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Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything
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Discover 67 shocking-but-true medical misfires that run the gamut from bizarre to deadly. Like when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When snorting skull moss was a cure for a bloody nose. When consuming mail-order tapeworms was a latter-day fad diet. Or when snake oil salesmen peddled strychnine (used in rat poison) as an aphrodisiac in the '60s. Seamlessly
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Hardcover, 344 pages
Published
October 17th 2017
by Workman Publishing Company
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3.5 Regardless of the less than ideal state of the world today, this is one of those books that at least medically, make one grateful that we were born in today's medical world. This book is incredibly comprehensive and we'll researched. I know most of us have heard of the use of leeches, cold water cures, opium, electro shock therapy and the use of these have made us shudder with the knowledge we have now.
Some of the things in this book I had never heard before. Such as the use of skulls and br ...more
Some of the things in this book I had never heard before. Such as the use of skulls and br ...more
Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia King is a 2017 Workman Publishing Company publication.
A jaw dropping collection of gruesome and ghastly concoctions and procedures guaranteed to cure whatever ails you… if it doesn’t kill you first.
Before there was an FDA to weed out potentially dangerous ‘snake oil cures', the market was open to all manner of experimental potions and concoctions sold to an unsuspecting public.
This is a fascinating look at some of the mos ...more
A jaw dropping collection of gruesome and ghastly concoctions and procedures guaranteed to cure whatever ails you… if it doesn’t kill you first.
Before there was an FDA to weed out potentially dangerous ‘snake oil cures', the market was open to all manner of experimental potions and concoctions sold to an unsuspecting public.
This is a fascinating look at some of the mos ...more
For lovers of the unusual side of medical history, this book features shocking true stories and well placed (if not disturbingly funny) puns and jokes.
In the 17th, 18th, or 19th century, if you were sick, call the doctor if you wanted to die more quickly! The horrors of "medical treatment" which even stretched to the early 20th century have to be read about to be believed. It was a guessing game and the patient was the lab rat who rarely survived the "cure". Physicians were obsessed with bleeding (even if your problem was loss of blood); enemas (even if your problem was diarrhea); drilling holes in your skull to release the bad spirits; arseni
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Lots of information and its graphics and hardcover book form are marvelous. This holds so much criteria and minutia of centuries of treatments and all kinds of paths to attempt cures or remedies. Not all were conducted in a malevolent or tricking to profit mode. Most were serious attempts to improve a dire health problem, disease, or some living condition that handicapped to strong degrees. Because so many of the original patient conditions are serious ones, these were often experimental attempt
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Most of us dread a trip to the doctor's office. I know I do! But have you ever thought how nice it actually is to go to one and, well, not have to fear heavy metal poisoning? Or... not have to lose a pint of blood to purge you?
Yeah, when I think about it, it's definitely good that the 21st century is the way it is, even if our medical systems are not perfect (I hear you.) But medicine hasn't always been like it is today. And this book will tell you how it was before it was like it is today.
I l ...more
Yeah, when I think about it, it's definitely good that the 21st century is the way it is, even if our medical systems are not perfect (I hear you.) But medicine hasn't always been like it is today. And this book will tell you how it was before it was like it is today.
I l ...more
A more complete review is available on my blog:
https://reviewsofbooksonmynightstand....
Not all quacks are snake oil salesmen. Of course, some of them are and in Quackery you will learn about them. Some quacks are not out to make a quick buck but legitimately believe in their own ineffective or harmful treatments. Lydia Kang, a physician, and Nate Pedersen, a journalist, will fascinate you with stories of how doctors used to use substances like cocaine, opium and tobacco to cure disease and did n ...more
https://reviewsofbooksonmynightstand....
Not all quacks are snake oil salesmen. Of course, some of them are and in Quackery you will learn about them. Some quacks are not out to make a quick buck but legitimately believe in their own ineffective or harmful treatments. Lydia Kang, a physician, and Nate Pedersen, a journalist, will fascinate you with stories of how doctors used to use substances like cocaine, opium and tobacco to cure disease and did n ...more
I feel like I gotta give this 5 stars on account of it being 100% what I expected, which is essentially a book length Cracked article in the shape of a book.
