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The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
by
The gripping story of a visionary British surgeon whose quest to unite science and medicine delivered us into the modern world - the safest time to be alive in human history
In The Butchering Art, historian Lindsey Fitzharris recreates a critical turning point in the history of medicine, when Joseph Lister transformed surgery from a brutal, harrowing practice to the safe, v ...more
In The Butchering Art, historian Lindsey Fitzharris recreates a critical turning point in the history of medicine, when Joseph Lister transformed surgery from a brutal, harrowing practice to the safe, v ...more
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Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
October 17th 2017
by Allen Lane
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The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris is a 2017 Scientific American/Farrar Straus and Giroux publication.
Ghastly, but fascinating!
In 1846, as surgery became more frequent, deaths occurred more often as well, due to sepsis, and a myriad of other infections, promptingJosheph Lister to examine the prospect that germs, dirty surgical tools, and hospital cleanliness were to blame.
Lister’s antiseptic theories were ground ...more
Ghastly, but fascinating!
In 1846, as surgery became more frequent, deaths occurred more often as well, due to sepsis, and a myriad of other infections, promptingJosheph Lister to examine the prospect that germs, dirty surgical tools, and hospital cleanliness were to blame.
Lister’s antiseptic theories were ground ...more

Joseph Lister started out as a quiet, self-effacing surgical student, who became one of the most important men in the history of the art. With the help and support of his Quaker father, he began his studies at University College London. Not content with being an ordinary surgeon, Lister wanted to work with and learn from the best in the field. As he moved up in the surgical world, he became sickened and disheartened by the death rate after surgery. No matter how great the skill of the surgeon, m
...more

Dr. Joseph Lister became a surgeon in a time in which Germ Theory was considered "Fake News". 19th Century surgery was crude, bloody, painful, and almost always fatal. 19th Century surgery was barbaric. Hospitals were commonly known as death houses and something to be avoided if you had any money. Surgeons didn't wash their hands, tools, clothing, or hospital beds. It was quite common for a surgeon to conduct an autopsy and without washing anything use those same tools to operate on living patie
...more

My hardback copy is here!
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this through NetGalley, and seriously, the second I finished it, I went and preordered it. This is one of the best and my favorite books of the year!
Even though I just read this, I'm already rereading this.
In short, This book really delves into the Victorian surgery practices and thanks to Joseph Lister, for forever changing what we know about surgery today. Seriously highlighted and now tabbing seems like half of the book. S ...more
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this through NetGalley, and seriously, the second I finished it, I went and preordered it. This is one of the best and my favorite books of the year!
Even though I just read this, I'm already rereading this.
In short, This book really delves into the Victorian surgery practices and thanks to Joseph Lister, for forever changing what we know about surgery today. Seriously highlighted and now tabbing seems like half of the book. S ...more

(3.5) Surgery was a gory business with a notably high fatality rate well into the nineteenth century. Surgeons had the fastest hands in the West, but their victims were still guaranteed at least a few minutes of utter agony as they had a limb amputated or a tumor removed, and the danger wasn’t over after they were sewn up either: most patients soon died from hospital infections. The development of anesthetics and antiseptic techniques helped to change all that.
Fitzharris opens with the vivid and ...more
Fitzharris opens with the vivid and ...more

It’s no secret that I love learning about the Victorian period, so hearing about the progression of Victorian hospitals from smelly and disgusting places where surgeons didn’t even clean their aprons or instruments between patients to the discovery of microorganisms and the introduction of antiseptics was ridiculously fascinating to me. My microbiology-loving brain was having a field day.
I learnt so many interesting facts and tidbits while listening to The Butchering Art. The kinds of facts and ...more
I learnt so many interesting facts and tidbits while listening to The Butchering Art. The kinds of facts and ...more

If about to go into Hospital for big emergency operation & you are really shitting bricks? Congestions you have chosen the perfect bedside read if wore not scared before then just what you need to put you at your easy .
A book about what happened to be in the 19th century theatres 'the gateways to Death ' . In this the year of 70th anniversary of NHS this book shows what the Labour government after Winston Churchill lost the election & WWII helped to bring forth.
This about Joseph Lister a Quaker ...more
A book about what happened to be in the 19th century theatres 'the gateways to Death ' . In this the year of 70th anniversary of NHS this book shows what the Labour government after Winston Churchill lost the election & WWII helped to bring forth.
This about Joseph Lister a Quaker ...more

Oct 18, 2017
Book Riot Community
added it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
new-books-liberty-s-recs
When is it a better time to read a gruesome history of medicine than right before Halloween??? Fitzharris spares no details documenting Joseph Lister and his campaign to teach the medical profession that germs really existed. (Before Lister, doctors didn’t wash their hands or their medical instruments all that often. Blergh.) It’s also an illuminating look at a profession one looked upon with skepticism, a profession that often relied on graveyards to supply their knowledge…
Backlist bump: Cranio ...more
Backlist bump: Cranio ...more

