A Short History of Medicine
Modern Library Chronicles
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Narrated by:
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John McDonough
About this listen
Praised for his erudite writing, renowned scientist Frank Gonzalez-Crussi penned this concise history of medicine, beginning with the most primitive health-care practices and ending with the technology of modern medicine that we enjoy today. As with all Modern Library Chronicles, A Short History of Medicine is a wonderful primer for anyone interested in the subject.
Listen to more Modern Library Chronicles.©2007 Frank Gonzalez-Crussi (P)2007 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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A scientific and medical revolution has crept up on us, based on study after study, from hundreds of laboratories around the world. It is no longer just a theoretical shift: every one of us will be touched by it, and many of us already have been. The meaning of disease, our understanding of the human body, and crucial decisions about what we all need to know and what choices we make about our health are at stake. Welcome to the new world of personalized medicine.
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The future of medicine
- By Ronald E on 04-12-10
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The Undead
- Organ Harvesting, The Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers - How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death
- By: Dick Teresi
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Important and provocative, The Undead examines why even with the tools of advanced technology, what we think of as life and death, consciousness and nonconsciousness, is not exactly clear - and how this problem has been further complicated by the business of organ harvesting.
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Eye opening
- By Amy Giglio on 07-01-18
By: Dick Teresi
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Medical Apartheid
- The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
- By: Harriet A. Washington
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Medical Apartheid is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on African Americans. Starting with the earliest encounters between black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, it details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge - a tradition that continues today within some black populations.
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Sobering... but necessary.
- By Dr. Pepper on 10-27-16
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Trick or Treatment
- The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine
- By: Edzard Ernst, Simon Singh
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether you are an ardent believer in alternative medicine, a skeptic, or are simply baffled by the range of services and opinions, this guide lays to rest doubts and contradictions with authority, integrity, and clarity. In this groundbreaking analysis, over 30 of the most popular treatments - acupuncture, homeopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology, chiropractic, and herbal medicines - are examined for their benefits and potential dangers. Questions answered include: What works and what doesn't? What are the secrets, and what are the lies?
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Well researched
- By Erik J. Rasmussen on 09-09-20
By: Edzard Ernst, and others
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The Butchering Art
- Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
- By: Lindsey Fitzharris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
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Not one boring moment!
- By WRWF on 12-22-17
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The Great Influenza
- The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
- By: John M. Barry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.
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Great book but very disturbing...
- By Tim on 01-15-09
By: John M. Barry
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Missing Microbes
- How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues
- By: Martin J. Blaser
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In Missing Microbes, Dr. Martin J. Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome, where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the health and equilibrium of our body. Now this invisible eden is being irrevocably damaged by some of our most revered medical advances-antibiotics-threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes with terrible health consequences.
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Very enlightening and information well supported
- By James on 05-03-15
By: Martin J. Blaser
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An Epidemic of Absence
- A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases
- By: Moises Velasquez-Manoff
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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An Epidemic of Absence asks what will happen in developing countries, which, as they become more affluent, have already seen an uptick in allergic disease: Will India end up more allergic than Europe? Velasquez-Manoff also details a controversial underground movement that has coalesced around the treatment of immune-mediated disorders with parasites. Against much of his better judgment, he joins these do-it-yourselfers and reports his surprising results.
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The point of view from a Veterinarian immunologist
- By rtgymnast on 11-03-17
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The Moth in the Iron Lung
- A Biography of Polio
- By: Forrest Maready
- Narrated by: Forrest Maready
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating account of the world’s most famous disease - polio - told as you have never heard it before. Epidemics of paralysis began to rage in the early 1900s, seemingly out of nowhere. Doctors, parents, and health officials were at a loss to explain why this formerly unheard-of disease began paralyzing so many children. Why did this disease start to become such a horrible problem during the late 1800s? Why did it affect children more often than adults? Why was it originally called teething paralysis by mothers and their doctors?
