Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Before Hippocrates, health and disease were in the hands of the gods..." (more)
Key Phrases: tobacco mosaic disease, United States, New York, Nobel Prize (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this cursory though delightful companion to his previous Science Firsts, Adler ably combines good storytelling, clear and cogent scientific explanations, a respect for science over superstition and a love of what he sees as one of humanity's "finest and most difficult" arts: "the application of medical knowledge to individual human beings like you and me." Through short, chronologically arranged histories of individuals who have defined medicine, Adler presents a compelling narrative arc from Hippocrates' dream of "human mastery of health and disease" to current efforts to "decode, understand, and manipulate genetic information." Adler vividly portrays the heroic efforts of such greats as Herophilus, who "discovered and described the prostate, the spermatic duct, the Fallopian tubes, and the ovaries" in the fourth century B.C.; Abu Bark al-Razi, whose 10th-century A.D. description of smallpox reads like "a modern diagnostic manual"; and Johann Weyer, who fought against the "paranoia, cruelty, and hatred of women" in the "Malleus Maleficarum," the bible of witch-hunters throughout Europe during the Inquisition. Adler also cogently presents more recent individuals such as Margaret Sanger, who championed the development and use of the first oral contraceptive, and Carleton Gajdusek and Stanley Prusiner, who worked to solve such illnesses as mad cow disease.
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From Booklist

In this slim but powerful volume, science writer Adler chronicles two-and-a-half millennia of medical history in all its fits, stalls, and starts. More than that, with lively narrative and numerous illustrations, he breathes life into each of the giants who laid a stepping-stone in medicine's path from cave drawings and charms to sophisticated, computer-assisted diagnoses. The contributors to the annals of medical knowledge he cites include the most famous names--Hippocrates, Pasteur, Freud, Alexander Fleming--and some not so commonly known, such as pioneering gynecologist Soranus (first century C.E.); Ibn al-Nafis (ca. 1210-88), credited as the first to understand and describe pulmonary circulation; and John Snow, an important figure in the war on cholera. From the parental background of Galen (130-200), the self-proclaimed "Prince of Physicians," to the social issues and political turmoil surrounding Margaret Sanger's fight for birth control, Adler discusses each figure's personal, social, and political history as it affected his or her contribution. A handy, highly readable reference. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471401757
• ISBN-13: 978-0471401759
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #372,612 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be afraid!!!, June 22, 2004

By	Carol Wiseman "'author of A Patchwork of Comf... (Whidbey Island WA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a lay person, I cautiously picked up Medical Firsts thinking I wouldn't understand a word. Surprise, surprise. I not only understood, but was blown away by what I didn't know. Adler made the lives and works of medical pioneers who laid the ground work for what we all take for granted come alive for me. Since I've actively repelled anything remotely connected to science all my life, almost every page had a "wow" factor.

The short chapters made it a lot more readable for me as a science challenged reader. With so much new info, I was grateful to pause after each one to appreciate the enormity of the discovery. I developed a reverence and gratituide to those who overcame enormous social barriers and fought, amazingly, the same hurdles that impede progress today - fear of change, fear of the unknown.

Thanks to Adler, I just might tiptoe back into new bookstore aisles.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adler's Second Book on Firsts!, May 18, 2004

By	Tony Pini (Santa Rosa, California) - See all my reviews

Medical Firsts is a well written, interesting, and informative account of preeminent medical achievements over the past 2500 years. It is well worth reading whether you are a medical professional or simply have a curious mind. Robert Adler's style of writing is easy to follow, entertaining, and intelligent. This book is organized into twenty-eight bite-sized chapters, each of which is thoroughly researched and very fascinating on its own. After reading Robert Adler's first great book, Science Firsts, I had very high expectations. I was certainly not disappointed and you won't be either. I highly recommend this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and fascinating stories of how healthcare developed, April 25, 2004

By	David Elovitz (Natick, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Any health care consumer -- or provider -- should be fascinated by these stories of how the health care we know to day came to be. It was amazing to me to read how much the ancients knew about the human body, and how accurately, and then how "medicine" descended into the miasma of the Middle Ages for over a thousand years before painstakingly, and with great difficulty, enduring personal animosity, crawling back to what the ancients knew, and beyond to what medical science knows today.

All related in well-told stories about real people, described warts and all. Some of those people I had never heard about before but even the others of whom I had read elsewhere came alive as people, with new information and more background.

I heartily recommend this book for anyone with an interest in healthcare, or in history. Not only informative, but very enjoyable reading.