The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities

by Nick Bakalar

Delightful doses of medical miscellany about wacky doctors and their curious patients, from their smallest bones (the stapes) to their heaviest organs (the liver) In this addictive collection of trivia, Nicholas Bakalar, the "Vital Signs" columnist for The New York Times , spoons out the things you never realized you really want to know about your body and your health. Bakalar shares the wonders of medicine, from medical firsts (in 1667, the first survivor of a blood transfusion received sheep's blood) to medical onlys (rabies is the only infectious disease that is 100 percent curable when treated and 100 percent fatal if not). He takes a tour of diseases that belong in horror liquefying organs, flesh-eating bacteria, mushrooms sprouting in the throat. He notes remarkable remedies, such as dark chocolate, which can stand in for blood-pressure pills. And he dissects the chemistry of the human body (including the 0.0000000000000015259 percent that is radium). With a specialist's attention to the funny bone as well as the gray matter, Bakalar's The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities tickles the curiosity of both the healthy and the hypochondriac, following Voltaire's dictum that "the art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."

Genres: Nonfiction, Medical, Medicine, Science, History, Trivia, Reference

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 2009

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although some of the information was thought provoking, I felt the title was misguiding. The compilation of “curiosities” gave the impression of strange medical anomalies, but rather a list of fairly common knowledge (for those interested in this area) complied in sometimes interesting ways. I wouldn’t say that it was a waste of my time, however my itch for the oddities was not scratched.

[Emily Mellow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this more, but a lot of it was not new information, or just not written in the sharpest way. I do recommend it if you have any interest in medical understanding, but I feel it could have been an amazing book (there is so much truly fascinating stuff out there!) and this was just mildly interesting.

[KC Robbins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting tidbits of information.

[Katti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad! Reads like a Wikipedia meandering, although not as in depth.

[Andy Mendez · Rating 4 out of 5]

entertaining and doubly informative read.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my perfect read, the authors brain works like mine. The way he bounced from topic to topic was me. And I loved all the new little fun facts

[Matti Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book but as it was published in 2009, I’d like to read a more updated version or similar book that is more modern and based off of recent studies.

[Nicoleta Cojocaru · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content of this book feels superficial, really more suited to a middle school audience. I expected more from such a promising title. But it's a quick & easy read, so not a total waste of time.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

There wasn't much in this book I didn't already know and most of the time I was annoyed that certain processes, studies, and diseases were not fully explained (ex. Kallman's Syndrome is merely described as a hypothalamic hormone disorder, but does not even mention the basic hallmarks of the disease-- the absence, or severely diminished presence, of secondary sex characteristics).

I'm still giving this book 3 stars because I am not the intended audience and it would be unfair to judge it harshly. The book is clearly intended for junior high - high schoolers and if I'd read it during that time, I think I would have liked the brief medical facts and it probably would have motivated me to look more deeply into some of them.

Although it can generally be looked at as a book of fun facts, descriptions like, "If you get it, you might get a high fever," comments like, "How would you feel if you lived in a town famous for the germs in its feces? No, not too good. So don't laugh," and beginning sentences with "Okay," before launching into a reductionist answer quickly become tedious.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because I enjoy reading compilations of oddities and curious things (see "Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine" which I am currently on page 712 of) but alas, this wasn't quite what I was expecting. I expect a cabinet of curiosities to be about things that are on the very edge of the known, like the 18th century cabinets full of oddities and recent discoveries. This book is more just a compilations of interesting facts about medicine and doctoring. Which was okay, but not exciting, or particularly odd. Also, alas, those kind of facts, especially the demographic statistics, tend to get outdated very quickly. I've also spoiled myself into expecting my medical science to come with a healthy dose of skepticism, of the "this is how studies and statistics work, and this is why these studies might be misleading" sort, and this book had none.

Also this copy had pp. 30-80 misprinted as doubles of pp. 80-130, so about a fifth of the book was missing.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a quick read - it's ok. But don't expect to find much material in here that is thoroughly researched. In most cases it seemed like the author had read one article on a particular subject with very little additional research. To give just one example, when talking about life expectancy discrepancies between men and women he failed to mention testosterone and it's slow destructive properties. (Eunuch males living longer are a quick piece of evidence that shows this.) Instead he gets stymied by even easier questions such as why women's life spans shrink in underdeveloped countries.

In short - skip - this is neither entertaining or highly informative.

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of rather random facts about medical history and medical issues. While it provides some interesting information (most of it I already knew), it really doesn't go into any depth with anything. Things like how drugs get their names and ten diseases that can be contracted from a dog or cat were very interesting...but all in all, it was like factual popcorn.

[Manintheboat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel the need to make a correction. Not all corneas are suitable to become a transplant. Those whom have had LASIK or corneal diseases, or those whom are quite elderly. The cornea may still be donated and be used for scientific purposes, but it will not be transplanted.

Otherwise, this book is wonderful and the author has a fantastic sense of humor.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and easy to read collection of medical facts. As other reviewers have mentioned the book can be dated quickly due to the number of statistics in it and many times you wanted just that bit more information about something that was mentioned. But as I said it was a fun and easy read for teenagers and adults alike.

[Steven Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate this book as a solid ... meh ... Nothing earth-shattering, just a collection of somewhat interesting medical facts. Worth a quick read, but not something that I feel is a worthy addition to the home reference library.

[Smellsofbikes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally don't like books that are just random assortments of facts, but this had a fair amount of good stuff in it.

[Haven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally I love books of trivia, however I found this one to be boring and rather uninspired. Nothing really jumped out at me, although the author does have a humorous tone.

[Steven Wan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting at first, but topics such as "everything inside an EMT van" is just not that noteworthy.

[Carissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew most of the stuff already in the book. It's not something you would want to reference as a research book.

[Liz Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting tidbits, but nothing more. Good for things that probably won't change.

[Jelena R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but messy.