It's gross, horrifying, and great.
It's gross, horrifying, and great.
Cocaine, Beaver Testicles, and the Healing Power of Man Grease
Quackery, by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen, is a delightfully gruesome compendium of some of the worst medical techniques and beliefs in human history. Whether it’s the horrors of old surgical techniques or the best ways to eat a Ginger (not eat ginger… I mean eat ‘a Ginger’) for your optimum health, you’ll find it in this book.
The book is funny, informative, and fascinatingly grotesque. And it’s a wonder the human race survived our do ...more
Quackery, by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen, is a delightfully gruesome compendium of some of the worst medical techniques and beliefs in human history. Whether it’s the horrors of old surgical techniques or the best ways to eat a Ginger (not eat ginger… I mean eat ‘a Ginger’) for your optimum health, you’ll find it in this book.
The book is funny, informative, and fascinatingly grotesque. And it’s a wonder the human race survived our do ...more
Quackery keeps trying to hold the reader's attention by making lame dad jokes about the subject matter. I'm not sure if the chapter on enemas includes a line like "talk about a pain in the butt!" but that's basically the level of joke we're talking about here.
It doesn't actually need to do this, because it's a fascinating and well-researched journey through the batshit history of medicine. In fact, there's an argument to be made that the medicine we know (antibiotics, sterilisation, vaccines, w ...more
It doesn't actually need to do this, because it's a fascinating and well-researched journey through the batshit history of medicine. In fact, there's an argument to be made that the medicine we know (antibiotics, sterilisation, vaccines, w ...more
While reading this book, I had to keep reminding myself that the practices and methods discussed weren't just a product of the authors' imaginations but were actual "treatments" once thought to cure problems ranging from babies who wouldn't stop crying to parasitic infections. Opium to treat vision problems? Strychnine as an aphrodisiac? Mercury to soothe babies' teething pain? "Man grease" to cure gout? They're all here … and a lot more that will leave most readers shaking their heads.
Thank yo ...more
Thank yo ...more
THIS IS THE MOST ME BOOK EVER AND I NEED IT
The next time I hear someone say they'd like to go back to the "Good ol' days" or some such nonsense, I'm going to suggest they read this book. Sure, times were simpler back when everyone but the royalty worked from dawn to dusk, when public executions were a weekly event, when women were kept in their place, and starving children had hands chopped off for stealing a loaf of bread. Yes, those days were much simpler and it's a wonder we don't all wish to go back to them. However, one thing that s
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Very educational, very entertaining, and quite eye-opening in a "they can't have seriously thought that would work, could they" kind of way.
Recommended simply for the great writing!
Recommended simply for the great writing!
Nov 09, 2017
Michelle
added it
Quackery follows a similar format as recent releases such as Get Well Soon or Wicked Bugs. Informative, witty, and irreverent, books like these have become a new way of learning. In Quackery, Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen present all things medical from throughout the ages. Unfortunately, they fail at the witty and irreverent aspects of presenting information in this way, making for an uneven, somewhat uncomfortable read at times as they force their modern-day knowledge onto historical actions.
Th ...more
Th ...more
The history of medicine is not pretty. However, if you are in the right mood and frame of mind, it can be pretty funny. Over the years people have tried some wild things to make themselves feel better, and Quackery: a brief history of the worst ways to cure everything grants us a closer look at some of those treatments and times, from ancient Greece through the age of disco. This whirlwind tour of medical history includes tapeworm diets, mercury treatments for syphilis, electric brushes for bald
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I am very interested in Medical cures so when I saw the book “Quackery” I thought it must be a good book to read about all the weird and failed attempts to cure disease which occurred in our past.
A book like this I just highlight the phony cures I find most interesting. One such cure I am familiar with because it was used on America’s founding father George Washington. Bloodletting is where a doctor would use a lancet (a curved or pointed blade with a handle on the end) or other instrument to p ...more
A book like this I just highlight the phony cures I find most interesting. One such cure I am familiar with because it was used on America’s founding father George Washington. Bloodletting is where a doctor would use a lancet (a curved or pointed blade with a handle on the end) or other instrument to p ...more
The second I heard about Quackery I was keen AF. And for the most part Quackery delivers, its essentially everything promised, a humorous informative and somewhat disturbing journey into the history of disease treatments.
