Customer Reviews

The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases

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

 

 

This guide to uncommon and unlikely diseases is, to be blunt, the perfect bathroom book. It invites brief visits to sample the latest absurd malady and then wonder to yourself, "Dear God! I think I may be SUFFERING from this horrid and loathesome disease MYSELF!" Indeed, some of the illnesses here can be CONTRACTED by merely READING about them-- so beware! But a close study of these bite-sized descriptions of alternate realities is stimulating, and you'll be amused at the cross-referenced sicknesses that dot the book-- the editors are nothing if not attentive to detail. And fans of H. P. Lovecraft and J. L. Borges and Wm. S Burroughs will be especially pleased...

If you're a lover of elaborate hoaxes and like humor mixed with your fantasy/sf, you'll enjoy this immensely.

There are many great things about this book: the stunning visual design (made up to look like a 19th century medical guide, complete with original line drawings of all of the diseases and strange medical devices), the great line-up of authors, and the writing itself. I also like that the disease entries themselves are short, allowing for great bathroom or bedtime reading. The best thing about this book, though, is it's sense of humor. There is a lot of funny stuff in here.

There are a lot of genre-oriented writers posing as doctors (such as Dr.'s Alan Moore and Michael Moorcock), but the appeal is in no way limited to people who like to read fantasy, science fiction, etc. In particular, all medical doctors (real ones, that is), should own a copy of this book. If you have a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional on your gift list, grab one of these and give them some good laughs.

A very imaginative and amusing read. I am a medic in Iraq and bought it on a hunch and the fact that i am a huge fan of the editor, jeff vandermeer. The book has been religiously passed around the aid station and quoted. Everyone enjoys it. Buy it, youll enjoy it too.

An imaginative collection of tales disguised as whole body scratching diseases. I'm sure the authors -and editors- enjoyed the creative act with the same guilty-sick pleasure of pocking a dead rat with a stick.
Structured alphabetically, but warranteed to be sought for further random consultation as needed.

This is a collection of fictional ailments in the style of a nineteenth century health book. It has an interesting array of diseases, symptons, history and possible cures. Written by such luminaries as Cory Doctrow, Maicheal Moorcock and Alan Moore there are better and worse ones.

Some almost sound real, the bone leprosy has an air of possibility, whereas the Nepalese bubos are so patently ridiculous as to remove all possible suspension of disbelief.

I must admit an error on my part is that when I first picked it up I assumed that it was strange diseases which people HAD been diagnosed with in the past (of which I think would make a much better read given the stuff I have read in seventeenth century medical texts) so I was quite disappointed.

It has some bright moments and I would have given it a 3.5 stars for amusing without challenging me. I think it is fairer to say it is 4 stars because I picked it up to read under my own misconception. There is some excellent writing in here even if it isn't my cup of tea, but I do think that the style is too patchy to really hold my attention for all of them.

I thought this book would be fun to read, I am hardly ever dissapointed with sci-fi or fantasy shorts. The book was supposed to be funny, too. It wasn't. Maybe if you can get it really cheap, and collect anthologies, it'll be worth your time.

This book is based on a clever concept and the faux-disease names are amusing. I expected it to be hilarious. Instead, it made me yawn. The writing itself plodding, rather than clever. I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, though. I thought mistakenly this might be a good way into the genre.

One of the worst books I've bought this year. I loved City of Saints and Madmen, and Im a big fan of Vandermeer's writing - his style, his game playing, all of it. But this book was a huge disappointment. The introduction is good in the best sense of silly. The disease entries are not much more than the rainy day musings of a bunch of 13-14 year olds as they sit playing video games. At times they border on the sort of stuff Beavis and Butthead might concoct, "Heh heh, how about ...". As I said, a huge disappointment. Shame on you mister Vandermeer for creating a waste of time book like this. I want my money back.