Medicine

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, ad the Collision of Two Cultures  by Anne  Fadiman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.  Culture Clash The book is about a culture clash between a Hmong family with an epileptic little girl, Lia Lee, living in Merced, California during the 1980s. Hmong have Shamans and believe in spirits called dabs. The Hmong saw epilepsy as a spirit inhabiting the little girl. Western Medicine There were communicati

Breath Taking: The Power, Fragility, and Future of Our Extraordinary Lungs  by Michael J. Stephen, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2021.  Topics The Great Oxygenation Event of the Earth's Atmosphere Nicotine Cystic Fibrosis

A Mind Unraveled: A True Story of Disease, Love, and Triumph by Kurt Eichenwald, Ballantine Books, 2018.

In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope by Rana Awdish, Picador, 2018.

Muscle: The Gripping Story of Strength and Movement by Roy A. Meals, W. W. Norton & Company, 2023.

The Demon Under The Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug by Thomas Hager, Crown, 2007.  Sulfa Drugs This is an excellent history of the rise of synthetic antibiotics. Unlike penicillin, which is a natural product of mold, the sulfa drugs were created from scratch in the laboratory. The German chemists took the lead. They had already developed synthetic dyes. They experimented with using these dyes t

The Body: A Guide for Occupants  by Bill Bryson, Anchor Books; Vintage; Reprint edition, 2021.  Interesting Biological Topics The fungus cccidioidomyccosis  causes Valley Fever Umami was discovered by Kikunae Ikeda, who cofounded Ajinomoto to promote it The Scoville Organoleptic Test measures how hot chili peppers are McGill Pain Questionnaire Elephants and whales have their testicles on the inside Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease is more common than cirrhosis Hepatitis C is

The Doctors’ Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever and the Strange Story of Ignác Semmelweis  by Sherwin B. Nuland, W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.  Puerperal Fever Puerperal fever became more common after the medicalization of childbirth. During the 19th century in Europe and America, midwives were often replaced by doctors. A new surgical specialty developed, called obstetrics. Puerperal fever was much more common in hospital deliveries than in home deliveries. Ignác Semmelweis Igná

Experiment Eleven: Dark Secrets Behind the Discovery of a Wonder Drug  by Peter Pringle, Walker Books, 2012.  Tuberculosis Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterial species of the genus Mycobacterium. Within the bacterial genus Mycobacterium there are several species, one of which is tuberculosis. Within the species tuberculosis there are several strains, only some of which cause the disease tuberculosis. It is safer to perform initial tests of a new antibiotic on non-pathogenic

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right  by Atul  Gawande, Picador, 2011.  Errors of Omission In the current practice of medicine, the goal of avoiding errors of omission (forgetting to do things) is addressed in an informal and ad-hoc  way. The author suggests that medicine adopt a different method for avoiding errors of omission: the checklist. He describes how some early adopters have used checklists in medicine and achieved substantially lowering of error rates.

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine  by Lindsey Fitzharris, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.  Lister’s Background Both Joseph Lister and his father,  Joseph Jackson Lister, were Quakers. Joseph Lister’s father, Joseph Jackson Lister, figured out a way to compensate for chromatic aberration in the lenses of microscopes. Chromatic aberration is the fact that glass bends light at different angles depending on the color (w

Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ  (Revised Edition) by Giulia Enders, Greystone Books, 2018.  A book for the lay person written by a German gastroenterologist. Topics:  Mouth Tonsils Esophagus Stomach Small intestine Vermiform appendix Large intestine Fat absorption by lymphatic system Celiac disease Lactose intolerance Feces Acid reflux Intestinal nervous system Nausea Flatulence Motion sickness Constipation Irritable bowel syndrome Immune system Gas

Counting Backwards: A Doctor's Notes on Anesthesia  by Henry Jay Przybylo, W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.  The author is a pediatric anesthesiologist. You learn a lot about anesthesiology as he discusses many interesting cases of children undergoing surgery. The main components of putting someone under are: Sedative to relieve anxiety Medications to induce amnesia Analgesics for the pain Sevoflurane gas to cause loss of consciousness Muscle relaxants, so the patient doesn’t mo