.

If these were any other content creators besides the McElroys, there is no way this book would have such a high rating on Goodreads. I understand that folks are enthusiastic to support them - I am too - but such a high rating is extremely dishonest because the construction and editing of the book is so unforgivably flawed. I can't believe someone actually made the decision to ship out the books in this state. It feels like they're taking advantage of the fans' willingness to forgive the creators, and that is bad business.

To Weldon Owen, the publisher: You ought to be ashamed. I am going to ask for my money back.

To the McElroys: Hold your publisher accountable. You KNOW that the fans would have forgiven a delay if it meant receiving a completed and polished product. I hope the next printing is better.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are lucky that we can read a book like this and be grateful that though medicine today is far from perfect, it has certainly come a very long way. This is a gorgeous book, the cover, the full color illustrations and ads inside. We can laugh at some of them now, but people in the past believed in some of these outrageous cure-alls. The constant solutions to the obesity, which goal is still relevant today. But back in the past we would see ads like this one.

EAT! EAT! EAT! Always stay thin! Fat the enemy that is shortening your life BANISHED!
HOW with sanitized tapeworms. Her packed. Easy to swallow. Seriously? Or how about buying a bar of La Parks obesity soap? Think that might do the trick?

Drilling into skulls with hand drills. Of course the ice pick lobotomy. Poor Rosemarie Kennedy's
Wont begin to tell you what they did with urine and feces.

What about a magic belt that one could wrap around themselves, turn on the battery and you had a solution for nausea? Mummy meat crumbled into tinctures to stop bleeding? Well that a few of many of the disturbing things one will read in this book. It does have a few things, like some of the uses for honey, that has a certainly validity to this day.

A kind of gross, quirky and interesting book. Oh and don't read the book summary, I think it gives away much to much.

[Ross Blocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sawbones is one of my favorite podcasts, and Dr. Sydnee McElroy and the hilarious Justin McElroy are delightful guides through the wacky world of medical history. The podcast explores a different topic in depth each week, but this compendium volume is a great way to either get your feet wet or to re-live some of the greatest hits. It's taken a long time for us to arrive at the [admittedly still imperfect] medicine of today, but boy-howdy has humanity taken some wrong steps along the way. The McElroys lead us through tales of black plague, erectile dysfunction, weight loss, cholera, urine therapy, dancing mania, homeopathy, mummy dust, and much, much more. They react with the same disgust, amusement and titillation that any of us would... before launching into the science of why we know better now. I listened to this as an audiobook, so I can't comment on the design of the book that others are talking about (I'll need to get my hands on a copy). Just know that if you enjoy the information here, you'll get even more from the podcast. And, as always: don't drill a hole in your head.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Justin and Sydnee, but as others have pointed out, this book is poorly proofed and copy edited to an embarrassing, painful degree. Text is transposed and repeated. Words are missing, punctuation is randomly placed--pretty much every typographical error you can imagine is present here, on almost every page. Credit to the authors that I was able to make it through at all.

Only to discover that the last six pages of the book are glued together. Yup.

The publisher, Weldon Owen, needs to get its shit together. Its authors, and its readers, deserve better.

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

People's creativity is shown in special medical agony options to deteriorate the state of health.

Please note that I have put the original German text to the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.

In the retrospective, many things are unbelievable and it is difficult to gauge the suffering of the patients, or rather victims. But how did these questionable approaches devoid of any good clinical practice and scientific method develop? What were the causes of so many wrong turns?

Many advanced cultures already had well-developed and advanced treatments, therapies, hygiene and rudimentary surgery. With the collapse of the empires, all knowledge was lost and dark ages with massive backlashes befell. The body was portrayed as a sinful, temporary shell and enriched with abstruse fantasy tropes. The disturbed relationship to sexuality, death and bodily functions led to the ban on essential achievements of the past. Medical research had been silenced by the taboo on researching corpses (or even examining living people).

The worldview, disturbed by the ideologies of humans, was reflected in medicine in manifold ways. Illness was often not soberly and objectively seen as a natural condition to be treated but as something of cosmic origin. Be it a punishment, a sign or a reward. Jay, sicknesses of martyrs and saints, what a piece of luck to get infected, I mean chosen by higher entities.

The craving for reputation by the quacks and charlatans fed the superstition of the uneducated population. The "doctors" knew that they always needed a good story that could be adapted to the various faiths — mystical, fantastic explanations as a prologue to the spectacular treatment. This randomly and accidentally caused either more damage than the disease or had no use at all. In exceptional cases, it helped.