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Root Cause
- By Circlekay1 Gulfport MS on 10-24-19
By: Forrest Maready
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Vagina Obscura
- An Anatomical Voyage
- By: Rachel E. Gross
- Narrated by: Siho Ellsmore
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The Latin term for the female genitalia, pudendum, means “parts for which you should be ashamed”. Until 1651, ovaries were called female testicles. The fallopian tubes are named for a man. Named, claimed, and shamed: Welcome to the story of the female body, as penned by men. Today, a new generation of (mostly) women scientists is finally redrawing the map. With modern tools and fresh perspectives, they’re looking at the organs traditionally bound up in reproduction—the uterus, ovaries, vagina—and seeing within them a new biology of change and resilience.
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poor narration
- By Jane on 08-23-22
By: Rachel E. Gross
What listeners say about A Short History of Medicine
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tim
- 09-08-12
Very Good Overview - Title is Very Accurate!
Really liked this book, although there are parts that will make you cringe.... I remember eating breakfast in my car while listening and having to set my breakfast sandwich down for a few minutes until the author moved on.
The history of surgery before anesthesia was probably most gruesome (as was the history of Lobotomies....yikes!), however I thought the author did an admirable job of condensing a vast sea of information into a small package. When a book calls itself "A BRIEF History of Medicine", it is my expectation that some things will be minimized or overlooked in the interest of brevity. Realize also, that I am NOT in the field of medicine, so what was new information to me may be common knowledge to others.
All in all, I was pleased with this choice.
While I wouldn't agree fully with some of more negative reviews, I do agree that the flow of the book was not totally linear in its organization. This may be because of so many "overlapping" areas discussed in the book, so I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt on that one.
Recommended for those who want to see the big picture of the development of medicine.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Pam
- 04-02-10
Short History of Medicine
This is one of, if not the of the best book, on the history medicine and medical science and practices in existence and the only one I have ever seen that actually documents, that what can and does happen to the human body, and things that can be done or work, has actually been known for centuries, but (intentionally or not) this information has been covered, dismissed or reinvented, by religions, governments, and self serving individuals, as well as the practices, of the middle east and European areas, which have, of course, been foster on the Americas and everywhere such people ruled. As Mr. Gonzalez-Crussi describes, what was known, when and what happened the astute read will understand how, and why what has happened in the past still occur today and for the same ignorant reasons. This should be required reading for anyone who has bind faith in their medical provider, government and/or religion. The one drawback is that it is not written at the usual 6th grade level so those who do not have a good vocabulary or do not know common medical terms may become lost or board do to lack of comprehension. The world would be well served for this book to be rewritten at the level of a 6th grader, the level far too many people never get passed.
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3 people found this helpful
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- D.C. Lozar
- 04-09-18
One of the Best Medical History Books You'll Find!
What did you love best about A Short History of Medicine?
As a Family Practice Physician deeply concerned about the interposition of technology between my profession and the patients I care for, I found F. Gonzalez-Crussi's, "A Short History of Medicine," highly informative and thought provoking. Guiding us down a well plotted and beautifully narrated path, Mr. Gonzalez-Crussi takes the time to fully explore each step of medicine's evolution. He points out the key players, the charlatans as well as the heroes, and treats all with respect. I've read a great many books on medical history and can say unequivocally that this is one of the best. As a fellow author, D.C. Lozar, I know how hard it is to keep an audience informed, engaged, and actively thinking, and I enthusiastically recommend this book. Great Job.
Who was your favorite character and why?
As above
Which character – as performed by John McDonough – was your favorite?
As above
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 05-21-08
Dull and Disorganized
Gonzalez-Crussi's book (and McDonough's narration) made me want to pour gasoline on my head. It is a boring jumble of historical facts with no apparent organization. It was so bad that I stopped listening to it after about 3 hours. Instead, I urge you to listen to Thomas Hager's very excellent book entitled "The Demon under the Microscope". It is a story of the history of infection and the advent of sulfa drugs as a cure.
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16 people found this helpful