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Rating: 
Summary: For Sea Dogs and Landlubbers Alike
Review: I've always had an interest in the Age of Sail, but only recently started doing some knuckle-down reading. This book is a pretty good place to start if you're getting into maritime history, or diseases in history. Or both!
Brown's book flows pretty well, is often entertaining and informative. He uses a few first-hand accounts of the disease (one by a ship's surgeon) that prove to be both disturbing and engaging. Descriptions are bountiful, and whilst some information tends to be repeated a few times, it's never condescendingly done, nor does it read too drily.
Some of the theories at the time on what the cause of scurvy was are just mind-boggling. Some of the symptoms included lethargy and depression, so it was decided that scurvy was caused by laziness on the sailors' part and the cure was to work them harder! Poor blighters! And people who lucked onto finding the actual cure were laughed out of town and their theories forgotten - seems to be a pattern in history, doesn't it?
Turns out the cure for scurvy had a major role in England's naval capabilities, including colonisation and battles with the Europeans. Uh-huh, if the Brits hadn't discovered it, we might all be speaking French, or German, or whatever...hmmm.
Anyway, I'd recommend this to anyone with even a vague interest in history - it's a good read, and you can make others nauseous by describing the disease's effects upon the human body, and the squallid conditions of the ships. Fun for the whole family, really.
Rating:
Summary: For Sea Dogs and Landlubbers Alike
Review: I've always had an interest in the Age of Sail, but only recently started doing some knuckle-down reading. This book is a pretty good place to start if you're getting into maritime history, or diseases in history. Or both!
Brown's book flows pretty well, is often entertaining and informative. He uses a few first-hand accounts of the disease (one by a ship's surgeon) that prove to be both disturbing and engaging. Descriptions are bountiful, and whilst some information tends to be repeated a few times, it's never condescendingly done, nor does it read too drily.
Some of the theories at the time on what the cause of scurvy was are just mind-boggling. Some of the symptoms included lethargy and depression, so it was decided that scurvy was caused by laziness on the sailors' part and the cure was to work them harder! Poor blighters! And people who lucked onto finding the actual cure were laughed out of town and their theories forgotten - seems to be a pattern in history, doesn't it?
Turns out the cure for scurvy had a major role in England's naval capabilities, including colonisation and battles with the Europeans. Uh-huh, if the Brits hadn't discovered it, we might all be speaking French, or German, or whatever...hmmm.
Anyway, I'd recommend this to anyone with even a vague interest in history - it's a good read, and you can make others nauseous by describing the disease's effects upon the human body, and the squallid conditions of the ships. Fun for the whole family, really.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: This book tackles a fascinating subject; scurvy which killed 100,000s of sailors. Many passages illuminate the causes and affects of this terrible disease, which quite simply results from a lack of vitamin C and causes the bond of the body to weaken, causing terrible bleeding in the gums and from the skin. The cure for scurvy was not understood for 100s of years and this book takes the reader on a quick stroll through this history. Why did Eskimoes, who ate no vegetables, not suffer scurvy? This question was posed by the English whose aptitude for eating limes gave them the nickname `limies' since limes appeared to counteract scurvy. Why did preserved meat not work? Why did cooked meat or limes not work? These questions were eventually answered by the man who found out the truth behind the disease. This is the books central theme and actually its main detraction. Since the book focuses on the men, reminiscent of the recent book on the OED, it detracts slightly from the overall history of scurvy. Nevertheless this is a welcomed addition on the subject, and a fascinating read.Seth J. Frantzman
Rating:
Summary: Not as deep as it could have been.
Review: This book tackles a fascinating subject; scurvy which killed 100,000s of sailors. Many passages illuminate the causes and affects of this terrible disease, which quite simply results from a lack of vitamin C and causes the bond of the body to weaken, causing terrible bleeding in the gums and from the skin. The cure for scurvy was not understood for 100s of years and this book takes the reader on a quick stroll through this history. Why did Eskimoes, who ate no vegetables, not suffer scurvy? This question was posed by the English whose aptitude for eating limes gave them the nickname 'limies' since limes appeared to counteract scurvy. Why did preserved meat not work? Why did cooked meat or limes not work? These questions were eventually answered by the man who found out the truth behind the disease. This is the books central theme and actually its main detraction. Since the book focuses on the men, reminiscent of the recent book on the OED, it detracts slightly from the overall history of scurvy. Nevertheless this is a welcomed addition on the subject, and a fascinating read. Seth J. Frantzman
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: This is a well-written, entertaining book. I read it mostly due to my interest in sea-faring and the "age of sail," as the author terms it. However, I found myself enjoying it just as much for the story it tells about the gradual discovery of a cure for a disease that crippled sea-faring nations for centuries. Particularly enlightening is the story of the bureacracy, the British Admiralty, that stubbornly ignored the potential cure, even as it suffered tremendous losses for its ignorance, and how vital privilege and influence is in challenging and changing such an establishment. The book's only minor flaw is that it focuses primarily on one country, Britain, without elaborating on how or why France or Spain failed to find a cause and a cure. I would recommend it highly.
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