Product Description

This title is the winner of the Medical Journalists' Open Book Award 2005. Revered and feared in equal measure, John Hunter was the most famous surgeon of eighteenth-century London. Rich or poor, aristocrat or human freak, suffering Georgians knew that Hunter's skills might well save their lives but if he failed, their corpses could end up on his dissecting table, their bones and organs destined for display in his remarkable, macabre museum. Maverick medical pioneer, adored teacher, brilliant naturalist, Hunter was a key figure of the Enlightenment who transformed surgery, advanced biological understanding and even anticipated the evolutionary theories of Darwin. He provided inspiration both for Dr Jekyll and Dr Dolittle. But the extremes to which he went to pursue his scientific mission raised question marks then as now. John Hunter's extraordinary world comes to life in this remarkable, award-winning biography written by a wonderful new talent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16847 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 429 pages

The Good Book Guide, May 06
A brilliant study of the medical life and times of Georgian Britain. This is a tour de force.

JAMES LE FANU, Literary Review
'Always vivid and entertaining...The Knife Man leaves one entranced with Moore's hero and the age in which he lived.'

DR ALAN MARYON DAVIS, Writer, broadcaster and vice chair of the Royal Institute of Public Health
'Moore has recreated Hunter’s life and times in wonderfully rich detail. This is a truly fascinating read.’

Customer Reviews

Excellent
This was very well written, a gripping insight into the life and times of John Hunter. Very well researched and detailed, although rather gruesome in places, but a fascinating history of the man known as the father of modern surgery. Would be of interest to those interested in history, as well as students of medicine

Fascinating Book
The Hunter brothers are a complete breed of their own. It amazes me to see how far we have progressed on in both science and medicine. Certainly, ethical issues were raised then but played less than a major role then compared to now!

Wendy Moore has written a brilliant book which has been very well researched. I am very impressed with the way she has written the book. She has manage to take you through the 17th century explaining what the present society is like, what the Hunter brothers achieved, done and given to the world, the elite medical society and the customers it serves. It explains very well the many significant symbols and discoveries in modern medicine and how science and medicine (or the medical professionals) will do anything both in quest of knowledge and to achieve name and glory. The book is not dull at all as it takes you through to the life of John Hunter during his childhood, his adolescent and adulthood. She also involves those surrounding him and explains each of their role, to whom their life is related to him or stood independently. She talks about the squabbles and the disagreement between members of the medical professionals and the competitiveness felt between them during that era.

It is not for the faint-hearted as there are descriptions of body parts (described brilliantly - it makes your stomach churned!) and how they are dismembered and obtained, in the name of science.

I do recommend this book. A visit to the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University should be followed up upon completion of this book to give a better appreciation of the things described. There is an original copy of the Gravid Uterus based I think at Glasgow University Library. Certainly you can still see the plaster casts of the stages in pregnancy at the Anatomy Museum based also at Glasgow University.

Blood and brilliance
This book describes the adventures of a man who injected himself with syphillis, was a major exponent of the art of bodysnatching, was famed and feared for his experiments on live an dead creatures, who transplated teeth and who debunked many of the classical theories on medicine. In short the book, even for a non-scientist like myself, is fascinating with its insights into Georgian society and the way in which it charts the emergerence of John Hunter as one of the founders of modern science. An outstanding read.