Taking a thematic rather than strictly chronological approach, W.F. Bynum, explores the key turning points in the history of Western medicine-such as the first surgical procedures, the advent of hospitals, the introduction of anesthesia, X-Rays, vaccinations, and many other innovations, as well as the rise of experimental medicine.

The origins of Western medicine and the ideal of ethical practice, as well as the origin of the scientific method are revealed in these writings by Hippocrates and other medical pioneers.

The author was 48 when he was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. His memoir follows him through the stages of symptom, diagnosis, and surgery. 'Karinthy's book is, to my mind, a masterpiece. . . . the first autobiographical description of a journey inside the brain, remains one of the very best.'—Oliver Sacks, from the Introduction.

Founded just six years ago, Bellevue Literary Review is already widely recognized as a rare forum for emerging and celebrated writers on issues of health and healing. Gathered here are poignant and prizewinning stories, essays, and poems, the voices of patients and those who care for them, which form the journal's remarkable dialogue on "humanity and the human experience."

David J. Rothman is Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and president of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession. Sheila M. Rothman is Professor of Public Health at the Mailman School, Columbia University.

When The Lancet published a study in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield suggesting a possible link between the MMR vaccine, chronic bowel syndrome, and autism, the inadvertent result was a collapse of public confidence in the vaccine. Six years into this health crisis, a much-disputed part of the study was retracted. Now The Lancet's editor, Dr. Richard Horton, considers the implications of this affair.

Published 2005. Ramachandran has been called 'The Marco Polo of neuroscience' by Richard Dawkins and 'the modern Paul Broca' by Eric Kandel. Newsweek magazine named him a member of 'The Century Club', one of the 'hundred most prominent people to watch' in the 21st century

Oliver Sacks (b. 1933) is the Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould of his field; his books are true classics of medical writing, of the breadth of human mentality, and of the inner lives of the disabled. This Vintage Reader, which provides a general sampling of his work, serves as a good introduction.

Published 1985, Neurologist Sacks presents a series of clinical tales drawn from fascinating and unusual cases encountered during his years of medical practice. The text is divided into 4 parts: "losses" of neurological function; "excesses"; "transports" involving reminiscence, altered perception, and imagination; and "the simple"

Published 2003. Nuland (b. 1930) is an American surgeon and author who teaches bioethics and medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Published 1988

Published 1982.

Profiteeering pharmaceutical companies and the FDA have met their match in Dr. Jerry Avorn, a Harvard Medical school researcher and clinician. In Powerful Medicines, he brilliantly combines patient vignettes, scientific critique, and statistics to create a risk/benefit balance for prescription drugs.

Porter, one of the most prolific historians of his generation, wrote and edited about 80 books. This book originated in lecture courses given at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London. In breathtaking and fearless fashion, Porter surveys Western medicine from antiquity to the present.