The theme is an excellent illustration of what delusion can do. How to use the credulity of people to build institutionalized power complexes. These spread confused heresies into all areas of life. Today, in the Western world, this can only be seen in the form of charlatanry and scientifically proven ineffective healing methods and therapies. But only a few generations separate the reputable medicine from fits that seem like a mixture of splatter horror and black comedy. Accordingly, one has to decide as a reader, depending on personality, whether one laughs or is shocked.

Today, the obstacle of modern medicine is the problem of one-sidedness. For example, the Human Genome Project, which deducted funding from all other research areas. Furthermore, the research was unilaterally pushed in one direction and paid too little attention to all different approaches and theories. Ironically, there are now no further results. On the contrary, the underestimated RNA played a much more significant role than expected. Subjectively speaking, one could have come to the conclusion earlier that the source code RNA has something to do with the software DNA. But whatever. This could be further excavated by other examples from recent history and the future will certainly unveil more bias.

It opens a very likely option. That many of the fundamental doctrines of relevant authorities are partially or wholly wrong which might bring paradigm shifts in some medical disciplines in the future. Not even to mention psychology and psychiatry, which are much harder to analyze and quantify.

How will our actual healing methods be evaluated in the retrospective? These non-individualized therapies based on pharmacological hammers and sometimes unsafe treatments. That fallible people cut into other people with sharpened steel. The interdependence of politics and the pharmaceutical industry. And how little we knew about the body and its functional mechanisms. To seek humility in the mistakes of the past would be good to prevent that such erroneous paths are not gone longer than necessary.

Die Kreativität der Menschen schlägt sich in verhaltenskreativen Optionen zur Verschlechtbesserung des Gesundheitszustandes nieder.

In der Retrospektive mutet vieles unglaublich an und man kann das Leid der Patienten, oder eher Opfer, nur schwer ermessen. Nur, wie kam es zu diesen fragwürdigen Ansätzen, die jeder guten klinischen Praxis und wissenschaftlicher Herangehensweise entbehrten? Was waren die Ursachen so vieler Irrwege?

Viele Hochkulturen hatten bereits gut entwickelte und weit fortgeschrittene Behandlungen, Therapien, Hygiene und Chirurgie. Mit dem Kollaps der Reiche ging all das Wissen verloren und dunkle Zeitalter mit massiven Backlashs brachen herein. Der Körper wurde als sündige, vorübergehende Hülle dargestellt und mit abstrusen Fantasytropes angereichert. Das gestörte Verhältnis zu Sexualität, Tod und Körperfunktionen führte zum Verbot sinnvoller Errungenschaften der Vergangenheit. Die medizinische Forschung wurde durch das Tabu, an Leichen (oder selbst an lebenden Menschen) zu forschen, still gelegt.

Das durch die Ideologien der Menschen gestörte Weltbild schlug sich in vielfältiger Weise auf die Medizin nieder. Krankheit wurde häufig nicht nüchtern und objektiv als ein zu natürliches, zu behandelndes Leiden gesehen, sondern als etwas von kosmischen Ursprung. Sei es als Strafe, Zeichen oder Belohnung.

Die Profilierungssucht der Quacksalber nährte den Aberglauben der ungebildeten Bevölkerung. Die "Ärzte" wussten, dass sie immer eine gute Geschichte, die sich für die verschiedenen Glaubensgebäude adaptieren ließ, brauchten. Mystische, fantastische Erklärungen als Prolog für die spektakuläre Behandlung. Diese richtete rein zufällig entweder mehr Schaden an als die Krankheit oder nutzte nichts. In Ausnahmefällen half es.

Die Thematik ist eine schöne Veranschaulichung, was Verblendung anrichten kann. Wie sich die Leichtgläubigkeit der Menschen ausnutzen lässt, um institutionalisierte Machtkomplexe zu errichten. Diese verbreiten wirre Irrlehren in alle Bereiche des Lebens hinein. Heute sieht man das, in der westlichen Welt, nur noch in Form von Scharlatanerie und wissenschaftlich erwiesen wirkungslosen Heilverfahren und Therapien. Doch nur eine Zeitspanne von ein paar Generationen trennt die seriöse Medizin von Anwandlungen, die wie eine Mischung aus Splatter Horror und schwarzer Komödie anmuten. Entsprechend muss man als Leser entscheiden ob man je nach Naturell lachen oder mit aufgerissenen Augen schockiert sein soll. Ich lachte mit weit aufgerissenen Augen.

