Medical Mysteries

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Publisher : Disney Electronic Content
ISBN 13 : 140139485X
Total Pages : 221 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Medical Mysteries by : Ann Reynolds

Download or read book Medical Mysteries written by Ann Reynolds and published by Disney Electronic Content. This book was released on 2009-08-04 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medical Mysteries takes you to the front lines of the medical fringe, where absolutely anything is possible.From the files of the hit ABC primetime show Medical Mysteries comes this impossible-to-put-down collection of the strangest medical stories you are ever likely to hear.

The World's Most Bizarre Medical Mysteries

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Author :
Publisher : Bonton Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The World's Most Bizarre Medical Mysteries by : Sue Florin

Download or read book The World's Most Bizarre Medical Mysteries written by Sue Florin and published by Bonton Press. This book was released on with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The World’s Most Bizarre Medical Mysteries contains the strangest cases in medical history. Imagine being trapped in a coma for 23 years. Imagine coming back to life after having spent 45 minutes dead. Imagine discovering that a part of your brain was missing. These are just a handful of the medical anomalies in this book. Some of them are modern, some of them historical. But all of them are equally as bizarre, and equally a real.

Medical Mysteries

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781437973020
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Medical Mysteries by : Ann Reynolds

Download or read book Medical Mysteries written by Ann Reynolds and published by . This book was released on 2010-06 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes you to the front lines of the medical fringe, where absolutely anything is possible. From the files of the hit ABC prime-time show ¿Medical Mysteries¿ comes this impossible-to-put-down collection of the strangest medical stories you are ever likely to hear. Learn about the man who seems to be turning into a tree; the woman who¿s seasick -- on land; the little girl who was born with all her organs reversed; and the musician who can hear everything inside his body -- even his eyeballs moving back and forth in their sockets. Put yourself in the examination room as doctors uncover and try to cure the most bizarre of medical conditions. Illustrations

Every Patient Tells a Story

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Author :
Publisher : Harmony
ISBN 13 : 0767922476
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (679 download)

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Book Synopsis Every Patient Tells a Story by : Lisa Sanders

Download or read book Every Patient Tells a Story written by Lisa Sanders and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2010-09-21 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of the monthly New York Times Magazine column "Diagnosis," the inspiration for the hit Fox TV series House, M.D. "The experience of being ill can be like waking up in a foreign country. Life, as you formerly knew it, is on hold while you travel through this other world as unknown as it is unexpected. When I see patients in the hospital or in my office who are suddenly, surprisingly ill, what they really want to know is, ‘What is wrong with me?’ They want a road map that will help them manage their new surroundings. The ability to give this unnerving and unfamiliar place a name, to know it—on some level—restores a measure of control, independent of whether or not that diagnosis comes attached to a cure. Because, even today, a diagnosis is frequently all a good doctor has to offer." A healthy young man suddenly loses his memory—making him unable to remember the events of each passing hour. Two patients diagnosed with Lyme disease improve after antibiotic treatment—only to have their symptoms mysteriously return. A young woman lies dying in the ICU—bleeding, jaundiced, incoherent—and none of her doctors know what is killing her. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis. Never in human history have doctors had the knowledge, the tools, and the skills that they have today to diagnose illness and disease. And yet mistakes are made, diagnoses missed, symptoms or tests misunderstood. In this high-tech world of modern medicine, Sanders shows us that knowledge, while essential, is not sufficient to unravel the complexities of illness. She presents an unflinching look inside the detective story that marks nearly every illness—the diagnosis—revealing the combination of uncertainty and intrigue that doctors face when confronting patients who are sick or dying. Through dramatic stories of patients with baffling symptoms, Sanders portrays the absolute necessity and surprising difficulties of getting the patient’s story, the challenges of the physical exam, the pitfalls of doctor-to-doctor communication, the vagaries of tests, and the near calamity of diagnostic errors. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Sanders chronicles the real-life drama of doctors solving these difficult medical mysteries that not only illustrate the art and science of diagnosis, but often save the patients’ lives.

