Customer Reviews

The Knife Man

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Fantastic review of modern surgery and its evolution over the last 2-3 hundred years. Makes one very appreciative of what we have today.

This is an absolutely wonderful book. Not only is it about an explorer of genius, but it portrays an entire historical epoch - a crucial phase in the late Enlightenment - when practical achievements were being worked out, when what we call the modern era was being born. At the center of it is John Hunter, an irascible man of extraordinary energy and will, on a quest that would forever change the practice of surgery. But before his career as a surgeon, he was a comparative anatomist, fascinated with the variations of life.

Hunter was the perfect Enlightenment man: rather than trust to ancient texts and their faulty though time-honored prescriptions, he developed his own method: he observed, experimented, and recorded the results. While this may sound like a no-brainer today, it was far from what surgeons were doing at that time. His boldness and compulsion to seek his own truth alienated many of his colleagues, who preferred to follow procedures used for millennia, such as blood-letting and the immediate removal of limbs and diseased organs by the crudest methods. All of their assumptions are wonderfully explained in historical context. Thus, you can see an illustration of what was changing during that period, with the establishment of methods for truly scientific medicine.

Hunter worked 19 hours per day, seeing patients and then spending late hours dissecting and recording his observations. The amount of knowledge that Hunter generated, often stolen by others to advance their careers, is truly astonishing. He proved, for example, that embryos are not fully formed at conception, but that they develop through phases that virtually all animal species share. He noted anatomical similarities across species and even families, things that no one had observed because of the biases they learned in ancient texts, including the Bible. The lengths to which he went were incredible, including perhaps inflecting himself with deadly diseases (e.g. STDs) to study their effects. It is truly awe-inspiring. And all of it wound up in the museum he was creating, which displayed the best collection of comparative anatomy in the world at that time.

In addition, his life held great drama. Starting from a poverty stricken background and without much formal schooling, he rose to the top of his profession with only a little help. From the start, due to a shortage of bodies to dissect, Hunter developed a network of grave robbers (and which may have actually inspired the Jekyll/Hyde story- the author does not shy from criticising his ethics). He fought the establishment and gained a devoted following, perhaps his greatest achievement as his 200+ students went on to disseminate his ideas (and skepticism) into medical education as well as surgical practices. He fell out with his older brother, whom he surpassed as a scientist but not as a professional operator. Finally, he had a happy and unusual marriage with a poet, whose circle included Haydn, Johnson, and Hume (a close relative).

For me, this was the ideal vacation book: I was utterly engrossed by it as the writing style is compulsively readable, the narrative brisk, and the ideas fascinating. It is rare that I find such a first-rate historical and scientific narrative and I can only hope that the author produces more. This book is a gem, a masterpiece, and I will offer it as a gift to many people. Warmly recommended.

This book delivers a fascinating look at the work of Dr. John Hunter, the 'Father of Modern Surgery'. Through his dissection of corpses, study of anatomy, and bold, pioneering techniques, he helped to revolutionize medicine and establish many principles of modern surgery. The book includes a strong narrative describing the intricacies of his work and the medical and cultural environment of his time period. Overall, this book is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in medicine or the history of science.