The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine [Hardcover]

Stephen Lock (Editor), John M. Last (Editor), George Dunea (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2001

Boasting over five hundred illustrations, The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine offers a stimulating, kaleidoscopic account of the current state and past history of the medical, nursing, and allied health sciences.
From alchemy to AIDS, and from snakebite to ultrasound, this wide-ranging reference travels both the main avenues and fascinating byways of medicine. Deftly written articles, penned by some 200 respected scholars, examine everything of importance--related sciences (such as biochemistry and cell biology), important institutions (medical colleges, societies, major hospitals, and libraries), modern medical techniques (such as magnetic resonance imaging), even the darker side of medicine, including fraud and misconduct in medical research, and medical cults and quackery. There are major entries on each of the branches of medicine, such as cardiology, pediatrics, and general surgery, describing what they encompass, their historical background, variations in international practice, and recent advances. And there are shorter entries that illuminate a comprehensive selection of medical terms. The volume also features a micropedia containing brief, insightful accounts of the lives and achievements of many fascinating and famous historical and contemporary medical personalities. And the Companion includes numerous articles that examine the often-close links between medicine and art, music, poetry, and dance.
This book is the perfect companion for everyone working in medicine or related fields, and everyone interested in the medical arts.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The improvements to this latest version of The Oxford Medical Companion are tremendous. It is a little shorter than the previous edition (1994) but is much more compactly written, treats a greater number of subjects, and, with over 500 illustrations, is more visually appealing. The former editor of the British Medical Journal, Lock has created an essential reference work that is also a pleasure to browse. What results is more than a dictionary but not quite an encyclopedia; the length of the alphabetically arranged entries, all of which are well written and highly informative, varies from a paragraph to eight pages. In addition to the entries, contributed by 200 highly respected authors mostly from the U.K., there is a topic index, a people index, a general index, and a list of individual conditions and diseases. This work covers a wonderful array of topics, from diabetes and natural childbirth to health insurance and the Flexner report on medical education, but it is not comprehensive. For example, it includes articles on physicians in literature and the medical effects of Chernobyl but not on kidney stones. Thus, it cannot be the only medical reference work in a library, but it makes a fine accompaniment to such standards as the Merck Manual for Diagnosis and Therapy and the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. A great value for its cost and highly recommended for all libraries. Eric Albright, Duke Medical Ctr. Lib., Durham, NC
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine deals with "medicine in all its aspects." The third edition is very different in arrangement and writing from the second, The Oxford Medical Companion (1995). More than 500 articles cover the major diseases and medical specialities, national medical systems, history of medicine, and how medicine intersects with such topics as art. Examples include Abuse of old people ; Cardiology ; Cholera ; Evidence-based medicine ; Holocaust ; Japan ; Music ; and Sleep. The reading level is fairly high, with a strong dose of medical terminology thrown in.

The arrangement is generally alphabetical. Text is supplemented with photos and charts as well as margin notes, most of which are biographical. The numerous sidebars mean that readers will often have to rely upon the topic, disease, people, and general indexes and the extensive cross-references to locate specific information. Bibliographies are not included. The emphasis in many of the entries is British though the scope is international.

Because it complements standard medical dictionaries, academic, medical, and large public libraries may want to add The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine to their collections. Libraries that own the second edition will want to update. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 924 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition (December 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192629506
• ISBN-13: 978-0192629500
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,828,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You Wont Find Your Strange Symptoms Here, June 14, 2003

By 

Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" (California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine (Hardcover)

First of all this is not a manual of anatomy, physiology or pathology. It's not a book to use as a home medical guide. It is a compendium of articles that relate to medicine, but there seems to be no overall focus to the book. There are many historical entries covering such topics as Greek Medicine, Nursing in Britain, medicine in Italy, the Plague, the Flying Doctors and the Sisters of Charity. Most medical specialties such as dermatology, neurology, gynecological oncology and obstetrics are given coverage.

There are a variety of articles on medical research, but none on the topic of research methodology in general. Although not a guide to medical diseases there are articles that do pertain to such specific ailments as diabetes, and sexually transmitted diseases. You will find philosophy represented here in an article on epistemology (the study of knowledge). There is also a section on religion, and the medical views of various sects and denominations. I found that the authors refrained from being critical of religious beliefs as they pertain to medicine. The article on Christian Science is a benign one. The article on Chiropractic is also quite gentle. Indeed the book states that Chiropractors tend to get to know their patients to a far greater extent than medical practitioners.

Again, this is a strange compendium of many different topics: hysteria; hypnotism; near-death experiences; mummies; and the pharmaceutical industries. Will this book fill any of your special needs? It is of value to me by simply being an interesting volume of medical articles that I often just read at random..

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine, February 7, 2002

By 

Joav Merrick (Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine (Hardcover)

This book is dedicated to sir Ronald Bodley Scott (1906-1982), a family physician and specialist in internal medicine, who was affiliated with St Bartholomew's Hospital and appointed physician to King George VI and Queen Elisabeth II. Together with a collegue he conceived the idea of this companion, which was in its planning stage at the time of his death. The present companion is the 3rd edition. The three editors are wellknown physicians, Stephen Lock, a hematologist who edited the British Medical Journal from 1975-91, John M Last professor emeritus in epidemiology from the Univesrity of Ottawa and George Dunea, the chairman of nephrology at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
This companion is not a standard encyclopedia, but rather a selection of more than 500 short papers by more than 200 authors on subjects from abortion to zombification. Each entry is connected to the historical perspective of medicine, relationship with culture or art and information on the persons behind.
It can be learned that autopsies are not without side effects. A certain Josef Kolletschka died of sepsis following an infection acquired after sustaining a wound during autopsy. It was the similarity of his illness and in patients with puerperal fever that led Ignaz Philip Semmelweiss (1818-65) to understand that puerperal fever was caused by infection. This Hungarian obstetrician, working at the Allgemeines Krankenhaus in Vienna observed that the maternal mortality was higher in the ward attended by students (that came directly from the dissection room to the ward) than in the ward attended by nurses. When he enforced hygiene the mortality fell from 9.95% to 1.3%. The administration did not like his ideas and he was forced to leave for Budapest, where he became professor of obstetrics in 1855. His ideas on hygiene (Die Aetiologie der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers, 1861) was not received well and in 1865 he suffered from an mental breakdown and died from septicemia from a wound infection.
On the lighter side you will also find some nice quotations on the medical profession, like the one of Thomas Fuller (1609-61) on "physicians, who like beer, are best when they are old".
All in all, a book with a wealth of information on medicine and its history.

Professor Joav Merrick, MD
Medical director, Division for Mental Retardation, Box 1260, IL-91012 Jerusalem, Israel,

Mohammed Morad, MD
Family physician, Division for Community Health,

4.0 out of 5 stars an entertaining look at medicine, April 14, 2007

By 

Vichiousfishes - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine (Hardcover)

it is not a encyclopedia in the traditional description. it is more of a leisure read,concerning medical topics. with the expected diseases and historical figures, come the little quirks;the elephant man, zombies and midwifes. the index makes finding specifics difficult, but if you're looking for fun and weird facts to scare your friends, then this is the book for you.