A compendium about the medical travails of famous people throughout history offers colorful anecdotes and intriguing observations about such difficult patients as Stalin, Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, and King Charles II.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Queen Victoria tended to plumpness, yet when one of her doctors suggested a reducing diet, she objected until she conceived a suitable compromise: adding the diet to her regular intake! Those already acquainted with Gordon's writing, in the venerable British humor magazine Punch or any of his 45 books, know his clever literary allusions, delightful wit, and amusing contradictions and ironies (e.g., this opening sentence: "Paganini became a difficult patient only when he was dead"). As in his other works, his historical knowledge herein proves solid, often surprising, and always pertinent. You may think that George Washington, Hitler, FDR, Boswell, Whitman, Shaw, and similar worthies have probably had their medical histories worked to death, so to speak, but such is not the case. Gordon consistently comes up with remarkable details and presents them in an enlightening and enjoyable manner, making of them one of those rare books to be gulped whole or consumed in bits and pieces with equal pleasure. William Beatty
From Kirkus Reviews
From the prolific author of a long string of amusing doctor books (the Doctor in the House series) and quirky medical histories, an oddball assortment of chatty, impertinent anecdotes about the afflictions of 31 well-known people, real and fictional. This time, the doctor has his fun at the expense of such political figures as Washington, Napoleon, Hitler, and Churchill; royals such as Queen Victoria and Germany's Frederick III; literary luminaries from Boswell to Proust; and assorted others, including van Gogh, Freud, and Sherlock Holmes. Aware that Washington's ownership of false teeth is a familiar story, Gordon enlarges the retelling by informing us of 18th-century dental practice-- transplants from cadavers, dentures from walrus tusks--thereby making us value dentistry's advances in recent times. The notion of medicine's progress permeates Gordon's accounts, for the treatments that 17th- and 18th-century doctors inflicted on patients-- purgatives, enemas, bleedings, cuppings, and numerous foul concoctions--now seem not merely ineffective but downright death-promoting. Perhaps even more terrifying is the idea of surgery without anesthesia; Gordon's graphic description of the operation Pepys endured for removal of bladder stones sticks in the mind. Clever and gossipy, Gordon's brief anecdotes are full of name-dropping and sexual tittle-tattle: Boswell had gonorrhea, Carlyle was impotent, Florence Nightingale was a lesbian, and Hitler had only a right testicle. It is relief to come to the last chapter, where Gordon has the most fun of all with fictional figures. Dr. Watson's letter to Freud about his neurotic friend Holmes is a gem, as is Freud's reply. Discovering the human frailties of notable men and women (Byron had sclerosis of the liver, Proust suffered from mother-fixation, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was anorexic) does little to increase appreciation of their work but certainly cuts them down to size. For the most part, this is pretty low stuff, the National Enquirer for history buffs. (24 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Humor in medical history leaves questions of aptness...,
By
This review is from: An Alarming History of Famous and Difficult Patients: Amusing Medical Anecdotes from Typhoid Mary to FDR (Hardcover)
I am not sure I am using the right word in titling this review. I read Gordon's book in less than two nights. I really enjoyed Roy Porter as a medical historian. His history was 'correct'and I learned a lot I didn't know before which is why I chose his books in the first place. Gordon had been recommended to me, but I found myself first amused by his book, then the humor and Gordon's own opinions started me questioning the accuracy of what he was writing, especially when I had read other histories of these same people, and those histories said different things than Gordon states.
Is using humor in medical history right? There are reasons for wanting to know how someone who was famous lived and died. For example, Beethoven like me was deaf. He died at an earlier age, and just recently testing showed that his tissues and hair had large amounts of lead which most probably led to his death, and may have been responsible for his hearing loss. He also took the medicines that were available at the time, which often included more lead, leading to his accumulation of lead poisoning. I don't find this information particularly funny, especially when it is known that there are many children still living in homes in the US and elsewhere who are exposed to too much lead in the paints and the wallpapers used in older homes. I guess this book is appropriate for someone who wants to be entertained and not too picky about how accurate the medical history is. I quess I just don't think it is funny for people to make light of the pain of others. This isn't a book to use for education purposes...we have enough problems with our younger doctors today treating patients not as an individual but as a 'disease' or a 'case history', and I don't think I would ever encourage any of my students heading towards medical fields to make fun of the people they are treating. very disappointing and a little disheartening... Karen Sadler Chemistry
2.0 out of 5 stars
Confusing, annoying and just a little bit educational,
By
This review is from: An Alarming History of Famous and Difficult Patients: Amusing Medical Anecdotes from Typhoid Mary to FDR (Hardcover)
I had previously read Gordon's "Alarming History of Medicine" and was not too impressed but I decided to give his books another chance since I had found parts of the "alarming history" to be entertaining. I should not have tried. The book is more of a collection of off-the-cuff stories of the deaths of a few historical figures with some Fruedian cliches scattered throughout. There are even some chapters that don't really have to do with the illnesses or medical conditions of people at all (or VERY peripherally) such as the Bernard Shaw chapter.
More distressingly, he repeats the "glorified" versions of some events rather than the actual events that occurred throughout the history of medicine. For example: Ignaz Semmelweiss did not ironically die of the very condition he tried to stop - sepsis from a contaminated instrument; but died suffering from dementia in an asylum, likely beaten to death by "caretakers." If you are interested in Medical History, I've reviewed a few books on the topic and laid down my feelings about each work there. I'm no expert but just an enthusiastic amateur. The "fictional" sections at the end ranged from tedious (it is impressive that a story spanning 7 pages can qualify as tedious) with the MacBeth offering to the genuinely amusing section on Sherlock Holmes. Although the best bits of that are very remeniscent of Nicholas Meyer's "The Seven Per-cent Solution."
4.0 out of 5 stars
Maladies of the Rich & Famous - a delightful insight...,
By Russell A. Rohde MD "Owl" (West Covina, California USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: An Alarming History of Famous and Difficult Patients: Amusing Medical Anecdotes from Typhoid Mary to FDR (Hardcover)
"An Alarming History of Famous & Difficult Patients...", by Richard Gordon, NY, St. Martin's, 1997 - ISBN 0-312-15048-2 (hc), 224 pg., & 5 pg. B/W illust., & 5 pg. excellent bibliography.
An author with illustrious writing BG including 30 novellas, chiefly medical topics, assuredly researched his subjects carefully before entertaining us with delightful, engaging and illuminating anecdotes of their afflictions, be real or imagined. A seasoned writer, he is able to instill humor without destroying the targets of his quill, at most merely humanizing them. We are given a table of contents, an index of 7 patient categories (Rulers, Kings/Queens, Literary, Arts, MD/RN, Commoners, & Fictional) and 31 names of well-known subjects, each dealt with in average of 6-8 pages which makes for comfortable reading. Adroitness in language is superb -- sometimes tongue in cheek but always informative, genuine, and effervescent. A medical doctor myself and privy to the cult of amorphous medical jokes generally associated with our profession, Gordon's "AHFDP..." differs by relating association of factual people to their own maladies (exceptiing Lady Macbaeth, Baron Munchausen & Sherlock Holmes). A good read for all age groups.
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