Heute liegt der Hemmschuh der modernen Medizin in dem Problem der Einseitigkeit. Etwa das Human Genom Projekt, dass von allen andere Forschungsrichtungen die Fördermittel abzog. Weiters wurde die Forschung einseitig in eine Richtung gedrängt und alle anderen Ansätze und Theorien viel zu wenig Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Ironischerweise kommt man jetzt zu keinen weiteren Ergebnissen. Im Gegenteil, die unterschätzte RNA spielte eine viel größere Rolle als angenommen. Subjektiv gesagt, hätte man zwar früher darauf kommen können, dass der Quellcode RNA etwas mit der Software DNA zu tun haben können. Aber whatever. Dazu könnte man noch weitere Beispiele aus jüngerer Vergangenheit ausgraben und die Zukunft wird noch genug ans Tageslicht fördern.

Es eröffnet eine sehr wahrscheinliche Option. Dass viele der als unantastbare Lehrmeinung von wichtigen Autoritäten geltende Ansätze teilweise oder ganz falsch sind. Was in einigen medizinischen Disziplinen in Zukunft Paradigmenwechsel mit sich bringen dürfte. Von Psychologie und Psychiatrie, die sich noch viel schwerer analysieren und quantifizieren lassen, ganz zu schweigen.

Wie man unsere Heilmethoden in der Retrospektive betrachten wird? Diese nicht individualisierte, auf pharmakologische Hämmer und mitunter unsicheren Therapien fußenden Verfahren. Dass fehlbare Menschen mit Stahl in andere Menschen schnitten. Die Verflechtungen von Politik und Pharmaindustrie. Und wie wenig wir über den Körper und seine Funktionsmechanismen wussten. In den Fehlern der Vergangenheit Demut zu suchen wäre gut, um derartige Irrwege nicht länger als notwendig beschreiten zu müssen.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easily a 5 for content (even if none of it was new to me) and the gorgeous layout (illustrations, sidebars for 'fun' facts)...but the book loses MAJOR points for the awful editing. I can honestly say I have never come across as many typos and glaring errors in a book as I did while reading this. At first I began sharing them on my IG stories before I realized I was soon sharing several errors ON THE SAME PAGE. And this happened multiple times.

I've seen a misspelling or two in books before, but The Sawbones Book takes the cake to the point where I was overwhelmingly embarrassed for Sydnee and Justin. I love their podcast, but this.. Parts of sentences are repeated, entire words are missing. At one point there was a sentence that..I don't know what happened, part of another sentence got inserted into the middle of it somehow. The best though, just when I thought the end was in sight, it literally ended. The book went from page 205 to 212.

I'm so sorry this happened to them.

[Alison Schaefer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was really, horribly disappointing. Do not pay money for this book.

First off, as other reviewers have stated, this book is woefully under-edited. The page layouts made no sense, with some of the sidebars clearly in the wrong place based on the content they were referring to. On a page with multiple historical figures named, there was a single portrait and no caption indicating who it was. And just a really egregious amount of typos. For a book that’s supposed to be so fact-based, one would think the editors would pay far more attention to these kinds of things. The McElroys have enough dedicated fans who would’ve happily waited for a delayed publish date rather than read an edition that never should’ve seen print.

That said, I’m not sure this book was really even meant for fans. I listen to Sawbones, and there wasn’t a single thing in this book that I hadn’t already heard. I understand branching out into print to attract those who might not want enjoy podcasts, but they still advertised it on the show! To their fans! Who surely deserve some sort of original content in addition to the exact same regurgitated stories. I honestly didn’t gain anything from reading it. And sure the art was new, but that’s not nearly enough. The portrait of Justin didn’t even look like him.

This whole thing just feels like a clear cash grab and I regret the time spent reading it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever wondered how one might treat a baby with colic? An alcohol-chloroform-morphine concoction. Or about a lady who just loved the taste of that raw, cholera-infected water in 1854 South London? Or the poor and unfortunate fate of alligator parts? The Sawbones Book: The Hilarious, Horrifying Road to Modern Medicine is here to bounce from topic to topic, with some shorter interludes for weird medical questions from listeners/readers, all infused with jokes and asides that leaven some particularly gruesome and gory medical scenarios.

