You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by jhbandcats
Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery by Richard Hollingham
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.0
This is the type of book I normally love, a history of a specific part of the medical field that isn’t too complex for the layman. However, this goes too far and is lacking in complexity and depth. It turns out that this book is based on a BBC TV series, and it feels exactly like that.
As a TV series for adults and more mature children, it would be perfect. As a standalone book, it was disappointing. It was indeed packed with information but the style was too casual - though just right for a TV presentation. The language is almost cavalier - the expression “give it a go” was popular with the author.
Parts seemed entirely fictionalized. In the section on Phineas Gage, a railway construction worker whose head was impaled by an iron rod, the author ascribes thoughts and feelings as though he was Gage’s good friend. No reference is made to letters and diaries used in research so I can only imagine this was made up. Another example is of a vain woman lying on a sofa contemplating her own beauty. This isn’t a good approach when writing nonfiction.
So, I learned some fascinating tidbits about the history of surgery but I’d have preferred a book with more heft.
As a TV series for adults and more mature children, it would be perfect. As a standalone book, it was disappointing. It was indeed packed with information but the style was too casual - though just right for a TV presentation. The language is almost cavalier - the expression “give it a go” was popular with the author.
Parts seemed entirely fictionalized. In the section on Phineas Gage, a railway construction worker whose head was impaled by an iron rod, the author ascribes thoughts and feelings as though he was Gage’s good friend. No reference is made to letters and diaries used in research so I can only imagine this was made up. Another example is of a vain woman lying on a sofa contemplating her own beauty. This isn’t a good approach when writing nonfiction.
So, I learned some fascinating tidbits about the history of surgery but I’d have preferred a book with more heft.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism