Amazon.com: The Edge of Medicine: The Technology That Will Change Our Lives: William Hanson: Books

Review

"(A) spirited, feel-good look at an area of medicine that’s making progress."--Kirkus

"The Edge of Medicine is a revelatory look at the amazing technology that will drive our medical future, from proton beams to mind-reading brain chips. Dr. Hanson is the ideal guide: knowledgeable, thoughtful, and fun."--Jack El-Hai, author or The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness

“A rare glimpse into the future of medicine, through the eyes of a Renaissance thinker with a remarkable grasp of history and modern science, combined with deep compassion for patients. He sees linkages among vastly different sciences, such as physics, nanotechnology and computer sciences, that others often miss. He envisions a melding of scientific advances in physics and chemistry with those in communications technology, leading to an exciting era of personalized healthcare that seemed impossible only a few years ago. Throughout, he never fails to focus on the human side of healthcare; few could lead us there so elegantly. “-- David E. Longnecker, MD, Director at the Association of American Medical Colleges

"A riveting and readable account of the future of technology in health care. Dr. William Hanson makes a convincing case that the ultimate goal of tiny nanomachines and gargantuan proton beam facilities is a medicine that is preventative, efficient, and personalized."--Arthur L. Caplan, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Product Description

Experts agree that we are entering the Golden Age of Medicine, when our everyday experience of being ill and getting better will be more like science fiction than today’s routine trip to the doctor.

Bill Hanson, director of the surgical intensive care unit at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and an inventor of medical technology, offers true-life and intensely intimate stories about the way biotechnology is changing people's lives.
• An electronic nose that detects infection, such as pneumonia, based on a person’s breath
• Robots with appendages that can feel their way around tissue, which will augment the hands of surgeons in the operating room
• Computer health wizards that will advise and prescribe through your home computer
• Computerized psychotherapists dispensing advice about emotional problems
• Telehealth software that serves as a monitoring nurse for difficult to manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes.
• Wheelchairs operated by reading electrical brainwaves for patients with severe neurological deterioration.

Bill Hanson describes the human genius that arrived at these amazing discoveries, and how innovators are working to take these feats to an even more technologically advanced level. And more importantly, he discusses what the human experience will be and how we can prepare ourselves for the moral and ethical challenges that these awesome changes will bring. This riveting and startling account will make us revise our expectations of our own mortality.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (October 14, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0230605753
ISBN-13: 978-0230605756
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #81,429 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#15 in	Books > Science > Medicine > Special Topics > Biotechnology
#15 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Medical > Basic Sciences > Biotechnology
#40 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Biotechnology

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
smart alarms, proton beam therapy, smart software

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Stephen Hawking, Beth Dougherty, Brief History of Time, Richard Feynman, Larry Simms, Jack Addison, Lou Gehrig, Mother Nature, Arne Larsson, Ted Williams, Ted Shortliffe, New York, Roger Watson, Perfect Paul, Palo Alto, Royal Society, World War, Learned Ones, University of Pennsylvania, Owen Hammond, Columbia University, Marie Curie, Ann Franzen

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	97% buy the item featured on this page: The Edge of Medicine: The Technology That Will Change Our Lives 4.6 out of 5 stars (5) $17.12
	2% buy The Future of Medicine: Megatrends in Health Care That Will Improve Your Quality of Life 5.0 out of 5 stars (7) $22.99
	1% buy The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty 4.5 out of 5 stars (11) $27.85
	1% buy How Doctors Think 4.4 out of 5 stars (173) $6.38

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

health care future(2)

biotechnology(1)

business model innovation(1)

health care delivery(1)

medical technology(1)

See all 8 tags...

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He's great -- heard him on the radio, November 19, 2008

By	Sharon Acres "Sharon" (Tarrytown NY, United States) - See all my reviews

I heard this guy on Terry Gross & Marty Moss-Coane. He was awesome. They don't make doctors like that anymore. At least I can't find them. I got a copy of the book from my husband and read it straight through. If you are interested in how technology is shaping the technical and human side of medicine, you will love this book. It's not often you run across someone who can relate Hypocrates to telemedicine.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this guy must be a genius, November 18, 2008

By	JMH "JMH" (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

A discussion for the layman about the cutting edge of medical technologies and their various future ramifications; the last chapter focuses on the most elemental technological tool - the human hand (actually the author's father's hand who was also a doctor), which puts the conflict of the entire profession of health care in a humane and sympathetic historical perspective

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A future definitely worth striving for, December 6, 2008

By	Dr. Lee D. Carlson (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

There is nothing in the twenty-first century that is uninteresting, and after finishing this book the opinion that this is the best time to be alive is reinforced. The advances in medicine that were predicted to occur just a decade ago have proven to be a gross underestimate, as this book clearly shows. Its author is a physician, and also has the virtue of being a technophiliac, but the best part of his writing is his frankness in assessing some of the issues in modern medicine. Treatment modalities, surgical techniques, diagnostics, and prognostics are now more than ever being done with the assistance of technology, some of this technology being highly sophisticated and intelligent.

Genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, cognitive neuroscience, robotic surgery: these are some of the tools of twenty-first century medicine. The author details the use of some of them in the book, and it is amazing to think of just a short time ago they were viewed as purely science fiction. In fact what is being done now and in a few years makes the Hollywood imagination seem sophomoric by comparison.

The author though also goes beyond a mere reporting of technological facts, for he exposes some of the finagling and politics in hospitals in the United States. One example that particularly stands out is his opinion on the "successful" hospital, these being characterized by their collection of "certificates of excellence." They acquire these by what he refers to as the "parasitic" certifying organizations that arbitrarily define novel measures of excellence, and proceed to convince hospitals, through marketing or regulatory pressure, to conform to the artificial standards that they have created. This is a story that is repeated in other professions also, where "certifying" organizations survive only by false pretenses, by asserting that quality exists in a particular business without any justification as to why their measure of quality is better than others.

For those readers such as this reviewer that are not in the medical profession but have worked as analysts or developers perfecting some of the technology that is used by physicians, the author gives some very interesting anecdotes on everyday practice, particularly in surgery rooms. Some of what the author reports can rattle the unsuspecting reader. Indeed, it many instances it is very disconcerting to discover to what degree the surgery room and its personnel are "on the edge."

One can only imagine what things will be like in medicine a decade from now, due mostly in part to technological advances. But cognizance must also be made, and the author of this book does so, to the rising costs of healthcare. Regulatory and governmental agencies will no doubt result in challenging tradeoff issues in the years to come. But with personalized genomic medicine, automated surgery, networked diagnostics, and more data transparency it is likely that the future of medicine will be an exciting one, and one that every living individual hopefully will be participating in.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 5 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Adoption Curve's Economic Dilemma
The Edge of Medicine employs a rich symphony of details only a medical school professor could author. This is a great book for medical professional and lay-person alike. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Lance Manning

4.0 out of 5 stars Hanson is gifted
Hanson is a fine popular science writer. He has a gift for explaining complex ideas, often using vivid analogies, and a good sense of humor. Read more

Published 3 months ago by algo41

› See all 5 customer reviews...

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
science Space tourism as the critical enabler for space science	1	22 minutes ago
science Chemical Triggers to Make A Cell Go Cancerous?	11	26 minutes ago
health Obama's health care plan will destroy alternative medicine	481	37 minutes ago
health divorce how long must one travel, before deciding on that path	4	46 minutes ago
textbook Textbooks for Kindle DX?	40	3 days ago
textbook Does anyone use Discovering Geometry: An Investigative Approach?	5	3 days ago
medicine Medical Care in the United States	46	5 days ago