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118th out of 714 books
—
726 voters
The Woman with a Worm in Her Head: And Other True Stories of Infectious Disease
A normal, healthy woman becomes host to a pork tapeworm that is burrowing into her brain and disabling her motor abilities.
A handsome man contracts Chicken Pox and ends up looking like the victim of a third degree burn.
A vigorous young athlete is bitten by an insect and becomes a target for flesh-eating strep.
Even the most innocuous everyday activities such as eating a s...more
A handsome man contracts Chicken Pox and ends up looking like the victim of a third degree burn.
A vigorous young athlete is bitten by an insect and becomes a target for flesh-eating strep.
Even the most innocuous everyday activities such as eating a s...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
December 6th 2002
by St. Martin's Griffin
(first published 2001)
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Please do not read this book if you are a hypochondriac in any way. If you don't, you'll believe you are dying from some crazy microbe or virus or worm every time you get sick.
I agree with other reviewers that this book is more of a memoir than a straight accounting of various potentially fatal diseases. But I felt that it added to the story, to see how doctors really are human too, though we expect so much from them. It also points out how falsely confident Americans tend to be regarding disea...more
I agree with other reviewers that this book is more of a memoir than a straight accounting of various potentially fatal diseases. But I felt that it added to the story, to see how doctors really are human too, though we expect so much from them. It also points out how falsely confident Americans tend to be regarding disea...more
A collection of an Infectious Disease Specialist's stories and encounters over the past twenty years of her work in the field. Her descriptions of the illnesses and the progression thereof are brilliant and clinical. Sometimes, she gets a little overbearing in trying to afford something spiritual to the medical cases (i.e. A scene in her residency involving a fetus's hand and seeing 'the work of God', not exactly my bag.) I will never eat salad in a foreign country. Gah.
a note to hypochondriacs: don't read this shit
a note to readers: this is definitely part memoir, which is sort of unfortunate because nagami interposes anecdotes about her personal life into the narrative of the various diseases. what makes that unfortunate is that she is hella boring in comparison to infectious diseases. i think most of us probably would be, so it isn't her fault; i'm just sayin it was probably a poor choice for her to include boring shit about her offspring 'cause i know i def...more
a note to readers: this is definitely part memoir, which is sort of unfortunate because nagami interposes anecdotes about her personal life into the narrative of the various diseases. what makes that unfortunate is that she is hella boring in comparison to infectious diseases. i think most of us probably would be, so it isn't her fault; i'm just sayin it was probably a poor choice for her to include boring shit about her offspring 'cause i know i def...more
I went through this book very fast (didn't get around to writing the review though). It was fascinating. Nagami is an infectious disease doctor in Los Angeles and in this book, she writes about some of her cases. She writes well, drawing her readers into these patient's lives, and how the doctors desperately try to find treatment to save them. These are all cases of diseases that people mostly got here in the United States. Sometimes we think we are protected from infectious diseases in this cou...more
The author is an infectious disease expert and each chapter in this book covers a particular patient of hers. My first impression of the author was somewhat negative. I mean, the book was well-written and all, I just didn't like her personally.
First, it would appear that the first time anyone working with her knows that the patient is crawling with an airborne, highly contagious face-melting jungle disease is when the doctor walks in the room covered in a level four biohazard suit. She never te...more
First, it would appear that the first time anyone working with her knows that the patient is crawling with an airborne, highly contagious face-melting jungle disease is when the doctor walks in the room covered in a level four biohazard suit. She never te...more
Although the stories were interesting, this was really more about the author than about infectious disease. There were a lot of musings about her family and her philosophy of life. I would have enjoyed it more if she hadn't included random information like what she was doing with her daughter when she found out a certain patient was dying. I understand that thoughts on mortality and the meaning of life have a place in the world, but it seemed rather disconnected from the tone of the rest of the...more
Great collection of accounts about this doctor's investigations of infectious diseases from valley fever to worms from pork, to septic shock and chicken pox. Warning: one of the diseases is AIDS, so if you're in a teacher in a super conservative district, you may want to read the account first. This book is graphic in its depictions of symptoms and effects of these horrible diseases and very dense in its information, so may only be really gripping for advanced teen readers.
Nov 29, 2008
Maelstrom Reviews
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who watch medical shows
Recommended to Maelstrom by:
A Doctor
Extremely interesting. Dr. Nagami wrote in a thoroughly engrossing fashion. Sometimes (horrible pun alert) en- GROSS- ing. I wouldn't recommend this to someone uninterested in medical fields or topics or anyone who may have eaten recently.
My only complaint was that the writing style was sometimes overtly sentimental. I tend to like medical books as medical books and fuzzy feeling books as fuzzy feeling books. You know what I mean?