Diagnosis

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Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0593136640
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (931 download)

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Book Synopsis Diagnosis by : Lisa Sanders

Download or read book Diagnosis written by Lisa Sanders and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of more than fifty hard-to-crack medical quandaries, featuring the best of The New York Times Magazine's popular Diagnosis column—now a Netflix original series “Lisa Sanders is a paragon of the modern medical detective storyteller.”—Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal As a Yale School of Medicine physician, the New York Times bestselling author of Every Patient Tells a Story, and an inspiration and adviser for the hit Fox TV drama House, M.D., Lisa Sanders has seen it all. And yet she is often confounded by the cases she describes in her column: unexpected collections of symptoms that she and other physicians struggle to diagnose. A twenty-eight-year-old man, vacationing in the Bahamas for his birthday, tries some barracuda for dinner. Hours later, he collapses on the dance floor with crippling stomach pains. A middle-aged woman returns to her doctor, after visiting two days earlier with a mild rash on the back of her hands. Now the rash has turned purple and has spread across her entire body in whiplike streaks. A young elephant trainer in a traveling circus, once head-butted by a rogue zebra, is suddenly beset with splitting headaches, as if someone were “slamming a door inside his head.” In each of these cases, the path to diagnosis—and treatment—is winding, sometimes frustratingly unclear. Dr. Sanders shows how making the right diagnosis requires expertise, painstaking procedure, and sometimes a little luck. Intricate, gripping, and full of twists and turns, Diagnosis puts readers in the doctor’s place. It lets them see what doctors see, feel the uncertainty they feel—and experience the thrill when the puzzle is finally solved.

The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1524743690
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

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Book Synopsis The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth by : Thomas Morris

Download or read book The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth written by Thomas Morris and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-11-20 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Delightfully horrifying."--Popular Science One of Mental Floss's Best Books of 2018 One of Science Friday's Best Science Books of 2018 This wryly humorous collection of stories about bizarre medical treatments and cases offers a unique portrait of a bygone era in all its jaw-dropping weirdness. A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the nineteenth century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled. Witness Mysterious Illnesses (such as the Rhode Island woman who peed through her nose), Horrifying Operations (1781: A French soldier in India operates on his own bladder stone), Tall Tales (like the "amphibious infant" of Chicago, a baby that could apparently swim underwater for half an hour), Unfortunate Predicaments (such as that of the boy who honked like a goose after inhaling a bird's larynx), and a plethora of other marvels. Beyond a series of anecdotes, these painfully amusing stories reveal a great deal about the evolution of modern medicine. Some show the medical profession hopeless in the face of ailments that today would be quickly banished by modern drugs; but others are heartening tales of recovery against the odds, patients saved from death by the devotion or ingenuity of a conscientious doctor. However embarrassing the ailment or ludicrous the treatment, every case in The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth tells us something about the knowledge (and ignorance) of an earlier age, along with the sheer resilience of human life.

Strange Glow

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Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400880521
Total Pages : 507 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Strange Glow by : Timothy J. Jorgensen

Download or read book Strange Glow written by Timothy J. Jorgensen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-23 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating science and history of radiation More than ever before, radiation is a part of our modern daily lives. We own radiation-emitting phones, regularly get diagnostic x-rays, such as mammograms, and submit to full-body security scans at airports. We worry and debate about the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the safety of nuclear power plants. But how much do we really know about radiation? And what are its actual dangers? An accessible blend of narrative history and science, Strange Glow describes mankind's extraordinary, thorny relationship with radiation, including the hard-won lessons of how radiation helps and harms our health. Timothy Jorgensen explores how our knowledge of and experiences with radiation in the last century can lead us to smarter personal decisions about radiation exposures today. Jorgensen introduces key figures in the story of radiation—from Wilhelm Roentgen, the discoverer of x-rays, and pioneering radioactivity researchers Marie and Pierre Curie, to Thomas Edison and the victims of the recent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. Tracing the most important events in the evolution of radiation, Jorgensen explains exactly what radiation is, how it produces certain health consequences, and how we can protect ourselves from harm. He also considers a range of practical scenarios such as the risks of radon in our basements, radiation levels in the fish we eat, questions about cell-phone use, and radiation's link to cancer. Jorgensen empowers us to make informed choices while offering a clearer understanding of broader societal issues. Investigating radiation's benefits and risks, Strange Glow takes a remarkable look at how, for better or worse, radiation has transformed our society.

The Family That Couldn't Sleep

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Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1588365581
Total Pages : 333 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (883 download)

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Book Synopsis The Family That Couldn't Sleep by : D. T. Max

Download or read book The Family That Couldn't Sleep written by D. T. Max and published by Random House. This book was released on 2006-09-05 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For two hundred years a noble Venetian family has suffered from an inherited disease that strikes their members in middle age, stealing their sleep, eating holes in their brains, and ending their lives in a matter of months. In Papua New Guinea, a primitive tribe is nearly obliterated by a sickness whose chief symptom is uncontrollable laughter. Across Europe, millions of sheep rub their fleeces raw before collapsing. In England, cows attack their owners in the milking parlors, while in the American West, thousands of deer starve to death in fields full of grass. What these strange conditions–including fatal familial insomnia, kuru, scrapie, and mad cow disease–share is their cause: prions. Prions are ordinary proteins that sometimes go wrong, resulting in neurological illnesses that are always fatal. Even more mysterious and frightening, prions are almost impossible to destroy because they are not alive and have no DNA–and the diseases they bring are now spreading around the world. In The Family That Couldn’t Sleep, essayist and journalist D. T. Max tells the spellbinding story of the prion’s hidden past and deadly future. Through exclusive interviews and original archival research, Max explains this story’s connection to human greed and ambition–from the Prussian chemist Justus von Liebig, who made cattle meatier by feeding them the flesh of other cows, to New Guinean natives whose custom of eating the brains of the dead nearly wiped them out. The biologists who have investigated these afflictions are just as extraordinary–for example, Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, a self-described “pedagogic pedophiliac pediatrician” who cracked kuru and won the Nobel Prize, and another Nobel winner, Stanley Prusiner, a driven, feared self-promoter who identified the key protein that revolutionized prion study. With remarkable precision, grace, and sympathy, Max–who himself suffers from an inherited neurological illness–explores maladies that have tormented humanity for centuries and gives reason to hope that someday cures will be found. And he eloquently demonstrates that in our relationship to nature and these ailments, we have been our own worst enemy.

The Invisible Kingdom

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698190769
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (981 download)

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Book Synopsis The Invisible Kingdom by : Meghan O'Rourke

Download or read book The Invisible Kingdom written by Meghan O'Rourke and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION Named one of the BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by NPR, The New Yorker, Time, and Vogue “Remarkable.” –Andrew Solomon, The New York Times Book Review "At once a rigorous work of scholarship and a radical act of empathy.”—Esquire "A ray of light into those isolated cocoons of darkness that, at one time or another, may afflict us all.” —The Wall Street Journal "Essential."—The Boston Globe A landmark exploration of one of the most consequential and mysterious issues of our time: the rise of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: these are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible” illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier. Drawing on her own medical experiences as well as a decade of interviews with doctors, patients, researchers, and public health experts, O’Rourke traces the history of Western definitions of illness, and reveals how inherited ideas of cause, diagnosis, and treatment have led us to ignore a host of hard-to-understand medical conditions, ones that resist easy description or simple cures. And as America faces this health crisis of extraordinary proportions, the populations most likely to be neglected by our institutions include women, the working class, and people of color. Blending lyricism and erudition, candor and empathy, O’Rourke brings together her deep and disparate talents and roles as critic, journalist, poet, teacher, and patient, synthesizing the personal and universal into one monumental project arguing for a seismic shift in our approach to disease. The Invisible Kingdom offers hope for the sick, solace and insight for their loved ones, and a radical new understanding of our bodies and our health.

Strange But True: 10 of the World's Greatest Mysteries Explained

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Author :
Publisher : Frances Lincoln Children's Books
ISBN 13 : 1786037858
Total Pages : 131 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (86 download)

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Book Synopsis Strange But True: 10 of the World's Greatest Mysteries Explained by : Kathryn Hulick

Download or read book Strange But True: 10 of the World's Greatest Mysteries Explained written by Kathryn Hulick and published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books. This book was released on 2019-10 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prepare to have your mind blown! As you explore ten of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries, you'll witness a UFO encounter, search for the lost city of Atlantis, tour a haunted house, and discover the kraken's true form. Along the way, you'll use the scientific method and sharp thinking to separate fact from fiction and explain the unexplainable. Learn how sightings of flying saucers and stories of alien abductions can be explained by sleep paralysis, false memories, and hypnosis. Find out what pareidolia is and how this psychological phenomenon may explain some ghost sightings. Explore possible real locations for the lost city of Atlantis. Beautiful, haunting illustrations set the mood and spark the imagination. Discover the fascinating truth surrounding these mysteries and legends: Alien abductions, including the Roswell incident Psychics Mysterious disappearances, including plane MH370 Zombies Ancient aliens, including the Nazca Lines Curses, including King Tut's tomb Monsters of the Deep, including Nessie the Loch Ness monster The search for Atlantis Ghosts and haunted mansions Bigfoot

The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1583331603
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (833 download)

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Book Synopsis The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse by : Nancy Butcher

Download or read book The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse written by Nancy Butcher and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-01-05 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that bananas can cure warts; chewing on raw ginger can relieve nausea; sniffing vanilla can help suppress your appetite; or that raw potato can soothe a burn? Healing is full of curious remedies-some based on time-honored folklore, others straight from the medical journals. Nancy Butcher has gathered together some of the most unusual natural cures that have been proven effective today, and even throws in some unbelievable and-thankfully-abandoned therapies from times past. Filled with case histories of unique illnesses, historic documentation of strange medical practices, and the author's own insightful commentary, this book explains not only how to cure headaches, sleep better, and improve your sex life, but also that people with Cotard's syndrome actually believe they are dead.

Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141975350
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (419 download)

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Book Synopsis Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness by : Susannah Cahalan

Download or read book Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness written by Susannah Cahalan and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'My first serious blackout marked the line between sanity and insanity. Though I would have moments of lucidity over the coming days and weeks, I would never again be the same person ...' Susannah Cahalan was a happy, clever, healthy twenty-four-year old. Then one day she woke up in hospital, with no memory of what had happened or how she had got there. Within weeks, she would be transformed into someone unrecognizable, descending into a state of acute psychosis, undergoing rages and convulsions, hallucinating that her father had murdered his wife; that she could control time with her mind. Everything she had taken for granted about her life, and who she was, was wiped out. Brain on Fire is Susannah's story of her terrifying descent into madness and the desperate hunt for a diagnosis, as, after dozens of tests and scans, baffled doctors concluded she should be confined in a psychiatric ward. It is also the story of how one brilliant man, Syria-born Dr Najar, finally proved - using a simple pen and paper - that Susannah's psychotic behaviour was caused by a rare autoimmune disease attacking her brain. His diagnosis of this little-known condition, thought to have been the real cause of devil-possessions through history, saved her life, and possibly the lives of many others. Cahalan takes readers inside this newly-discovered disease through the progress of her own harrowing journey, piecing it together using memories, journals, hospital videos and records. Written with passionate honesty and intelligence, Brain on Fire is a searingly personal yet universal book, which asks what happens when your identity is suddenly destroyed, and how you get it back. 'With eagle-eye precision and brutal honesty, Susannah Cahalan turns her journalistic gaze on herself as she bravely looks back on one of the most harrowing and unimaginable experiences one could ever face: the loss of mind, body and self. Brain on Fire is a mesmerizing story' -Mira Bartók, New York Times bestselling author of The Memory Palace Susannah Cahalan is a reporter on the New York Post, and the recipient of the 2010 Silurian Award of Excellence in Journalism for Feature Writing. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, and is frequently picked up by the Daily Mail, Gawker, Gothamist, AOL and Yahoo among other news aggregrator sites.

Playing the Ponies and Other Medical Mysteries Solved

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Author :
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 0813570573
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (135 download)

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Book Synopsis Playing the Ponies and Other Medical Mysteries Solved by : Stuart B. Mushlin

Download or read book Playing the Ponies and Other Medical Mysteries Solved written by Stuart B. Mushlin and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-23 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With over forty years of experience as a sought after diagnostician, Dr. Stuart Mushlin has cracked his share of medical mysteries, ones in which there are bigger gambles than playing the ponies at the track. Some of his patients show up with puzzling symptoms, calling for savvy medical detective work. Others seem to present cut-and-dry cases, but they turn out to be suffering from rare or serious conditions. In Playing the Ponies and Other Medical Mysteries Solved, Dr. Mushlin shares some of the most intriguing cases he has encountered, revealing the twists and turns of each patient’s diagnosis and treatment process. Along the way, he imparts the secrets to his success as a medical detective—not specialized high-tech equipment, but time-honored techniques like closely observing, touching, and listening to patients. He also candidly describes cases where he got things wrong, providing readers with honest insights into both the joys and dilemmas of his job. Dr. Mushlin does not just treat diseases; he treats people. And this is not just a book about the ailments he diagnosed; it is also about the scared, uncertain, ailing individuals he helped in the process. Filled with real-life medical stories you’ll have to read to believe, Playing the Ponies is both a suspenseful page-turner and a heartfelt reflection on a life spent caring for patients.

We Did That?

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Author :
Publisher : Mango Media Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1642502022
Total Pages : 195 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (425 download)

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Book Synopsis We Did That? by : Sophie Stirling

Download or read book We Did That? written by Sophie Stirling and published by Mango Media Inc.. This book was released on 2020-05-19 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buckle up for a very odd ride through history with entertaining trivia about the odd things humans have done . . . This book is packed with fun facts about: Quirky inventions: Everyone knows about mousetraps, but did you know they were originally inspired by burglar alarms? Bizarre beauty and fashion fads: Discover wooden bathing suits, breast enhancers in the shape of toilet plungers, and death-inducing cosmetics. Strange superstitions and folklore: Do you know about the centuries-old Banana Curse, the origin of the Tooth Fairy, or our weird obsession with shoes? Covering these and other subjects from very odd jobs to gross medical cures, this collection of our species’ accomplishments is likely to leave you wondering, We did that?

Great Medical Mysteries

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Author :
Publisher : House of Stratus
ISBN 13 : 075514709X
Total Pages : 155 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (551 download)

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Book Synopsis Great Medical Mysteries by : Richard Gordon

Download or read book Great Medical Mysteries written by Richard Gordon and published by House of Stratus. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Great Medical Mysteries is a hilarious catalogue of medical mysteries and trivia - mysteries of history, mysterious addictions and everyday medical mysteries are all pondered with Richard Gordon's famed wit. The result is a deeply humorous, often bawdy, novel that explores the fancies and bodily functions of human beings through the ages.

Medical Mysteries

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781857769760
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (697 download)

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Book Synopsis Medical Mysteries by : John Dickinson

Download or read book Medical Mysteries written by John Dickinson and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by Douglas Adams's assertion that the answer to the meaning of life is 42, this book looks at 42 disorders and diseases that still puzzle the medical community.

A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities

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Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501733451
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities by : Jan Bondeson

Download or read book A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities written by Jan Bondeson and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long ago, curiosities were arranged in cabinets for display: a dried mermaid might be next to a giant's shinbone, the skeletons of conjoined twins beside an Egyptian mummy. In ten essays, Jan Bondeson brings a physician's diagnostic skills to various unexpected, gruesome, and extraordinary aspects of the history of medicine: spontaneous human combustion, colonies of snakes and frogs living in a person's stomach, kings and emperors devoured by lice, vicious tribes of tailed men, and the Two-Headed Boy of Bengal. Bondeson tells the story of Mary Toft, who gained notoriety in 1726 when she allegedly gave birth to seventeen rabbits. King George I, the Prince of Wales, and the court physicians attributed these monstrous births to a "maternal impression" because Mary had longed for a meal of rabbit while pregnant. Bondeson explains that the fallacy of maternal impressions, conspicuous in the novels of Goethe, Sir Walter Scott, and Charles Dickens, has ancient roots in Chinese and Babylonian manuscripts. Bondeson also presents the tragic case of Julia Pastrana, a Mexican Indian woman with thick hair growing over her body and a massive overgrowth of the gums that gave her a simian or ape-like appearance. Called the Ape Woman, she was exhibited all over the world. After her death in 1860, Julia's husband, who had also been her impresario, had her body mummified and continued to exhibit it throughout Europe. Bondeson tracked the mummy down and managed to diagnose Julia Pastrana's condition as the result of a rare genetic syndrome.