The tag-teaming conversation between husband-wife duo Sydney and Justin McElroy can make for amusing repartee about the craziest endeavors of historical “medicine.” Never going too much in depth on a multitude of topics, they dive into diverse ways that doctors have proclaimed panaceas (radium! blood-letting!) which are anything but and have sliced, drilled into, and diced animals— humans included—when they definitely shouldn’t. We have, as it becomes rapidly clear, a nasty track record with animal cruelty and tortuous medical practices.

The McElroys certainly deliver on a promise of “horrifying” your sensibilities, as there is no shortage of stomach-turning prescriptions and procedures that treat body aches or the plague from ancient to modern day. Sometimes the humor is too immature for my taste. An entire erectile dysfunction section notwithstanding, their narration could do a little less with penis jokes or scatalogical humor (I know, I know, we’re talking about the human body, so I should expect that). At other moments, it feels as if jokes are forcefully delivered rather than coming off as natural rejoinders. Also, one of my lunch times accidentally coincided with the chapter about one doctor experimentally ingesting his “poop water.” I had to press pause on that one before swallowing. Luckily, each section is essentially independent of one another, so it’s easy to stop and go. It’s a sprawling but low commitment exploration of different civilizations and quackeries, and the amalgamation is fun in a gross way, if not a little disjointed.

If you’re looking to up your trivia knowledge of varying degrees of dangerous exploits into medicine, this audiobook can be a nice introduction. I haven’t listened to the acclaimed podcast of theirs, but this book indicates that those episodes are funny and educational sound-bites that I may tune into ever so often. After listening to this, I’m counting my blessings for living in an age of tremendous scientific and medical advances. Then again, we still have a pediatrician saying endometriosis is caused by sex with demons (a claim with our orange-man-in-office’s stamp of approval), so clearly, we have plenty of wacky medical theories keeping the narrative glee of “The Sawbones Book” alive and relevant. History is always in the making...we’ll just have to get another laugh out of it!

[Tim Gautier · Rating 1 out of 5]

Incredibly condescending and crass because the authors think being crass is amusing. I probably would have found some of the jokes funny 30 years ago, but they're just annoyingly puerile.

The presented history has no depth and is suspiciously similar to Wikipedia articles on the subjects.

[Amy Imogene Reads]

I'm a huge fan of the Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine podcast.

If you're at all interested in medical history—specifically framed through an American lens, but they do touch on global influences occasionally—than you need to check out their podcast.

I found myself enjoying this book more for the fact that I loved the people who wrote it instead of the book itself. It's filled with great medical facts and anecdotes, but I did find myself wondering if there could have been less asides (especially as they seemed interestingly placed on the page, often mid-sentence) and almost no photos were captioned. Justin and Sydnee's way of interjecting humor with medical fact works great in a verbal podcast, but in a book it wasn't as fun for me. The photo thing might have just been me, but when you're talking about 4 different doctors on one page and there's only one photo, I want to know what doctor I'm looking at!

A lot of reviews for this book include really concerning notes about the print quality and editorial issues. I definitely don't have a first printing, thank goodness, because the book itself was very well bound and no pages were hand-glued together. (Yes, seriously, take a look at early reviews! It sounded like a wild ride.) HOWEVER, I will note that even in my second printing, there were several editorial typos that I caught, and some were quite bad. We're talking extra key strokes (tablerx for "table," as a random made-up example).

Overall, I loved the experience of reading this and am thrilled to support Sydnee and Justin with the purchase of this book. I'm also glad to add this to my library as a memento to the podcast as someday they might decide to stop recording their series (gasp, hopefully not, shame on me for suggesting that—don't listen to me Sydnee and Justin) and I'll always be able to open this up and remember what their show was like.

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[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I absolutely love the Sawbones podcast, so it was really fun having a lot of their "greatest hit" topics in one book. I'm not sure there was a ton of new ground covered, but I think this would make a great gift and it was a good version of what it was.

[Billie Cotterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy this book. It's very much like the podcast, which I also enjoy. However, there are a lot of problems with the book itself. There are many, many typos, which are distracting. The paper is sturdy, but to the point where it was difficult to turn pages because they kept sticking together. Finally, towards the end, the pages stick together, and then skip. I think I am missing some pages, but I can't return the book for the missing pages because I got it signed by the writers and illustrators at the B&N in Tribeca when they were there. For these reasons, I wish I could give it a 4.5, but I'm giving it a 5 because I don't want to bring down the average ratings. So, great book but poorly edited and printed.

