MAGAZINE EDITION

2006

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Review: The Medical Detective; John Snow and the Mystery of Cholera

Sandra Hempel
Granta Books (3 April 2006)

Hardcover 304pp, £18.99 RRP

ISBN: 1862078424

By Christopher Johnstone

(Note: This review was written in summer 2006 - 12/7/06)

This is a wonderful book. Intelligent, witty, engrossing and very informative. Everyone knows of John Snow and the Broad St pump, but this puts the man in perspective and his achievement. He was a man of strong beliefs and was not afraid to stick to them. He was a teetotaller in an age when alcohol was seen as a very positive thing, even medicinal. His medical friends were upset by his anchorite tendencies. he was also an early vegetarian. He pioneered anaesthesia through clever experiments, often on himself. he convinced himself that cholera was passed via the faecal-oral route when everyone was miasamists. The story of how he was proven correct is compelling and moving. A great book for anyone, but especially GPs.

The Medical Detective is published by Granta Books and is available from Amazon for £12.53

Other hoolet online articles by Chris Johnstone can be found at:
hoolet edition 51 - Enough And No More
hoolet edition 50 - Now We Are 50
hoolet edition 49 - The Policy Palsy
hoolet edition 48 - The Last Waltz
hoolet edition 47 - The Old New Contract
hoolet edition 46 - Teaching to the Converted
hoolet edition 45 - Turkeys Voting For Christmas
hoolet edition 44 - That's a nasty QOF
hoolet edition 43 - Calm Down, Calm Down, It's only the NHS
hoolet edition 42 - Perpetually Fooled Initiative
hoolet edition 41 - Crisis? What Crisis?
hoolet edition 40 - Doing What You Are Told
hoolet edition 39 - A History of hoolets
hoolet edition 38 - Where did it all go wrong?
hoolet edition 37 - Commodificationalising the NHS
hoolet edition 36 - The Cost of Everything and the Value of Nothing
hoolet edition 35 - Much Too Much, Much Too Soon
hoolet edition 34 - What Shall It Profit a Government?
hoolet edition 33 - A Long Career in Applied Cynicism
hoolet edition 32 - My Greatest Pleasure
hoolet edition 31 - Goodbye to the NHS
hoolet edition 30 - The National Health Service is Sorry
hoolet edition 29 - MMR More Media Rubbish
hoolet edition 28 - A Life of Pleasure
hoolet edition 27 - Barricade medicine

Other hoolet reviews by Chris Johnstone:
Bad Medicine
Armed Madhouse
The Bullet Trick
The Medical Detective
Plundering the Public Sector

hoolet is the magazine of RCGP Scotland. It is supported intellectually, financially and emotionally by RCGP Scotland.

This issue maintained by Robert Hallam.