Dr. Golem explores some of the mysteries and complexities of medicine while untangling the inherent conundrums of scientific research and highlighting its vagaries. In eight chapters devoted to case studies of modern medicine, Collins and Pinch consider the prevalence of tonsillectomies, the placebo effect and randomized control trials, bogus doctors, CPR, the efficacy of Vitamin C in fighting cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS cures, and vaccination. Throughout, Collins and Pinch remind readers that medical science is an economic as well as a social consideration, encapsulated for the authors in the timeless struggle to balance the good health of the many with the good health of a few. Dr. Golem is a timely analysis of the limitations of medicine that never loses sight of its strengths". Collins and Pinch carefully tease out key conflicts in the way that medical knowledge is constructed and used and endeavor to show how necessarily complicated medical decision-making must be. . . . They investigate three important issues that lie at the core of medicine's uncertainty: individual versus collective interests; medicine as a science versus a healing art; and the nature of medical expertise. . . . The authors neither jump on the critical bandwagon nor apologize for medicine's failings, rather they show that the inherent discrepancy between the pace of medical discovery and the need for immediate succour is one that must be addressed jointly by physician and patient". -Noah Raizman, The Lancet
Dr. Golem: How to Think about Medicine
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"Collins and Pinch carefully tease out key conflicts in the way that medical knowledge is constructed and used and endeavor to show how necessarily complicated medical decision making must be....The authors neither jump on the critical bandwagon nor apologize for medicine's failings, rather they show that the inherent discrepancy between the pace of medical discovery and the need for immediate succour is one that must be addressed jointly by physician and patient." - Noah Raizman, Lancet "The writing is interested, intelligent, and explanatory....Much of the book's quality comes from its steady, generally clear-sighted explanation of some of the ordinary within medicine." - Druin Burch, Times Literary Supplement"
About the Author
Harry Collins is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at Cardiff University; director of the Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise, and Science; and author of Gravity's Shadow: The Search for Gravitational Waves, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Trevor Pinch is professor in and chair of the Department of Science and Technology Studies and professor of sociology at Cornell University. Together, they are the authors of The Golem: What You Should Know about Science and The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology.
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Excellent clear writing which challenges both the blind acceptance of medicine and also the 'popular opposition' to recent scientific controversies. This book sets out the arguments behind the media hype and forces you to think again about the realities inherent in Western medical systems which are increasingly reliant on technology. It also raises questions about the limits of medicine, and the place occupied in society by the medical practices which we either tend to take for granted,forget,or prefer not to think about. I will be getting the rest of the Golem series now.
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