[LibraryCin · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might guess from the subtitle that this is a humourous look at the history of medicine. The authors are a family doctor, and her husband, a layperson. The book appears to be based on a podcast (I have no clue about this podcast). Some of the topics they look at include: opium, charcoal, mercury, radium, arsenic, honey, chocolate, and vinegar. Also, weight loss, the Black Plague, erectile dysfunction, spontaneous combustion, phrenology, lobotomy, poop, the dancing plague, homeopathy, bloodletting, polio, and more.

This was funny! I’ve read a number of medical history books that look at many of these things, so some of the stories are repeats, but it’s still nice to get the reminders, since often with books like this that include so many different topics, it’s easy to forget. There were some fantastic illustrations, and little side-notes of the authors dialogue between themselves about the various topics. Even though some of the topics can be pretty disgusting (though it didn’t bother me), this is a good way to read about it with the humour mixed in.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so desperately want to give this a higher review. I love Justin and Sydnee, but their chemistry just didn't transfer to print as well as it could have. Unfortunately, whether this was due to the quality of the humor and ideas or the abysmal editing, I'm unsure. As other reviews have mentioned, there are countless misspellings, instances of placeholder text, and repeated passages.

The organization felt weak for a majority of the book, and while the little two page asides were interesting and fun, there would often be multiple in a row. This didn't help the weak organization and made me feel like they were trying to stuff a lot more into the book than was reasonable with the formatting.

My final big critique is that there was no real new information. As an avid listener to the podcast, I found myself rushing through the book so I could read something else.

That being said, I have a great deal of faith in Justin and Sydnee's ability to write a solid and enjoyable piece of text. I laughed out loud more than just a few times, and I adore that it's formatted to look like a small textbook. Teylor's illustrations were by far the highlight of the entire piece.

Overall, the book wasn't bad, but it felt rushed, and I'm glad I checked it out of the library rather than purchasing it. If a second edition is released, or a second book, I have faith that the McElroy's will learn from this experience and produce something much better. (I know they have the capabilities. See The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins ).

If you haven't already, please give their podcast a chance. It remains one of my favorites, and this book doesn't change that at all.

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love quirky, quacky medical stories. However, the authors' humor was just awful. This may have been exacerbated by the fact that I was listening to their own narration on audible, and I just could not stand Justin's voice/jokes. I don't understand why he was included at all. Sydnee is clearly the more knowledgable and funny of the two. I guess some people just need to hear sperm and feces jokes every six minutes or they'll lose interest? I would definitely recommend looking into one of the many other medical history books out there -- I was thinking I would give Lydia Kang's Quackery a try next... if only to erase the memory of Justin's 447 dick jokes from my mind.

[Caitlin Starling]

The history of medicine is wild and often horrifying; Sawbones (both the podcast and this book) is a thorough overview that somehow manages to still be hilarious on top of the chaos.

[Jared Pechacek · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine. The problem is twofold: it's basically a retread of the show so far, with very little new material; and it tries too hard to capture the essence of the show, which is the bantering dynamic between Sydnee [pause for cheers to die down] and Justin. But that dynamic doesn't translate to print well, or at least, it has not here.

The jokes on McElroy shows are often very silly, but it's the family's uncanny knack for spinning them into elaborate, extemporaneous comedy sketches that makes them work. That giddy sense of moment-to-moment improvisation and delight in each other's company is the bedrock of their humor. And it vanishes when written down. Much of the text in The Sawbones Book feels like a teacher on their first day, cracking nervous jokes in an attempt to win the students over. When I laughed, it was hard work, and sometimes tinged with pity.

The book itself is beautifully designed. Teylor Smirl's illustrations are funny and gorgeous, and the pages teem like a textbook from a bizarre alternate universe, with little conversations between Sydnee and Justin, sidebars focusing on single topics like mercury or Paracelsus, or Sydnee jumping in to offer some "fun" (read: horrifying) fact. The design is even partly why I've given it three stars instead of going more negative, because it really is lovely.

I'm sure it'll please Sawbones' legions of fans. I'm a Sawbones fan myself, and I'm not UNpleased. I just wanted to laugh every page, instead of rolling my eyes.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my favorite podcast, so I was excited to get my hands on this book. Unfortunately it fell a little flat. First, if you listen to the podcast or enjoy medical history this book is not going to add to you knowledge. That isn’t a negative. Just be aware that it’s more of an introduction to the subject than an immersion into it. Second, the podcast is hilarious; the book not so much. The dynamic the two authors have verbally doesn’t translate well into the written word. I’ve experienced the same when reading other books by stand up comedians. Lastly, the book needed better editing. I found multiple typos and grammatical errors. This is what bothered me the most as it’s a pet peeve of mine.

