- Hardcover: 700 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (17 Nov 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0002151731
- ISBN-13: 978-0002151733
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.2 x 6.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 314,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Samuel Johnson once called the medical profession "the greatest benefit to mankind." In the 20th century, the quality of that benefit has improved more and more rapidly than at any other comparable time in history. With all the capabilities of modern medicine's practitioners, however, we as a people are as worried about our health as ever.
Roy Porter, a social historian of medicine at London's Wellcome Institute, has written a dauntingly thick history of how medical thinking and practice has risen to the challenges of disease through the centuries. But delve into its pages and you'll find one marvellous piece of history after another. The obvious highlights are touched upon--Hippocrates introduces his oath, Pasteur homogenises, Jonas Salk produces the polio vaccine and so on--but there's also Dr. Francis Willis' curing of the madness of King George III, W.T.G. Morton's aggressive use of ether in surgery and research on digestion conducted using a man with a stomach fistula (if you don't know what that means, you may not want to know). Porter is straightforward about his deliberate focus on Western medical traditions, citing their predominant influence on global medicine, and with The Greatest Benefit to Mankind he has produced a volume worthy of that tradition's legacy.
Review
‘A superb book – fluent, lucid, scary and even funny…essential reading.’ Sunday Times
‘Magnificently erudite and compellingly humane.’ New Statesman (Books of the Year)
‘Yet another compulsively readable, astonishingly encyclopaedic book from Roy Porter…his best to date: an epic, one-volume narrative history of man’s struggle with the infirmities of his body, from Aesculapius to AIDS.’ Simon Schama
‘Whether you are interested in the advent of the stethoscope, the history of yellow fever, the bubonic plague or, closer to home, coronary heart disease, the feminist influence on medicine, drug abuse, childbearing or cancer, this book provides the historic background to these and other medical questions…”The Greatest Benefit to Mankind” is a first-class introduction to medical history. Like a well constructed broadsheet leader, it excites thought and discussion, as well as providing many answers.’ The Times
‘Hypochondriac heaven – a gripping, scholarly, fact-packed, must-have book.’ Daily Mail
‘A monumental work… magnificent.’ Independent on Sunday
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
THESE ARE STRANGE TIMES, when we are healthier than ever but more anxious about our health. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THESE ARE STRANGE TIMES, when we are healthier than ever but more anxious about our health. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have had this book since it was first published and it has been worth it's weight (considerable) in gold. I was nursing at the time so obviously had an interest in the medical side. However, this is an excellant history book and of interest to those who like to find out odd facts or the roots of colloquialisms.
It is so interesting it hooks you into actually reading all of it. I have, so has my daughter and my best friend (also a nurse).
However, it is factually correct and written well enough to be deemed a suitable source for academic studies. So after reading it for pleasure I found it was a recommended course book for a module in my Health & Social Policy degree. My friend has also delved into it again for her Nursing Studies degree.
This is a book that you keep and visit now and again, not like other academic texts that you cannot wait to sell on the Marketplace.
It is so interesting it hooks you into actually reading all of it. I have, so has my daughter and my best friend (also a nurse).
However, it is factually correct and written well enough to be deemed a suitable source for academic studies. So after reading it for pleasure I found it was a recommended course book for a module in my Health & Social Policy degree. My friend has also delved into it again for her Nursing Studies degree.
This is a book that you keep and visit now and again, not like other academic texts that you cannot wait to sell on the Marketplace.
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book balances the social history with the anecdotes that bring the history of medicine alive It's incredibly dense and stands a lot of rereading an excellent history of medicine with fascinating looks at some often neglected areas such as Jewish and Arabic medicine of the Middle Ages
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The late professor Roy Porter wrote Medical History like none of his peers.
This 850 pages book was his best and in it he poured all his wisdom to tell the full history of medicine.
It can be a rather dry subject to read by Mr Porter added a nice human touch to every story making it more interesting.
It covers from ancient history to moderm times ( early XXI century ) makes emphasis on the discoveries of the XIX century.
This volume will appeal to everyone ,even those without a medical background.
This 850 pages book was his best and in it he poured all his wisdom to tell the full history of medicine.
It can be a rather dry subject to read by Mr Porter added a nice human touch to every story making it more interesting.
It covers from ancient history to moderm times ( early XXI century ) makes emphasis on the discoveries of the XIX century.
This volume will appeal to everyone ,even those without a medical background.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A genius and sadly missed...
I am a huge fan of Porter's works. Exceptionally gifted, he won a double first at Oxford. His teaching, as well as his apparel, was somewhat flamboyant and unorthordox, but he... Read more
Published 7 months ago by inkylittlefingers
Historical Enquiry
i bought this book to aide me in writing my A level hisotical enquiry on the medical advancements and their benefits to soldiers. Read more
Published 14 months ago by hannah_ox
good stuff
i am a prospective medical student and found this book informative as well as interesting to read
Published on 24 Mar 2010 by P. O'neill
Excellent read
Very well written compression of the entire medical history into one volume. As a medical student I found it fascinating, however can come across as a little listy at times....
Published on 27 Oct 2009 by M. Jenkins
History of medicine for the general reader
This book encompasses the broad sweep of the history of medical discovery and medical care from the earliest times and illuminates the story with accounts of scientific method... Read more
Published on 22 April 2009 by S. Yarwood
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