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Summary: Modern medicine told through its ten greatest discoveries
Review: As we approach the end of the second millenium there will undoubtedly be many books, magazine articles and editorials on the greatest discoveries, people and events that have shaped the world. "Medicine's 10 Greatest Discoveries" is the place to start for someone interested in understanding the evolution of modern medicine. Drs. Friedman and Friedland have written an understandable history of medicine similar to Richard Rhodes' Pulitzer Prize winning effort "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" in which the author teaches physics as we see it through the lives of the principal practioners of the art. Discovery of vaccinations, surgical anesthesia, diagnostic x-rays, antibiotics, and genetic engineering have changed the face of the world, both improving our lives, and creating new questions. Reading about these legends of medicine gives us insight into the personal and intellectual qualities required to make such discoveries. The authors have done a great service if their book stimulates a young person to pursue answers to the questions of the next millenium. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, finishing it in two evenings. My favorite chapter was on Maurice Wilkens and DNA, where ambition, pride, greed and awesome intellect combine to elucidate the structure and function of the gene, the "most significant discovery of the twentieth century". Christopher H. Joy
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Summary: Informative, interesting, insightful
Review: As we approach the end of the second millenium there will undoubtedly be many books, magazine articles and editorials on the greatest discoveries, people and events that have shaped the world. "Medicine's 10 Greatest Discoveries" is the place to start for someone interested in understanding the evolution of modern medicine. Drs. Friedman and Friedland have written an understandable history of medicine similar to Richard Rhodes' Pulitzer Prize winning effort "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" in which the author teaches physics as we see it through the lives of the principal practioners of the art. Discovery of vaccinations, surgical anesthesia, diagnostic x-rays, antibiotics, and genetic engineering have changed the face of the world, both improving our lives, and creating new questions. Reading about these legends of medicine gives us insight into the personal and intellectual qualities required to make such discoveries. The authors have done a great service if their book stimulates a young person to pursue answers to the questions of the next millenium. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, finishing it in two evenings. My favorite chapter was on Maurice Wilkens and DNA, where ambition, pride, greed and awesome intellect combine to elucidate the structure and function of the gene, the "most significant discovery of the twentieth century". Christopher H. Joy
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Summary: A true classic!
Review: Drs' Friedland and Friedmans' "Medicine's 10 Greatest Discoveries" is an incomparable book that belongs on the bookshelf of every public library, High School and University, as well as every family with children. This is an amazing book, in its easy readability and uncanny insights of its authors into the minds of Medicine's greatest discovers stretching back 400 years. Who knew that DNA was actually described in the 1700's? Or how slowly the knowledge of the human Anatomy was unearthed? This book will make a wonderful gift for any enquiring young mind and act as an inspiration to budding scientists and researchers. The authors have done the world a great service with their meticulous anecdotes. My ONLY criticism of the book is the inclusion and acceptance of Cholesterol as one of the ten greatest discoveries. The subject of Cholesterol and its importance in our nutrition remains very contentious and debatable - as evidenced by the increase in diabetes, obesity and hypertension sinc we embarked oa a fat-free eating frenzy over the past fifteen years. Henry Novis M.D.
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Summary: Thinking "Outside the box".
Review: Drs. Friedland and Friedman have taken a tremendously complex area of life, medicine and the adventure of discovery, and have made it understandable for the layperson, without making it simplistic. Their book is readable and engaging and takes the non-medical person on the intellectual adventure of exploration. When I read about the discoveries of the past, I could only but imagine the excitement of the medical discoveries of the future. Drs. Friedland and Friedman have opened up new vistas. Thank you!
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Summary: Review of my textbook.
Review: In the interest of full disclosure:
I am an undergrad at Stanford enrolled in a seminar co-taught by Dr. Friedland. The text offers a glimpse of the personalities, missed opportunities, and scientific mistakes that normally go unmentioned in classes or textbooks. It is written in an easy, galloping style that draws on the staggering historical insight Dr. Friedman had as a collector of rare medical texts. Chapter I contains several amazing plates taken from Vesalius's Fabrica (Dr. Friedman apparently owned a copy). It also does a good job of getting rid of any naive conceptions of Science as a constant, selfless, and deliberate stampede of progress. And you can read four centuries of edifying gossip without feeling guilty like you're turning your brain to mush. Some of the chapters suffer from minor organizational problems. They aren't serious enough to obscure the major points, but may force you to re-read some meandering passages. Better editing by the Yale University Press would have avoided this problem. Absent of organizational issues, this book would deserve 5 stars (whatever that means). I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the history of science/medicine.
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Summary: Creativity and Innovation
Review: The authors describe details related to the background of what they view as the 10 greatest medical "discoveries", one per chapter. The final chapter explores possible overlapping triggers for innovation among the discoveries: 1. individual or team effort 2. likeability of innovator (most you'd not invite for dinner)
3. funding (individual or government)
4. innovation: planned or sheer luck
5. the role of perseverence, determination and honesty
5... many more Interesting conclusions emerge that will surprise many. This non-technical book is an easy read for all. It's a delight to discover it's full of useful gems of information, many of which many M.D.'s are not aware of (including 2 or more of the 10 greatest medical discoveries).
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Summary: Ethnocentric
Review: Though it is an interesting book, I found it to be quite ethnocentric. How can a book that discusses medicine in its totality not mention Avicenna as one of the top 10 discovers. His treatise, Canon of Medicine, was one of the foundations that stimulated the evolution of western medicine. It was one of the standard textbooks of medicine for 7 centerius, including western schools of medicine, and was used till the 1700s. It inlcuded such infomation as: "Ibn Sina's Qanun contains many of his anatomical findings which are accepted even today. Ibn Sina was the first scientist to describe the minute and graphic description of different parts of the eye, such as conjuctive sclera, cornea, choroid, iris, retina, layer lens, aqueous humour, optic nerve and optic chiasma." "Ibn Sina condemned conjectures and presumptions in anatomy and called upon physicians and surgeons to base their knowledge on a close study of human body. He observed that Aorta at its origin contains three valves which open when the blood rushes into it from the heart during contraction and closes during relaxation of the heart so that the blood may not be poured back into the heart. He asserts that muscular movements are possible because of the nerves supplied to them, and the perception of pain in the muscles is also due to the nerves." Or how about this physician:
"Ibn Al-Nafis made major contributions in medicine. His greatest original contribution was the discovery of the blood's circulatory system, which was rediscovered three centuries later. Ibn Al-Nafis was the first to correctly describe the constitution of lungs and gave a description of the Bronchi and the interaction between the human body's vessels for air and blood. Also, he elaborated the function of the coronary arteries as feeding the cardiac muscle. "
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