Why is this book important?
Although it was published 25 years ago (1998), this book remains the best examination of the history of medicine for its broad scope and fine detail, and for its larger message about medicine’s place in human life—past and present.
Author Roy Porter focuses on the patients, the diseases and the physicians across time and the continents, in amazing detail with equal emphasis on the ancient and more modern medical contributions. The author importantly points out that before the time of the medical profession we had healers for much of our history. And that folk medicine has contributed greatly, if not equally, to human benefit—for example with small pox where ordinary people first identified a simple but effective inoculation technique.
For the 19th and early 20th centuries where many readers are likely to find history that is immediately relevant for understanding today’s environment, the author meticulously describes the medical advances of this period which demonstrate an accelerated ability to consistently heal and prevent illness, but he does not overlook the fact that some diseases like diabetes remain unsolved. Porter’s history of medicine is unflinchingly honest and avoids the too often depiction of physicians and their techniques as ingenious or divinely inspired.
About the book itself
If you intend to purchase, or even borrow from a local library, get the hardcover edition, it’s easier to handle. The softbound edition is 845-pages, and at 8-inches by 6-inches, by 1½ inches thick, it is compact but heavy. Simply, this book is difficult to hold and at nearly 2 ½ pounds it just does lay flat or seem to cooperate when flipping between the index and the main text. At least with the hardcover, the book lays flat and has a larger typeface. There are 22-chapters, averaging about 40-pages each, with seemingly few subheads to reinforce for the reader the focus subsections of the chapters.
But in either binding, Roy Porter is easy on the reader. Sentence lengths are appreciably short for such a complex topic. And the history he tells is edited to highlight the most meaningful elements. Porter’s literary sources span the globe and he consistently translates foreign titles and phrases into English. The bibliography of further reading runs 44-pages and is broken into sources for the author’s 22-chapters. Even in this detail, the author limits the list to works he found most helpful and written in English.
Porter’s Message: The analogy of the night sky
If there is an overall theme to this book, it’s not that medicine is wonderful and someday humans will be immortal. Much more the opposite. In the introduction to his book, Porter asks us to recall the night sky to explain two aspects of medicine that readers should keep in mind as they read about the evolution of medical care over thousands of years.
The analogy between medicine and the night sky goes like this: Except for a few visible stars and planets, most of the night sky is dark.
---First, that image certainly applies to the millions of medical encounters that have occurred across human history. We know about only a fraction of them. Are there medicines and maladies that are unknown to us? Yes, very likely.
---Second, the night sky with its collection of bright and dim objects, surrounded by unbounded darkness, aptly describes our ignorance of what makes people sick and what will cure them. That’s been a fundamental fact of medical care since the beginning. There is a scarcity of knowledge that has limited all medical endeavors since Hippocrates.
What would a person do with this book?
Name your topic and use the index to find valuable insights into the disease, people and medical practitioners across history and the world. About one in eight persons in the US works in the healthcare industry, but regardless of your profession, this wide-reaching history has facts for any purpose.
So if you are a manager preparing a presentation or just someone who wants to cite history to support their arguments for higher wages, or better working hours, or to explain why the world is the way it is, this book is your friend. For example, if you are speaking about current day migration from 3rd world countries and its impact on wages, the chapter on Tropical Medicine is relevant. Colonial powers and the colonized benefitted tremendously from efforts to control tropical maladies.
Or perhaps you are interested in human ignorance and resistance to learning, even in light of very contrary evidence, then medicine’s historical faith in blood-letting can fit your message. As late as the first World War, some internationally prominent physicians clung to blood-letting as first resort therapy.
Finally, if you intend to address the profusion of pharmaceutical ads on television, Porter’s discussion of the long standing skepticism about physicians’ ability to cure is on target. Historically, and even to current day, many people don’t believe that physicians can cure any disease. Potions, elixirs and pharmaceuticals have a much better track record.
Is medicine the greatest benefit?
The title of book comes from Samuel Johnson, an 18th century writer and critic who described medicine and the medical profession as the greatest benefit to humankind. Alternatively, one could argue that the greatest benefit to mankind is the scientific method, or religion or democracy. But there are some aspects of medicine that truly make it distinct and the most beneficial. Most obvious is the direct output or product of medicine, which is health, without which human life is greatly diminished.
If we accept that the result of medical care or knowledge of medical matters is health improvement for individuals, we should recognize that health enhances every aspect of life. In economic terms it adds utility to all things. For example, it’s great to be a member of a 21st century royal family, but if you have a debilitating, chronic illness. Relief from pain and unwanted symptoms of such a condition makes royal life even better. Living is enhanced by the good health produced by medicine.
Michael Grambo
Linden, Virginia
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Client d'AmazonReviewed in France on April 12, 2017
Excellente exploration de la médecine du passé
- P C.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2017
Ideal present for medical students
