“Imagine if Monty Python wrote the Mayo Clinic Family Health Book, and you sort of get the idea. Afraid you’re afflicted with an unknow...
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reviews
Dec 17, 2009
Dan
rated it: 
This is probably the paradigmatic example of the category I call "unreliable reference" . . . Jeff Vandermeer and his circle of weirdos got together and decided to write stories in the surprisingly fecund format of a diagnostic guide to diseases. Since said circle includes such luminaries as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, and the underrated but astounding Michael Cisco, the maladies in this book are sometimes so perfectly True that you may find yourself infected. Thankful
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Aug 14, 2007
Peggy
rated it:
Purporting to be the latest edition of a long-standing medical guide, Lambshead is, in reality, an anthology featuring several of today's best fantasists working at the top of their game. Some entries are humorous, others are serious, but all are enjoyable. There's a sense of fun to this book that's quite...well...infectious.
Editors VanderMeer and Roberts have assembled a stellar crew of cohorts, and everyone is clearly on the same page. The internal references in the various entries More...
Editors VanderMeer and Roberts have assembled a stellar crew of cohorts, and everyone is clearly on the same page. The internal references in the various entries More...
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Sep 22, 2011
Lanea
rated it: 
This is silly and cute and a pretty fun read. The book is an anthology of imaginary diseases invented by a slew of sci-fi and fantasy writers. A few are priceless, and I was not surprised at all that Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman wrote most of the reports that were the funniest and most inventive. It's not an Earth-shattering good book, but it's nice way to pass the time here and there. Toss if on your coffee table and read a disease or two a day.
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Aug 26, 2011
Célia
rated it: 
Este Almanaque do Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead de Doenças Excêntricas e Desacreditadas é apresentado ao leitor como uma edição comemorativa de um Guia médico muito especial, que o Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead vem a publicar desde os anos 20 do século XX, e que consiste num compêndio de doenças cuja existência, como o seu título indica, levanta grandes dúvidas à comunidade médica. Esta edição da Saída de Emergência não é apenas a tradução do livro original, uma vez que conta com cerca de 100 páginas de
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Jan 10, 2009
Cindy
rated it: 
I got about halfway through and finally asked myself if I was enjoying this book. Sadly - not really, so back to the library it goes... It was just a little too creepy to read the short bits over breakfast - I had expected short stories, but these are encyclopedia entries.
Feb 04, 2012
Jordan
rated it:
The majority of "diseases" in this book were brilliant. Of course with the authors that contributed and Vandermeer as one of the editors, I kind of expected that. Several of my favorite authors put in pieces including Mieville, Moore, and Gaiman. There's only the occasional entry that seems to bog down or try too hard. The majority of the entries are brilliant and even sections like the introduction and biographies are highly entertaining.
Mar 17, 2011
Rititi
rated it:
Este é um bom exemplo de um livro que seria espectacularmente engraçado e agradável de ler se não tivesse tantas páginas, com mais do mesmo.
Gostei mas podia ser melhor!
Gostei mas podia ser melhor!
May 07, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
Wildly uneven, from the hilarious to the yawn-inducing, yet I love this for its concept and quasi-successful execution.
Mar 26, 2011
Joseph
rated it:
A little bit of the jpke goes a long way, but a fun little parody of medical manuals.
Mar 02, 2011
David
rated it:
This is an absurd, insane book. Do not read it if you are feeling at all ill.
Apr 08, 2009
http://nhw.livejournal.com/195017.html[return][return]Based on the title, and the list of contributors, I expected this to be a real riot. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed; too much repetition of disorders where writers get consumed by their own work or vice versa, or suffer random medical explosions, or limb-rotting. The humour is grotesque rather than witty or satirical, and basically didn't appeal to me much. The narrative sections towards the end were best.
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Oct 28, 2007
Rick
rated it:
This book is exactly what the title suggests with contributions from Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, China Miéville, Jeffrey Ford, Kage Baker and many others. Where else could you read about post-traumatic placebosis, female hyper-orgasmic epilepsy, or vestigial elongation of the caudal vertebrae?
Nov 17, 2007
Mark
rated it:
Given that "homosexuality" is now an eccentric and discredited disease, I was hoping for more edgy social commentary along the same lines. Nothing doing. This is weird and sometimes chuckle-worthy, but on the whole it seems the writers creating it are having more fun than us, the readers.
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Sep 08, 2008
Jayaprakash
rated it:
An eccentric conceit and an amusing book. Mostly lightweight, largely self-indulgent although some entries tap into a more ominous or genuinely fantastic vein. Still, this is one you'd want to buy a cheaper edition of unless you're some sort of book fetishist or new weird fanboy.
Oct 07, 2008
Cindywho
rated it:
I got about halfway through and finally asked myself if I was enjoying this book. Sadly - not really, so back to the library it goes... It was just a little too creepy to read the short bits over breakfast - I had expected short stories, but these are encyclopedia entries.
Oct 21, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it:
I'll admit it, some of these were kind of boring. I feel like I could write this book better. This is, like, the one book in the world I am not allowed to hate on, and here I am, hatin'.
Jun 20, 2008
Emily
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Started off as fun, and exciting, but after a few chapters it became a little too tedious and pointless. It's a good book to pick and choose from, not necessarily a straight read through.
Aug 14, 2007
Bardi
rated it:
Ok..so this is sort of a who's who of genre writers in or from the UK writing about a myriad of diseases that we can only hope are not real. They aren't are they?
Nov 12, 2010
Kaethe
rated it:
Oliver, the ILL librarian, was amused by the title.
Eccentric and discredited, but not much fun to sit and read straight through.
Eccentric and discredited, but not much fun to sit and read straight through.
Mar 18, 2008
Jenn
rated it: 
Intriguing concept for a book, but nowhere near as entertaining or outlandish as I had hoped.
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