Although I confess a slight neg about the tome. It's obviously a huge undertaking of knowledge and wisdom, its not like a bunch of random factoids. But at times the humour felt forced, or a little too sarcastic, or perhaps just somewhat repetitive (as after about the millionth q ...more
Although I confess a slight neg about the tome. It's obviously a huge undertaking of knowledge and wisdom, its not like a bunch of random factoids. But at times the humour felt forced, or a little too sarcastic, or perhaps just somewhat repetitive (as after about the millionth q ...more
I don’t know if I can accurately convey just how much I enjoyed this book. Seriously it did such a good job of presenting the craziness of medical history in a hilarious and informative way. The writing was great, the examples were well presented, and the humor was right up my ally.
Especially enjoyed the touch of humor added to a shake-your-head discourse of medical cures.
Fascinating read and I highlighted quite a bit in the ebook; however, the constant joking really put me off. There was some extraordinary information about medical practices and the overall wacky treatments that have been done throughout history-and then there would be a lame "dad joke". I just felt none of that was needed as it was such an awesome read and the information and pictures were enough to hold my intrigue. Learned quite a bit from this one.
Entertaining and informative!
I received a c ...more
Entertaining and informative!
I received a c ...more
It’s funny to read about how people have tried to cure themselves with quack remedies like ground up mummies, radioactive water, bleeding, leaches, and cocaine, but when you consider the pain, fear, and desperation that drove them to these extremes, it’s actually very, very sad. (And there is nothing funny at all about lobotomies at any level. The career of Walter Freeman, America’s lobotomy evangelist, is the straight up plot of a horror movie.) This is soft, entertaining history, never approac
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Kudos to Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen for taking what should be a boring topic and making it interesting and humorous. I never thought dysentery and enemas could be the topics of a dinner conversation.
Written with tongue firmly in cheek, Quackery is a delightful romp down the road of history's bad medicine. The authors have the tone of a sarcastic blogger and it makes the experience wonderful. If you are of that execrable race that loves puns, there is a groaner on practically every page.
Very informative and funny book. Do not recommend reading before a surgery. Very glad I know where the phrase “blowing smoke up my arse” came from. 😂
Quirky and fun. Truly a gifted author with a witty smartness about her.
Read my full review here!
Before the review, an important note on my rating system. Two stars from me does not mean that the book was bad. It means, that the book is actually good, it's just something that I can't see myself reading again just because of my personal preferences.
This book was highly entertaining and gory at the same time. As I was reading it, I kept thinking how glad I was to be alive during a time when we know procedures used in the past are actually harmful. I wonder how many of the things we done in he ...more
This book was highly entertaining and gory at the same time. As I was reading it, I kept thinking how glad I was to be alive during a time when we know procedures used in the past are actually harmful. I wonder how many of the things we done in he ...more
It's a fun, interesting read. But the authors have, apparently intentionally, conflated actual quackery with pre-scientific medical beliefs. Humoral medicine wasn't quackery when it was the standard treatment, but it would be if somebody tried to sell it now. Not sure why they went with a title that doesn't really suit the book they wrote.
Full review to come!
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I love salt more than chocolate. I'm somewhat small, yet deceptively strong. Sort of like an ant.
I'm a part time doc, full time family member, and if you offer me snacks, I'll be a friend for life.
My adult fiction debut is an historical forensic mystery, entitled A BEAUTIFUL POISON from Lake Union Publishing. My second book, THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL, arrives September 2018.
I have a nonfiction adult b ...more
I'm a part time doc, full time family member, and if you offer me snacks, I'll be a friend for life.
My adult fiction debut is an historical forensic mystery, entitled A BEAUTIFUL POISON from Lake Union Publishing. My second book, THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL, arrives September 2018.
I have a nonfiction adult b ...more
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