May 24, 2020
Meagan ✊🏼 Blacklivesmatter ✊🏼Blacktranslivesmatter
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
#5 out 12 for my non fiction goal for the year
So far I've been on track with reading one non-fiction book per month. Let's hope I can keep this up!
This was really good. I read a similar book called Quackery by Lydia Kang and it amazes me the crazy shit these surgeons used to do to people. I couldn't imagine being sick during this time period. The medical field has definitely come a long way in such a short time.
Seems like I'm into history of medicine and the medical field. I will probably pick ...more
So far I've been on track with reading one non-fiction book per month. Let's hope I can keep this up!
This was really good. I read a similar book called Quackery by Lydia Kang and it amazes me the crazy shit these surgeons used to do to people. I couldn't imagine being sick during this time period. The medical field has definitely come a long way in such a short time.
Seems like I'm into history of medicine and the medical field. I will probably pick ...more

Feb 18, 2019
Netta
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history-and-biography,
read-2019
We live in the world changed, challenged and improved by many people whose stories left untold or, way too often, unheard. We praise those who let us the opportunity to explore stars and distant galaxies, we cheer those who cured smallpox, we are awed by those who contoured the map of our world and gave names to all known species. And yet how much do we know about oh so many seemingly smaller discoveries which, in retrospect, made a bigger-than-life impact and changed the quality of our lives fo
...more

Audio # 50
So while you're reading you'll become fascinated and want to share with others who will find you ghoulish
People around you may protest the audio version
Sometimes you may find it hard to finish your lunch while you're reading
...more
So while you're reading you'll become fascinated and want to share with others who will find you ghoulish
People around you may protest the audio version
Sometimes you may find it hard to finish your lunch while you're reading
...more

A brother of mine had an advance copy of The Butchering Art and was going to send it to my daughter - his goddaughter - as she has a taste for the gory, and has expressed an interest in studying medicine. "Not so fast," I said, "I think I'll have that." So he sent it to me.
Is there a word that is the opposite of genocide? That's what Lister did.
The Butchering Art is the story of how one man - who stood on the shoulders of giants - transformed medical operations from something of enormous risk i ...more
Is there a word that is the opposite of genocide? That's what Lister did.
The Butchering Art is the story of how one man - who stood on the shoulders of giants - transformed medical operations from something of enormous risk i ...more

May 15, 2018
Jill Hutchinson
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biography
The title of this book is so appropriate for the surgical environment of the mid to late 1800s.......going under the surgeons knife could almost guarantee that the patient would die. Limb amputation seemed to be the craze for anything from varicose veins to a broken ankle and surgery was performed in the most unsanitary of conditions. Most patients died of sepsis. But the medical community could not or would not grasp the reason for the onset of infection and was loathe to accept such a concept
...more

3.5 rounded up. I found the bits about medical procedures and treatments fascinating (and alarming). Doctors were doing some pretty grisly, backward stuff, essentially groping along in the dark trying to save lives and ending many in the process (although infection would probably have done the job anyway). Joseph Lister is one of the scientists who shined a light and helped lay the foundation for modern medicine. We've come a long way, and it makes me wonder how far we'll go in the future, what
...more

Sometimes I pick up a book just based on the title or the cover. I don't know why I grabbed this one, but glad I did. A fascinating look into medical science circa the 1800's into the early twentieth century. Amazing stuff.
You don't need to have a medical or science background to follow this book. The writing is down-to-Earth, solid, succinct, and specific only when it needs to be. I do have a science background, but I learned a lot about history, medicine, surgery, contagion, epidemics, and so ...more
You don't need to have a medical or science background to follow this book. The writing is down-to-Earth, solid, succinct, and specific only when it needs to be. I do have a science background, but I learned a lot about history, medicine, surgery, contagion, epidemics, and so ...more

Surgery prior to the nineteenth-century was brutal and messy. There was no anaesthetic and therefore the best people in the business were the fastest who could remove a leg from the hip in just one minute; yes one minute! Occasionally the knives and other tools were wiped before being used on the next victim, I mean patient, but were often not. Tables were normally covered in the blood and gore of the previous unlucky patients and if the shock of the operation didn't kill you, then the infection
...more

Aug 06, 2018
Erin *Help I’m Reading and I Can’t Get Up*
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Mostly interesting, though it gets a little snoozy in the middle

A couple years ago I listened to Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine and loved it. I don't know why but I find the history of medicine and surgery utterly fascinating. Revolting and traumatic and horrific... but fascinating. These books are NOT for the faint of heart or the squeamish... but I loved them nonetheless.
There was a lot of overlap in this book with Dr. Mutter's Marvels. I was regaled once again with the story of Robert Liston pe ...more
There was a lot of overlap in this book with Dr. Mutter's Marvels. I was regaled once again with the story of Robert Liston pe ...more