I still gave it 3 stars as I did enjoy the subject matter, and I thought the page layouts were beautiful. The illustrator did a great job! I think this would be a great gift for someone who doesn’t listen to the podcast but has an interest in the medical field.

[John Weiler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very base “humour” that tries, and fails, to capitalize on our disgust reflex. In the Audible version, the weak content is made weaker through the amateurish delivery of the authors.

Mocking people who happen to have been born when science was less advanced; making fun of those who did stupid or vulgar things, many through no fault of their own, is not funny. It is sorry and it is pathetic. So is the book.

[Tristan LeBlanc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book of tales from medical history, ranging from pseudo-science to self experimentation. They need a better copy editor - it seemed like on average, every page had a typo. I, too, had the issue of some pages being glued together at the back which other people have talked about in these reviews. I used a card to pry open the glued pages, and it was just the index, which also had some missing pages. I wonder if the index ended up not being done by deadline, so they just said "screw it," and tried to make it so no one could look at it? I haven't tried using the index so far to test this theory.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of the podcast, you won't be disappointed in the content of the book. I laughed out loudly at every section more than once. That being said, I had to take a star away for the poor editing and construction of the book itself. The spelling, grammatical, and typesetting errors are extremely distracting to the point I had to stop trying to read and set the book aside for several days before continuing. Hopefully a future printing will fix these errors, of which I would be more than glad to buy another copy for myself and as gifts for others.

[Jak Krumholtz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this should have been fascinating it was pretty boring. Tons of layout and typo issues didn't help. Really weird that there is no bibliography or sources for any of the contents too.

[ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

as a sawbones/mcelroy fan, i was suuuper excited for this! and i wasn't disappointed. the book for this was stunning - i flipped through and read sections. it's well formatted and full of typical mcelroy humor. i'm gonna copy and paste this and review both editions.

but the audio fell a little short for me! perhaps if you're a newcomer, it won't, but i missed the improv and actual laughter that fills their podcast episodes.

book itself: great, wasn't bothered by the typos and found them infrequent (granted, i got the second printing, dunno how much changed)

audio: maybe get the book if you're a podcast fan who wants to support the creators, and just listen to the episodes.

[Jammin Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a very entertaining, albeit sometimes gross, book on the history to modern medicine. It was quite fascinating to hear what pee and poop could be used for, and that honey is actually bee vomit. Makes me wonder if I really should add it to my tea.

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the podcast and love the book! Super happy to have received this for Christmas :)

Highly recommend!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justin and Sydnee McElroy do an AMAZING job narrating their book. It makes me want to seek out their podcast. There's not much to say about this book. It is hilarious and also horrifying. Surprisingly, I wasn't as grossed out as I think I should have been. All I will say is this ... I am super grateful that I live in this enlightened age of medical knowledge. This is a great audio book, and it is one hundred percent because of the engaging style of the authors/narrators. Loved it! Five stars.

[Liz P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough review to write. I love the podcast and I think that this book hits a lot of the same notes which made for an entertaining and informative read. The information covered was well researched and presented in an approachable and interesting way. I think it would be a good introductory taste to medical history rather than a comprehensive tome, and adds some interesting color to the world of medicine.

However, there are some fairly egregious editing errors - double words, poor layout choices, missing information - that distract from the message at times. They are frequent enough that almost all of the sections have some issues, and I hope that a reprint will fix them. If you are easily distracted by editing issues, then this might be a struggle for you.

On a final positive note, the hardcover first edition is extremely well made. The paper is high quality and quite thick. I frequently thought I had pages stuck together but it is just that the paper is that heavy. If you’re not sold on the book, I’d offer up at least checking the podcast.

[Mary Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's kind of like the grown-up version of those gross science books you're supposed to give to preteen and teenage boys when they're growing up because apparently boogers are the only way to introduce them to loving science or whatever. That being said, I love Justin and Sydnee and I'm proud of them. Fans of the podcast will love this book and people who haven't heard it definitely should look it up.

[Jackie B! · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book! It's funny and informative. The only reason this book didn't get 5 stars is because there were some major editing errors. Hopefully the typos all get fixed in the second printing.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not hilarious at all. It was cheesy. While the actual medical facts might be interesting, the added quips are distracting and more than a little off-color - even for me. And I'm a nurse with a healthy morgue humor.