Medical Mysteries Across History, Pt.2

by Roy Benaroch

About This Audible Original

Doctors are more than doctors. They’re detectives who solve mysteries about the human body.

Diagnosing patients is about looking for clues, whether a persistent tickle in the back of the throat or confusion and memory loss. Just like detectives, good doctors sift through information until they arrive at the medical solution that fits best.

Think you have what it takes to keep up with medical detective work? Find out with this second installment of Dr. Roy Benaroch’s thrilling look at medical mysteries from across history. Continuing the excitement of his earlier Audible Original, Medical Mysteries Across History, Pt.2 features cases involving ancient kings and military leaders, beloved philosophers and popular entertainers. You may know who some of these patients are - but you’ve almost certainly never heard their stories told from a doctor’s point of view.

In each instance, you’ll learn about the medicine that was practiced during the patient’s life, and you’ll discover how modern medicine can shed light on the past. You’ll see how every life (and every disease) is a story and that these stories reveal the clues doctors need to make an accurate diagnosis. And you’ll discover that while a lot in medicine has certainly changed, the way doctors approach patients hasn’t changed very much at all.

Think you can guess who these 10 mystery patients are? Pay attention. The medical and historical hints are there and waiting for you.

©2020 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.

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

Audible Audio

Published October 20, 2020

Reviews

[Sonja Rosa Lisa ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wie bereits der erste Teil konnte mich auch dieser zweite Teil sehr fesseln.
Spannend wie ein Krimi. Geschichte und Medizin interessiert mich beides sehr und diese Verknüpfung ist genial :)

[Phoenix Perpetuale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Medical Mysteries Across history by Roy Benaroch is a fascinating lecture on doctors perspectives. I am glad I got to listen to the lectures. The doctor's view on people is different because doctors are taught to think differently to get the correct diagnosis. Lectures are with intrigue. In the beginning, the listener gets to hear symptoms and signs, together with age and gender, all the medical details and death circumstances and probable cause. Only after all that evidence listener is introduced to a celebrity or athlete, the ancient emperor. Enlightening and edifying.

[Muhammed Hebala · Rating 1 out of 5]

It felt like the author is just trying to show off his knowledge of the differentials with no solid diagnoses and just speculations

[Axton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love medical history, and these books absolutely satiate my desire for them, in gaps between Sawbones episodes. The author presents the cases as little mysteries to solve, and when explaining the medicine behind them, he keeps the topic approachable to the novice. Light, informative, and intersting.

[Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason this was crafted as a stand alone book as opposed to a true part 2. I think this could have been one longer, but manageable, book instead of two versions. The historical figures, on average, are a bit more obscure. In addition the medical diagnoses were not as clear cut. I get that you ultimately die from something other than AIDS when you contract HIV but the proximate cause of death is not really the otherwise survivable infection or dehydration—it’s the virus that kills off your immune system. I didn’t find this as good as volume 1.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

This course deserves 3 1/2 stars.

This is an audiobook course that runs similar to the Great Courses series but it is called an Audible Original. The author has selected yet another 10 celebrities/historical figures and presents them as ordinary people with a medical condition. As with Part 1, the listener is encouraged to diagnose the disease/condition by listening to the symptoms and also to guess the identity of the celebrity. I was unable to guess any of them.

I might listen to this audiobook again.

[Gregory Eakins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second installment of Roy Benaroch's fun medical audiobooks focused on the medical issues of famous people throughout history.

His style is much the same as the first volume. We have a person from this time period exhibiting these symptoms. Here is what they tried, followed by possible diagnoses, then a reveal of the person being referenced. Meanwhile, he weaves in details of the ways medicine was practiced from the time period to create an educational and riveting who-dun-it medical mystery. It's quite fun, and you'll know more about medicine by the end.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+
This is Part 2 of this topic by Roy Benaroch, MD who has several excellent audiobook offerings from The Great Courses which is aimed to inform the layman on the practice of medicine from a working physician's perspective. They are all excellent and this sequel to Part 1 of Medical Mysteries Across History is as well. I will refer you to my review on the first because it applies equally to this one.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Chad Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting take on a lecture. The author presents a famous historical figure as a medical case. He describes the person in vague detail, gradually adding more information about the person as he talks about the presenting symptoms (some of which are red herrings). He seemed to expect that people could guess the disease. I think that's unlikely for anyone except actual doctors, but it is fun to try to see how quickly you can guess who he is talking about.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a continuation of a previous course. It was interesting and looked at possible reasons why HIV/AIDS started up and the diagnosis of Robin Williams. What I liked was how each lesson was set out in the fact that Roy Benaroch gave you the basics of the case in terms of an alias for the famous and gets you to informally diagnose the patient/person.

[H Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite informative and entertaining. I feel throughly entertained except for the case of Robin Williams case - borderline creepy in storytelling and a choice of personal story the author picked. It seems unnecessary.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second set of lectures on the subject and it was about as good as the first. I was especially affected by the story about Billy Holiday. I am glad I listened to these, and I was even able to get my wife and daughter to listen to a few. Normally we do not agree on what to take in.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was slightly less interesting than the first one, I feel like he stopped having us guess and work through the diagnosis and he just started telling them. However I still learned a lot and enjoyed listening to it!

[Beth (biblio.beth) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find these so fascinating and I managed to actually guess a few of the people this time around too! I’ve already decided that I'll read as many as they bring out. Keep them coming pleaseeee Audible!

[Estela Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to part 1 of the same book on audible and for some reasons, I feel more connected to part 2, could be because I have become familiar with the author's approach to cases? Equally interesting.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to listen to. No big surprises as far as who the patients were. Interesting to hear the diagnoses however.

[Vanessa Ervin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

[Enid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second installment was a fun listen. As in the first one, it was very enjoyable to try to figure out both the famous person and the ailment.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audible Audiobook

[Gaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Xerxia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyable series of stories.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good second book.

[Niniane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting case studies. Each one is presented as a mystery.

[Pascale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both educational and entertaining!!

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of ten medical mysteries, trying to solve the medical issues plaguing well-known historical figures. Like the first of these short courses, very intriguing material.

[Floriane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable, like the previous one! I had fun trying to guess the person (no chance of me getting even close to having a valid hypothesis regarding the medical condition!)

[Lynnaurya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating once again, Roy takes us on a medical journey through the diagnosis of some of the most known figures in history, both modern and ancient.