If you’ve ever used the bright blue or green mouthwash with the antiseptic taste, then you have benefitted from the expertise of Joseph Lister. More importantly, if you’ve had surgery in a spotlessly clean operating room with a surgeon gowned and gloved up, you owe that to Joseph Lister. Lindsey Fitzharris tells his story The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine.
Lister began his surgical journey at a time when the two most desired qualities of ...more
Lister began his surgical journey at a time when the two most desired qualities of ...more

Reality-slash-history is gnarlier than fiction.
The Butchering Art is a great read. It's not for the squeamish, but if you want to know how hospitals evolved from houses of death into healing institutions, I couldn't recommend this enough.
...more
The Butchering Art is a great read. It's not for the squeamish, but if you want to know how hospitals evolved from houses of death into healing institutions, I couldn't recommend this enough.
...more

This was nicely written with a Dickensian level of detail. I feel it got bogged down though with background research. It's not until page 160--out of 234-- that Lister even starts working on antisepsis. To me, especially with the science denialism going on in the world now, the most interesting aspect of the story is how Lister convinced people to apply Pasteur's Germ Theory to surgery. Unfortunately, this content is shorter and more rushed than I was hoping for. We're told about major speeches
...more

The 19th century was a pretty gross time to be alive. To begin with, nobody knew about germs. Just imagine it, all those bare pimply Victorian era bottoms sitting on public lavatory seats without laying down a thick protective covering of toilet paper first. Ick.
The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris digs into this time period like a 19th century leech collector would dig through the fecal sewage overflowing the Thames river seeking new merchandise to sell. Fitzharris’s nonfictional account f ...more
The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris digs into this time period like a 19th century leech collector would dig through the fecal sewage overflowing the Thames river seeking new merchandise to sell. Fitzharris’s nonfictional account f ...more

I am in love with this book. Based on the description, I figured I would like it, but it is even better than I imagined.
I have been told by others that I should have been a doctor. I do have a knack for diagnosis and I am not squeamish when it comes to household wounds. I’m the one you want to do surgery to get that splinter out. But I really had no interest in lots more years of school or dealing with people (ugh!) all day. Basically, I wanted to be like House and just solve the puzzle but stil ...more
I have been told by others that I should have been a doctor. I do have a knack for diagnosis and I am not squeamish when it comes to household wounds. I’m the one you want to do surgery to get that splinter out. But I really had no interest in lots more years of school or dealing with people (ugh!) all day. Basically, I wanted to be like House and just solve the puzzle but stil ...more

I’m afraid that my wife and I are the only people that ever watched The Knick, which is a real shame. It was an excellent show, a Steven Soderbergh project in which Clive Owen played a drug-addicted genius surgeon at New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital circa 1900. The Knick only ran for two seasons (2014-2015). Thankfully, however, the storyline resolved itself nicely at the end of the second, so that you need not feel let down too much by the fact that season three never happened.
There’s a great ...more
There’s a great ...more

I enjoyed the book, and am glad to know more about Joseph Lister's life and work.
I think Fitzharris should have included detailed definitions of "putrefaction", "suppuration" and "fermentation". I needed more thorough explanations of how these three concepts relate to each other. And I thought that the author could have explained the relationship between Pasteur's work and Lister's work a lot better.
Though not essential, I would have liked a bit more detail of Lister's long marriage. ...more
I think Fitzharris should have included detailed definitions of "putrefaction", "suppuration" and "fermentation". I needed more thorough explanations of how these three concepts relate to each other. And I thought that the author could have explained the relationship between Pasteur's work and Lister's work a lot better.
Though not essential, I would have liked a bit more detail of Lister's long marriage. ...more

While at times it depicted in gruesome detail what medicine and particularly surgery were like during Victorian, England;The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris is an incredible, engrossing, and fascinating account of how Joseph Lister transformed the butchering art of surgery into an actual science- based practice. Along the way he not only revolutionized surgery but medicine and hospitalization in general. His development of an antiseptic method to treat wounds and help the healing process af
...more

Fascinating read. Books like this always remind me of how grateful we should be for modern medicine, we take so much for granted these days. Were it not for people like Lister there'd be an awful lot more suffering in the world.
...more
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As a little girl, I used to drag my grandmother from cemetery to cemetery so that I could hunt ghosts. Some might say I was obsessed with death from an early age, but I’d like to think I was simply fascinated with the past, and with the people who lived there. Thus began a lifelong obsession with history.
I received a doctorate in the history of science, medicine and technology from the University ...more
I received a doctorate in the history of science, medicine and technology from the University ...more
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“The best that can be said about Victorian hospitals is that they were a slight improvement over their Georgian predecessors. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement when one considers that a hospital’s “Chief Bug-Catcher”—whose job it was to rid the mattresses of lice—was paid more than its surgeons.”
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“Remarkably, Bichat was able to describe and name twenty-one membranes in the human body, including connective, muscle, and nerve tissue, before he died accidentally in 1802 after falling down the steps of his own hospital.”
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