Quackery
Books | Medical / History
4.1
(139)
Lydia Kang
Nate Pedersen
What won’t we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine—yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison—was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious “treatments”—conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)—that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.
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More Details:
Author
Lydia Kang
Pages
256
Publisher
Workman Publishing Company
Published Date
2017-10-17
ISBN
1523501855 9781523501854
Community ReviewsSee all
"So interesting and written in an entertaining way! There were parts that I actually laughed out loud. This book goes through some of the common "cures" throughout history."
M K
Meagan Khatthaname
"This book was amazing. I was laughing throughout the entire book. The way it’s written makes it feel like you’re reading a text sent to you."
E J
Emma Johnston
"Although I found big chunks of the book a little boring. I had to give it five stars because of how invigorating learning some of these insane facts made me feel. Some sections were so full. I had to relist to the section again and again just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I give it five stars because of the joy it brought me overall. Would certainly recommend."
a
awesome_user_882972
"This was a very interesting and entertaining read. It was packed with lots of information and stories and I really enjoyed the sarcastic humor in the narrative. I definitely recommend this.<br/><br/>I just wish the digital version contained photos. I could see the captions but no images."
S L
Sandra Lee
"An excellent and entertaining book! I really loved the conversational tone of the book. Not only was it well written, but the visuals added a nice touch which eased comprehension. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science, medicine, or has a morbid sense of curiosity/humor."
N H
Natalie Hightower
"Delightfully strange, but also incredibly morbid. Some of the content is so stupid it's funny. Little things people used to do that, with our knowledge now, is ridiculous. Other things are rather dark and horrid, why would they ever think that? Some are quite literally mutilation. It was a fascinating read, I kept getting up to rant about what I was reading to whoever happened to be near. 10/10 would read again💙"
B
Becks