The Masters Of Medicine

An in-depth look at the mavericks, moments, and mistakes that sparked the greatest medical discoveries in modern times—plus the cures that will help us live longer and healthier lives in this century . . . and beyond. Human history hinges on the battle to confront our most dangerous enemies—the half-dozen diseases responsible for killing almost all of mankind. And while the story of our triumphs over these afflictions reveals an inspiring tapestry of human achievement, the journey was far from smooth. In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world’s greatest medical miracles. Discover fascinating true stories of scientists and doctors throughout history, including: Rival surgeons who killed patient after patient in their race to operate on beating hearts—and put us on the path toward the heart transplant A quartet of Canadians whose miraculous discovery of insulin was marred by jealousy and resentment The doctors who discovered penicillin, but were robbed of the credit The feud between two Americans in the quest for the polio vaccine A New York surgeon whose “heretical” idea to cure patients by deliberately infecting them has now inspired our next-best hope to defeat cancer A Hungarian doctor who solved the greatest mystery of maternal deaths in childbirth, only to be ostracized for his discovery The Masters of Medicine is a fascinating chronicle of human courage, audacity, error, and luck. This riveting ode to mankind reveals why the past is prelude to the game-changing breakthroughs of tomorrow.

An in-depth look at the mavericks, moments, and mistakes that sparked the greatest medical discoveries in modern times—plus the cures that will help us live longer and healthier lives in this century . . . and beyond. Human history hinges on the battle to confront our most dangerous enemies—the half-dozen diseases responsible for killing almost all of mankind. And while the story of our triumphs over these afflictions reveals an inspiring tapestry of human achievement, the journey was far from smooth. In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world’s greatest medical miracles. Discover fascinating true stories of scientists and doctors throughout history, including: Rival surgeons who killed patient after patient in their race to operate on beating hearts—and put us on the path toward the heart transplant A quartet of Canadians whose miraculous discovery of insulin was marred by jealousy and resentment The doctors who discovered penicillin, but were robbed of the credit The feud between two Americans in the quest for the polio vaccine A New York surgeon whose “heretical” idea to cure patients by deliberately infecting them has now inspired our next-best hope to defeat cancer A Hungarian doctor who solved the greatest mystery of maternal deaths in childbirth, only to be ostracized for his discovery The Masters of Medicine is a fascinating chronicle of human courage, audacity, error, and luck. This riveting ode to mankind reveals why the past is prelude to the game-changing breakthroughs of tomorrow.

A series of seventy entries provides an unrivaled account of the international evolution of medical knowledge and practice, now in paperback. Sickness and health, birth and death, disease and cure: medicine and our understanding of the workings of our bodies and minds are an inextricable part of how we know who we are. With the science of healing now more vital than ever, as our bodies face new challenges from the globalizationof disease, environmental change, and increased longevity, Great Discoveries in Medicine is a timely guide to medicine’s achievements and its prospects for the future. An international team of distinguished experts provides an unrivaled account of the evolution of medical knowledge and practice, from ancient Egypt, India, and China to today’s latest technology, from bloodletting to keyhole surgery, from the theory of humors to the genetic revolution, from the stethoscope to the development of vaccines. They explain medicine’s turning points and conceptual changes in a refreshingly accessible way and answer some key questions: How has the bubonic plague influenced the course of human history? What effect did the birth control pill have on the lives of women and on society? What challenges does medicine face in our changing world?

Sometimes the line that separates coward from hero is not easy to spot. When that line is crossed, to what lengths will a remorseful man go to set things right? That’s a question that had never crossed Daniel Tokunaga’s mind until the U.S. government started calling, wanting to know more about his father’s service with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II. Something happened while his father was fighting the Germans in France, and no one is sure exactly what. At least, no one who’s still alive and willing to give details. Wanting answers, Daniel upends his life to find out what occurred on a small, obscure hilltop half a world away, in a quest for the truth that threatens his marriage, his sanity, and the love of everyone he holds dear. In unraveling his family’s catastrophic past, the only thing for certain is that nothing—his life, career, and family—can ever be the same again.

A startling narrative revealing the impressive medical and surgical advances that quickly developed as solutions to the horrors unleashed by World War I. The Great War of 1914-1918 burst on the European scene with a brutality to mankind not yet witnessed by the civilized world. Modern warfare was no longer the stuff of chivalry and honor; it was a mutilative, deadly, and humbling exercise to wipe out the very presence of humanity. Suddenly, thousands upon thousands of maimed, beaten, and bleeding men surged into aid stations and hospitals with injuries unimaginable in their scope and destruction. Doctors scrambled to find some way to salvage not only life but limb. The Great War and the Birth of Modern Medicine provides a startling and graphic account of the efforts of teams of doctors and researchers to quickly develop medical and surgical solutions. Those problems of gas gangrene, hemorrhagic shock, gas poisoning, brain trauma, facial disfigurement, broken bones, and broken spirits flooded hospital beds, stressing caregivers and prompting medical innovations that would last far beyond the Armistice of 1918 and would eventually provide the backbone of modern medical therapy. Thomas Helling’s description of events that shaped refinements of medical care is a riveting account of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of men and women to deter the total destruction of the human body and human mind. His tales of surgical daring, industrial collaboration, scientific discovery, and utter compassion provide an understanding of the horror that laid a foundation for the medical wonders of today. The marvels of resuscitation, blood transfusion, brain surgery, X-rays, and bone setting all had their beginnings on the battlefields of France. The influenza contagion in 1918 was an ominous forerunner of the frightening pandemic of 2020-2021. For anyone curious about the true terrors of war and the miracles of modern medicine, this is a must read.

Little more than one hundred years ago, maps of the world still boasted white space: places where no human had ever trod. Within a few short decades the most hostile of the world’s environments had all been conquered. Likewise, in the twentieth century, medicine transformed human life. Doctors took what was routinely fatal and made it survivable. As modernity brought us ever more into different kinds of extremis, doctors pushed the bounds of medical advances and human endurance. Extreme exploration challenged the body in ways that only the vanguard of science could answer. Doctors, scientists, and explorers all share a defining trait: they push on in the face of grim odds. Because of their extreme exploration we not only understand our physiology better; we have also made enormous strides in the science of healing. Drawing on his own experience as an anesthesiologist, intensive care expert, and NASA adviser, Dr. Kevin Fong examines how cuttingedge medicine pushes the envelope of human survival by studying the human body’s response when tested by physical extremes. Extreme Medicine explores different limits of endurance and the lens each offers on one of the systems of the body. The challenges of Arctic exploration created opportunities for breakthroughs in open heart surgery; battlefield doctors pioneered techniques for skin grafts, heart surgery, and trauma care; underwater and outer space exploration have revolutionized our understanding of breathing, gravity, and much more. Avant-garde medicine is fundamentally changing our ideas about the nature of life and death. Through astonishing accounts of extraordinary events and pioneering medicine, Fong illustrates the sheer audacity of medical practice at extreme limits, where human life is balanced on a knife’s edge. Extreme Medicine is a gripping debut about the science of healing, but also about exploration in its broadest sense—and about how, by probing the very limits of our biology, we may ultimately return with a better appreciation of how our bodies work, of what life is, and what it means to be human.