Product Description

Today, astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making face transplants, limb transplants and a host of other previously undreamed of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of selfless men working tirelessly in the pursuit of medical advancement. Instead it's a bloodstained tale of blunders, arrogance, mishap and murder. In trying to keep us alive, surgeons have all too often killed us off, and life-saving solutions have often come from the most surprising places. Accompanying a BBC series, "Blood and Guts" is an incredible story of stolen corpses, medical fraud, lobotomized patients - and every now and then courageous advances that have saved the lives of millions around the world. You may think twice before going under the knife.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22163 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
'Blood and Guts is an excellent history of surgery... a highly readable book, full of gripping anedcotes'
--Irish Mail on Sunday

About the Author
Richard Hollingham is a writer, journalist and BBC radio presenter. He has written and presented a number of BBC radio series on science, the environment and international politics. A former senior producer on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Richard is also a frequent contributor to From Our Own Correspondent. His popular science book How to Clone the Perfect Blonde, co-authored with Sue Nelson, was longlisted for the coveted Aventis Science Prize in 2004. Michael Mosley is an award-winning BBC producer, and the regular science presenter on BBC1's The One Show. As the presenter of the highly acclaimed BBC series Medical Mavericks he experimented on himself to demonstrate the revolutionary new techniques of medical pioneers. He is the presenter of Blood and Guts: a History of Surgery.

Customer Reviews

Readable and Engaging
Blood and Guts is a pithy and readable history of surgery that does not hold back on the successes and the botches.

One of the most amusing anecdotes became known as the "night of the pigs" and takes place in the National Heart Hospital in London in 1969.

Surgeon Donald Longmore waits for a delivery of pigs. He plans to graft a pig's heart and lungs into a patient to keep him alive. One pig has other ideas and makes its escape onto Wimpole Street, pursued by gowned, capped, masked and booted theatre staff.

The pig, now secured by the expert team, is taken to the mortuary to be put to sleep, but the anaesthetist assigned to the task is Jewish. Another anaesthetist is found, but there is another problem: the patient is also Jewish and unconscious so unable to take any decisions for himself. Mr. Longmore calls a rabbi who in fits of laughter gives the go ahead for a genuine attempt to save the patient's life. Unfortunately, the operation fails in its final stages owing to an unforeseen reaction of pig heart to an injection of calcium.

Medical mavericks seem to have been responsible for much surgical progress, so it's surprising to read how often innovations we now take for granted were at first rejected by established leaders and institutions. Plus ca change!

If you only read one book in your lifetime make it this one....
I saw some of the TV series on which this book is based and found it utterly fascinating so I just had to buy the book to find out the bits I missed on TV. The title makes it sound very gruesome and whilst some of the techniques covered live up to this title the way it is written makes it very enjoyable and entertaining to read without making you feel in the least bit queazy. It really highlights the way the surgical techniques we have today have been founded on the ideas of pioneers who came up with inventions ranging from the astounding to the downright bizarre and morally questionable. Throughout the book I was constantly asking myself "how on earth did they come up with that?!" These really are people who were prepared to try absolutely anything in the pursuit of medical advancement. There are also some excellent pictures and photos which illustrate the techniques discussed. This is really the most interesting book I have ever read and I'd recommend it to anyone.

It took blood and guts, I guess.
For a book that considers the huge progress made in surgery over the last 100 years or so, it reads well in an entertaining fashion. A tie-in with the TV series and one which is well worth buying if that series whetted your appetite.

The fact that it is so well written should not detract from the horrors that went before; the succeses often outweighed by the failures and at what cost to individual lives? But, to coin a phrase, there is no gain without pain and both the book and the series manage to convey that despite this - or probably because of this - we are where we are now in terms of the skill we've achieved. So many lives now saved - or certainly improved - that the pioneers of yesteryear unintentionally deserve the title of the book.

If you haven't seen the series buy the book, if you have seen it, buy it anyway because there are sections not shown which only add to the overall thrust of this highly entertaining and informative medical journey.