Medical Meanings: A Glossary of Word Origins, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: William Safire, beware!
Review: Dr. Haubrich's glossary is a clearly a labor of love as well as expertly researched tome of medical meanings. For those interested in etymology, his book is as much as a therapeutic massage to the intellect as Barnette's book (Ladyfingers & Nun's Tummies) is a sensual, cerebral tweeking of the palate. I stumbled across an advertisement for the book in a medical journal. Having spent a few months researching medical word origins, I gave up after reading this delightful book. It has no past (or future) competition. The advertisment was meant for physicians, but I believe that a much wider audience might well enjoy his meticulous research and muted humor. I enjoyed his mini-essay on the origin of the "Western blot", the tables explaining number and color origins, his whimsical asides on otherwise obscure (and pretentious) medical terminologies. I paid full price, and I would advocate for an amazon.com discount, as well as a pairing of the book with other more popular books on word origins. I would hope that the author plans a sequel, paperback edition and/or periodic updates to this delicious "word salad" of medical etymology! If William Safire uses this book for his column, he must give Dr. Haubrich proper attribution. He deserves it.