Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780399159954)

Discover the astonishing and peculiar history of medicine with this perfect gift for history buffs, doctors, and anyone looking to be amazed by the brilliant and bizarre ideas that shaped the world of medicine as we know it.

From the use of electric eels in ancient Egypt to medieval dentists burning candles to combat invisible worms, this book uncovers the weirdest medical practices throughout history, highlighting the most dubious ideas, strangest treatments, and biggest blunders. Entertaining, shocking, and sometimes stomach-turning, Strange Medicine presents strange but true facts and an honor roll of doctors, scientists, and dreamers who inadvertently turned the clock of medicine backward.

Did you know:

- Renaissance physicians timed surgical procedures according to the position of the stars?
- Blood from beheadings was believed to cure epilepsy?
- Dr. Walter Freeman, the world's foremost practitioner of lobotomies, practiced his craft while traveling on family camping trips, hammering ice picks into the eye sockets of his patients in between hikes in the woods?

Strange Medicine is an illuminating panorama of medical history as you've never seen it before.

Author: Nathan Belofsky
ISBN-10: 0399159959
ISBN-13: 9780399159954
Publisher: Tarcherperigee
Language: English
Published: 07/02/2013
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 8.00h x 4.40w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/13/2013
Booklist 07/01/2013 pg. 16