Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome - Hardcover

by Robert E. Adler (Author)

An exploration of medical discoveries-from the ancient Greeks to the present
""Always help, or at least do no harm."" Following this simple yet revolutionary idea, Hippocrates laid the foundation for modern medicine over two millennia ago. From the Hippocratic Oath to the human genome, from Pasteur's germ theory to the worldwide eradication of smallpox, Medical Firsts brings to life 2,500 years of medical advances and discoveries. Organized chronologically, the book describes each milestone in a vivid capsule history, making it a fascinating and wonderfully readable resource for anyone interested in medicine's past progress and future promise.
Robert E. Adler, PhD (Santa Rosa, CA) has worked as a psychologist and science journalist. He writes about a wide variety of scientific and medical topics for New Scientist, Nature, and other publications and is the author of Science Firsts (0-471-40174-9).

Front Jacket

Each disease has a nature of its own, and none arises without its natural cause. With this simple, yet revolutionary idea, the Greek physician Hippocrates laid the foundation for modern medicine over two millennia ago. Of course, prior to that, healers had achieved some remarkable things. But ancient medicine was a hit-and-miss affair rooted in pagan ritual and magic. For example, an ancient Egyptian doctor might just as likely prescribe a ritual dance as medicinal herbs for pneumonia. It was Hippocrates who took medicine out of the realm of myth and superstition and established it on a scientific footing. So powerful was his idea of relying on the direct and systematic observation of nature to reveal the causes and cures of diseases that virtually every major medical advance since then can be traced directly back to it.

In Medical Firsts, science journalist and author Robert Adler recounts the fascinating story of Western medicine as told through the lives and achievements of more than thirty of its brightest lights. Combining a journalist's economy of style and a born storyteller's way with a good yarn, he takes us on a grand tour of 2,500 years of medical innovation-- from Hippocrates' grand idea to William Harvey's discovery of the workings of the human circulatory system to Pasteur's proof of the germ theory of disease to the mapping of the human genome. He provides vivid profiles of the great men and women responsible for the medical milestones he describes, while bringing the science and technology involved down to earth for general readers.

Medical Firsts offers you an exciting opportunity to be an eyewitness to medical history in the making. You'll visit Rome in the first century a.d. to meet Soranus, founder of obstetrics and gynecology. You'll eavesdrop on Sigmund Freud in the Viennese consulting room where he unlocked the secrets of the subconscious mind. You'll watch as accomplished con man and the world's first anesthesiologist, William Morton, administers ether to a cancer patient at Massachusetts General Hospital, site of the first use of surgical anesthesia, in 1844. And you'll visit the research labs and hospitals around the world where exciting breakthroughs in stem cell and gene therapies are rapidly writing a bold new chapter in the story begun by Hippocrates twenty-five centuries ago.

Back Jacket

Advance Praise for MEDICAL FIRSTS

"Medical Firsts is a great introduction to some of the high points in the history of medicine-- clear, accessible writing, factual, and so up-to-date that some sections contain this season's cutting-edge science. This is a terrific book."
-- Robert Sapolsky, professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, and author of A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons

"An exhilarating grand tour of medicine's major milestones. Robert Adler's impressively researched and highly entertaining book is a fitting tribute to the men and women whose triumphant legacy has been the amelioration of human pain and suffering."
-- Marcus Chown, author of The Universe Next Door

"Medical Firsts compellingly shows that the heroic battle against disease is one of the greatest endeavors in human history."
-- Victor McElheny, author of Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution

"An elegantly written account of the history of medicine from the era of the ancient Greeks to the present day, with superb chapters on landmark figures like Sigmund Freud, Louis Pasteur, and Margaret Sanger. Both the fit and not so fit among us will find Adler's book about health and disease enlightening and entertaining. It's just what the doctor ordered."
-- Jonah Raskin, author of For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman

"Medical Firsts is a fast-paced, thrilling journey through the medical breakthroughs of the last three millennia. Superbly written, entertaining, and poignant . . . Medical Firsts beautifully captures the thrills of medical discovery."
-- Paul Thompson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine & Brain Research Institute

"Medical Firsts is thoroughly researched, delightfully illustrated, and a joy to read from cover to cover or chapter by chapter. One is continually drawn along as Adler reveals myriad medical mysteries by describing the scientists, the life and times during which they work, and the frustrations and rejections they experience in their quests for medical knowledge and discovery. This is a book for everyone to enjoy, whatever their interests."
-- Barbara B. Frank, M.D., FACG, Professor of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine

Author Biography

ROBERT E. ADLER, PhD, is a psychologist, science journalist, and author of the critically acclaimed Science Firsts. He writes about a wide variety of scientific and medical topics for New Scientist, Nature, and other publications.