Taking the Medicine by Druin Burch
Doctors and patients alike trust the medical profession and its therapeutic powers; yet this trust has often been misplaced. Whether prescribing opium or thalidomide, aspirin or antidepressants, doctors have persistently failed to test their favourite ideas - often with catastrophic results. From revolutionary America to Nazi Germany and modern big-pharmaceuticals, this is the unexpected story of just how bad medicine has been, and of its remarkably recent effort to improve. It is the history of well-meaning doctors misled by intuition, of the startling human cost of their mistakes and of the exceptional individuals who have helped make things better. Alarming and optimistic, Taking the Medicine is essential reading for anyone interested in how and why to trust the pills they swallow.
A fascinating history of the development of clinical trials and the thinking behind them * Literary Review *
For all the wizardry of modern medicine, with its bionic limbs and targeted drugs, doctors still cannot assume they have all the answersThis book offers a valuable inoculation against complacency * New Scientist *
Taking The Medicine is both an assault on the myths of the infallible doctor and a history of pharmacology - the search for the one, true treatment... Burch makes a compelling case * Sunday Telegraph *
Each chapter is a self-contained pleasure to read, like mini-fables on the perils of medicine * Sunday Times *
Burch approaches his task with vigour and pace, exploring the therapeutic failures of doctors over the ages...there is much of interest as the story unfolds * Irish Times *
Burch leads us through an array of shocking and surprising medical practices * Financial Times *
Intriguing and informed -- Tom Whipple * The Times *
Twenty-five essay-chapters examine 'cures' such as aspirin and thalidomide, all with a good bedside manner * Sunday Telegraph *
This is a gripping history of the blundering progress of medicine -- Christopher Hirst * Independent *
A fascinating and irreverent history of medicine and those who've claimed to understand it, written by an NHS doctor with searing intelligence and a lively wit * Good Book Guide *
For all the wizardry of modern medicine, with its bionic limbs and targeted drugs, doctors still cannot assume they have all the answersThis book offers a valuable inoculation against complacency * New Scientist *
Taking The Medicine is both an assault on the myths of the infallible doctor and a history of pharmacology - the search for the one, true treatment... Burch makes a compelling case * Sunday Telegraph *
Each chapter is a self-contained pleasure to read, like mini-fables on the perils of medicine * Sunday Times *
Burch approaches his task with vigour and pace, exploring the therapeutic failures of doctors over the ages...there is much of interest as the story unfolds * Irish Times *
Burch leads us through an array of shocking and surprising medical practices * Financial Times *
Intriguing and informed -- Tom Whipple * The Times *
Twenty-five essay-chapters examine 'cures' such as aspirin and thalidomide, all with a good bedside manner * Sunday Telegraph *
This is a gripping history of the blundering progress of medicine -- Christopher Hirst * Independent *
A fascinating and irreverent history of medicine and those who've claimed to understand it, written by an NHS doctor with searing intelligence and a lively wit * Good Book Guide *
Druin Burch works as a hospital doctor in Oxford, and is the author of Digging up the Dead, a biography of the Victorian surgeon Astley Paston Cooper.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781845951504 |
| ISBN 10 | 1845951506 |
| Title | Taking the Medicine |
| Author | Druin Burch |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2010-01-07 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |