W. W. Norton & Company Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine by Roy Porter - Paperback

Such a great book. As with all of Porter, it is jam-packed with the essentials and the gems. For those wanting a taste before delving into his much larger The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, or who are satisfied with a shorter read, this is your book (along with Bynum's Very Short History of Medicine (Oxford)).

Easy to read

A grabbing book which I cannot wait to go on reading it! Totaly advisable if you are looking for knowing more about physician, diseases and how the humankind have overcome many drawback.

Very interesting history of the evolution of medical practice from antiquity to modern times (2002, so it misses the latest scientific heights). Each of the eight chapters is written from a different perspective, beginning with how animal pathogens colonized humans, resulting in pendemics as humans stopped roaming the plains, the evolution of the professionals, the slow discovery of the understanding of human organs because of early prohibition of dissection, the growing role of the laboratory as chemistry provided new insights, the gradual understanding of pharmacology, advances in surgery, the changing role of hospitals and finally the rise of the medical industrial complex which has decimated the intimate doctor/patient relationship.

This book does not have lots of blood and guts in it. What it does have is a series of linked episodes that together describe the history behind many medical practises still in use today. The story the book is trying to put across relates to societies attitude to medicine and surgery as well as the treatments that went with them. It shows that in many ways society is just as prudish as it was hundreds of years ago in how it feels about medical practise. The book can be read in sections to cover each turn of the medical establishment in line with social prejudice. An easy read, and a book that can be dipped into a chapter or to at a time for bedtime reading.