Lately I’ve been into non-fiction. Some of them have been uplifting and given me renewed hope in humanity–would that there were more Dr. Mutters in the world, right? How amazing that we can treat things with antibiotics! However, some of them, although well written and fascinating, make me despair for humanity. The Devil in the White City‘s psychopathic murderer bummed me out, and I’m currently reading King Leopold’s Ghost, which is very good and also seriously so depressing. At the 50% mark, I needed a break. The public library […]
Met you on a midway at a fair last century.
I, somehow, didn’t know anything about the Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair. I don’t know how that happened, because the World’s Fair was a turning point in American culture–and it sounds like it was awesome. The 1893 World’s Fair introduced us to Ferris Wheels, AC current, the Pledge of Allegiance, Shredded Wheat, Pabst Blue Ribbon, zippers, Juicy Fruit, the word “Midway,” Columbus Day, and that snake charmer song that is still a national earworm. It hosted Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and, […]
Seriously though, modern medicine is the best.
After being thoroughly taken by Dr. Mutter, I went on a medical history kick. Next stop: antibiotics. The title of this book is a little misleading. While there is, indeed, a German doctor Gerhard Domagk that Hager returns to throughout the narrative, this is actually the story of the many doctors, labs, marketers, wars, countries, and strokes of luck that led to the discovery of the first antibiotic, sulfa, and how that changed the world–and the world of medicine. Starting in the trenches of WWI, Hager details the devastation […]
Doctor, doctor, give me the news.
After reading Schmookaria’s review, I ran right over to Amazon and picked this up. And I enjoyed every minute of it! This is the story of Dr. Thomas Mütter and the birth of modern medicine in America. I’ll just steal this part from Amazon’s summary because I like how they put it so succinctly: Brilliant, outspoken, and brazenly handsome, Mütter was flamboyant in every aspect of his life. He wore pink silk suits to perform surgery, added an umlaut to his last name just because he could, and […]