Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris

7 reviews

beepbeep101's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris has become a must-read author for me. I read her second book, The Facemaker, first, which was one of the best books I read last year. I highly anticipate anything else she comes out with, should she publish more in the future! 

Her writing reads, if not like fiction, as smoothly as a novel in most places. I grew up hearing medical terms around the dinner table, as my dad is a family physician, so I may have a head start on other readers - but there were few times that I had to stop to re-read a section or look up a term. Fitzharris defines concepts well for the layman. Most of the times I had to re-read anything were quotes using antiquated jargon. 

I remember learning about pasteurization in school, and I, as many today, take for granted all of the antiseptic steps we go through today with even just treating scrapes. But learning about the process we went through to get there and about the lives of these individuals brings so much more perspective! I knew roughly the timeline for transitioning from miasma to germ theory, but reading in more detail about how we figured it out and the reactions of the medical community is fascinating and just….awe-inspiring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Classism

nicolesbookreviews's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

abbycole's review against another edition

informative tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

carlafiorenzo's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

roadki77's review against another edition

dark funny informative medium-paced

5.0

An amazingly informative book, though not for the squeamish. So entertaining that I almost forgot it was non-fiction!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

hanarama's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

A well written narrative of Dr. Joseph Lister, the man that successfully introduced hand washing and anti-septic practices to Western medicine. 

Fitzharris provides a lot of historical insight into Victorian medical practices, highlighting how gruesome and ineffectual they often were before germ theory was fully accepted and understood. She presents the narrative in an interesting and easy to follow manner, giving the reader enough background to understand Lister's impact without bogging down the biographical aspects. 

I wonder if there was some information left out of the narrative though. It's well known now that racial minorities and women were often treated with experimental procedures against their will. The book doesn't make it clear if Lister also did this, though he was known to have better bedside manner and empathy towards his patients for the time. I would have liked for this topic to have been explored more so that we could see how Lister fit into this terrible aspect of medical history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, and Blood

mandkips's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness