Many of the worlds most important and life saving devices and techniques were often discovered purely by accident. Serendipity, timing, and luck played a part in the discovery of unintentional cures and breakthroughs:A plastic shard in an RAF pilots eye leads to the use of plastic for the implantable lens.The inability to remove a titanium chamber from rabbits bone leads to dental implants.Viagra was discovered by a group of chemists, working in the lab to find a new drug to alleviate the pain of angina pectoris.A stretch of five weeks of unusually warm weather in 1928 played a role in assisting Dr. Alexander Fleming in his analysis of bacterial growth and the discovery of penicillin.After studying the effects of the venom injected by the bite of a deadly pit viper snake, chemists developed a groundbreaking drug that works to control blood pressure.Accidental Medical Discoveries is an entertaining and enlightening look at the creation of 25 medical inventions that have changed the world unintentionally. The book is presented in a lively and engaging way, and will appeal to a wide variety of readers, from history buffs to trivia fanatics to those in the medical profession. Accidental Medical Discoveries: How Tenacity and Pure Dumb Luck Changed the World
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This is my kind of medical history book: well written, fascinating tidbits — some of whichI wasn’t aware of and most of all, I actually remember details of this book months after I had read it.
Some of the stories are familiar to those of us who enjoy or study medical history, some of them were even a surprise me or I hadn’t read about the subject in depth.
Despite discussing some rather complex subjects, the author doesn’t get bogged down with jargon but instead makes the subjects inviting. Besides, anytime I get to learn something is always a plus in my book.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in medical history or has a casual interest in such.
4.5/5 English Despite being interested in medical discoveries, I was a bit concerned that the book would simply rehash oft told tales familiar from earlier books. Instead, I found only a few well known tales, and those had new twists and information. The discoveries are quite recent, and filled in gaps in my knowledge. Very readable and packed with fascinating observations. English The book was filled with editing problems there were frequent typos, information out of order, etc. The worst part was that about 1/4 of the book is filler, since each (extremely short) chapter is followed by a long, unnecessary summary that repeats everything from the last 8 pages. It's also really stretching the definition of accidental It's like the novelization of a BuzzFeed article of fun medical facts than a coherent book. English I have been very much enjoying this well written and entertaining history. I want to finish it, however, though I am reading it on my kindle, some of the pages are blank. If it were a picture I would not even mention it, but it is text. So there are gaps in the story for me. And the frustration is that Mr. Winters is a great story teller in his writing, so I am missing important details.
All that said, or whined, I greatly enjoy the well researched work he has done. His writing is polished, but he has skillfully avoided polishing up the people that he writes about. English The stories are interesting and the author has provided many references for those who want to read . The writing is utilitarian, which is o.k., but I have read so many books that were better written that I docked this one one star. There is some detail in the Penicillin story that I had not known, so there was to tell on even the stories I knew pretty well.
The Kindle version is well edited and well presented, in that the references are at the end of each episode so you can see them without navigating to the end of the book. English
The stories and background of medical discoveries were interesting, but as someone who objects to the use of animals in testing (today, when so much can be one without them) hearing about the number of animals hurt and killed was painful. I know many millions of lives have been saved by the development of various drugs and treatment, still painful. English Many books have been written about the history of medicine and its discoveries. This is the first I have picked up in the spur of the moment and I have thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling style of the individual discoveries. Each one is perfectly readable in isolation but the book itself flows well and the chapters are usually short enough to read in one go yet long enough to convey the details behind each discovery. A quick chapter on the current state of research and its impact on the future of medicine would have been nice to round off the book, especially with both knowledge and pseudoscience spreading so much faster now. English This was a very interesting book covering many medical practices that are common in todays world but were initially rejected at the time of their discovery by established medical practice as being totally wrong. The perseverance of the discoverers was presented and showed the resistance that they had to overcome to prove that a better way with superior outcomes was possible. English The book covers a lot of ground, and is interesting. But the problem with cramming a lot of unrelated (well they are all medical discoveries but in different areas) is that an author can develop a gee whiz attitude and rush on. I might have enjoyed a sober approach on the topics covered. English Interesting facts and clear connections but the writer does waffle a lot about unnecessary items and often repeats himself. The book would have benefitted from a stringent editing process to reduce the content so it was condensed. The topics are well covered and the information is very interesting. English