My only complaint was that the writing style was sometimes overtly sentimental. I tend to like medical books as medical books and fuzzy feeling books as fuzzy feeling books. You know what I mean?
A fantastic read! Dr. Nagami is able to blend clinical details with a real humanness. She is obviously a top-notch clinician, as well as a caring healer. I loved the descriptions she gave- very sensory. I could smell the stink of bacterial invasion, and see the tell-tale rashes in my mind. As a nurse, I feel like this book gave me some education too. The next time I have a septic patient, I'll think of her descriptions and treatment options for sure.
Jun 29, 2007
Caroline
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who don't mind reading about gross medical stuff
This book is at its best when Dr. Nagami writes about her diagnostic process. When she does, the book reads like an excellent detective novel. Fortunately, this was most of the book. Unfortunately, she also attempts to squeeze in some ethical/spiritual discussions, such as the totally weird essay near the beginning where she describes a religious awakening she had after seeing the hand of a fetus during an abortion procedure. I'm not even sure what she was getting at, but I almost stopped readin...more
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It's not that the author is not skilled with the language or knowledgeable about the subject matter, I just didn't find the writing very engaging. I'm actually a little puzzled about it, myself. I did learn some things from the book, though, and I'm glad that I read it.
This book was more about the author's life experiences than the infectious diseases. She often wrote about her family and her emotions. The author also had a hard time staying focused, going into long tangents every few paragraphs. It's a shame, I do love a good tape worm story.
Sep 01, 2011
Jenny
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Jenny by:
Camilla
Shelves:
family-recommends
I found this an interesting read. I have an interest in human biology and thought the amount of detective work involved in diagnosis was amazing.A quick book to read which not only described some interesting cases but also gave an insight into the doctors emotions
I'm being unfair to this book. It's not badly written, but it wasn't what I wanted to read/ It's more of a memoir couched in the frame of various medical cases. But I wanted a book all about diagnostics, diseases, and the treatments.
A good treatment of many of the viruses, bacteria and fungi that live among us. Dr. Nagami focuses on non-exotic conditions such as chickenpox, sepsis, and meningitis, rather than the exotics found in the tropics. A good compliment to Virus Hunter by C.J. Peters.
A really entertaining read about some of the most unusual infectious disease cases seen by this esteemed doctor. Also, makes for a great conversation piece to have this one out on your coffee table. Not recommended for hypochondriacs!
Although I didn't like this one as much as How Doctors Think, it is along the same lines, except about infectious disease rather than general internal medicine. By the way, the title refers to a jewish woman with a pork tapeworm in her brain.
The author of this book says "my hope in writing this book is not to create unnecessary fear..." Well, good luck with that; there's some seriously scary-ass stuff in here!
Yet, this is a fascinating book and one that I could not stop reading. I love exploring weird medical stuff, so this was right up my alley. The stories were great (each chapter discusses a different strange medical condition) and the book is well written. The author admits to a certain amount of detachment--necessary to be this...more
Yet, this is a fascinating book and one that I could not stop reading. I love exploring weird medical stuff, so this was right up my alley. The stories were great (each chapter discusses a different strange medical condition) and the book is well written. The author admits to a certain amount of detachment--necessary to be this...more
Fascinating case studies of rare infectious diseases. Well-written for an account of cases by a medical epidemiologist.
I think this would appeal especially to those in the field of public health
I think this would appeal especially to those in the field of public health
Being in a medical field, I'm interested in the subject matter, but this is not a book for the faint of heart. Dr. Nagami spares no detail and I found the book to be a great read and quick as well.
A great book for making one wonder whether that headache is from sinus pressure or a flesh-eating worm. Morbidly fascinating!
Especially enjoyed the chapter on valley fever after having lived in Bakersfield - so glad I avoided that disease!
Feb 18, 2010
Stephanie Rosales
added it
Borrowed from a student. A quick and easy read with interesting "House"-like tales.
This is a really cool book written by Dr. Paula Nagami, who is an infectious disease specialist in California. Each chapter focuses on a particularly interesting/difficult case she was faced with, and together the chapters tell the story of her development as a doctor. This book was one of the things that really got me into wanting to go to med school. I think anyone who's pre-med would particularly enjoy it, but others would probably find it interesting, too. But be warned.. as you might have g...more
Interesting infectious disease case studies. The author succeeds in being accurate without being sensational. I can only speak from the lab side, of course, but this is how it really goes! Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but people work hard on all fronts to save lives.
Mar 29, 2013
Randolph Carter
marked it as to-read
Oh man, now this looks like a "real" horror anthology!
Nagami's book did not introduce any new diseases to me, but it did give an interesting perspective from one ID doctor.
Feb 05, 2013
Sophie
is currently reading it
i cant read the pages
Diseases, parasites, etc.
unforgettable book!
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Jan 21, 2009 12:56pm