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mborer23's review against another edition
5.0
I've wanted to visit the Mütter museum for years, and reading this book helped me realize how vast a contribution Thomas Dent Mütter made to medicine.
Besides assembling his amazing collection of human specimens and illustrations, Mütter helped bring to American medicine the practice of keeping hands and surgical tools clean to protect against secondary infection. At a time when patients were often operated on in public theaters, held down and screaming, Mütter popularized the use of ether as an anaesthetic, a technique disdained by many famous doctors.
In addition, Mütter developed plastic surgery techniques to ease the suffering of patients suffering from many illnesses and deformities. An operation he pioneered which used a carefully-cut and twisted flap of a patient's own living skin to repair burned areas and allow previously-disfigured burn victims an improved quality of life is still used today and bears his name: the Mütter flap.
Unfortunately for Dr. Mütter, his career and life were cut short by illness, which prevented him from achieving his long-held dream of writing and publishing his own surgery textbook. However, the compassion and care Mütter showed his patients, as well as the innovative surgeries he pioneered, lived on through the hundreds of students whose lives he touched.
Although the book's title is a bit misleading (it's rather short on intrigue), Aptowicz deftly fleshes out a portrait of a great man unjustly all but forgotten in the annals of medical history. Highly recommended.
Besides assembling his amazing collection of human specimens and illustrations, Mütter helped bring to American medicine the practice of keeping hands and surgical tools clean to protect against secondary infection. At a time when patients were often operated on in public theaters, held down and screaming, Mütter popularized the use of ether as an anaesthetic, a technique disdained by many famous doctors.
In addition, Mütter developed plastic surgery techniques to ease the suffering of patients suffering from many illnesses and deformities. An operation he pioneered which used a carefully-cut and twisted flap of a patient's own living skin to repair burned areas and allow previously-disfigured burn victims an improved quality of life is still used today and bears his name: the Mütter flap.
Unfortunately for Dr. Mütter, his career and life were cut short by illness, which prevented him from achieving his long-held dream of writing and publishing his own surgery textbook. However, the compassion and care Mütter showed his patients, as well as the innovative surgeries he pioneered, lived on through the hundreds of students whose lives he touched.
Although the book's title is a bit misleading (it's rather short on intrigue), Aptowicz deftly fleshes out a portrait of a great man unjustly all but forgotten in the annals of medical history. Highly recommended.
kelsaygrace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.5
japxican's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
flutters's review against another edition
I just finished a great nonfiction book about a similar topic, and thought I was in the mood to read more nonfiction...But then I found several fictions I wanted to read and lost interest in this one.
dblue236's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.0
I have always been fascinated by the Mutter Museum, although I have never had a chance to visit it myself. I had never learned much of anything about Dr. Mutter himself, and I found this book really interesting, albeit a bit slow moving from time to time. Some of the information about his colleagues felt a bit superfluous, but overall I was really engrossed in this and walked away from it feeling like I had learned something I may not ever have known much about otherwise. If you're interested in the medical field or biographies in general, I definitely recommend this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
hb_bookworm's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
cornmaven's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely marvelous portrait of American medicine in the 19th century, with Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter forging progressive, patient centered care procedures that have brought us to where we are today. I always knew that 19th century medicine was pretty bad, but this book taught me that it was much, much worse than I had thought. Cleanliness was not yet seen as a way to reduce death, and it was a badge of honor to perform surgery after surgery with blood soaked tools and a blood soaked coat. Ick.
Women will cringe at Dr. Charles Meigs' views about gynecological diseases and illnesses. Everyone will be grateful that doctors like Mütter pushed for newly discovered anesthesia like nitrous oxide and ether. Mütter's approach to patient relationship and care was extraordinary and unique, and some of us will wish that 21st doctors could take a page from his playbook.
I hope I can someday visit the Mütter Museum in Philly and pay homage to this great man.
Women will cringe at Dr. Charles Meigs' views about gynecological diseases and illnesses. Everyone will be grateful that doctors like Mütter pushed for newly discovered anesthesia like nitrous oxide and ether. Mütter's approach to patient relationship and care was extraordinary and unique, and some of us will wish that 21st doctors could take a page from his playbook.
I hope I can someday visit the Mütter Museum in Philly and pay homage to this great man.
amies808's review against another edition
3.0
Immensely readable, although rather meandering -- sometimes the thread of a topic would be picked up, only to be dropped after two pages and never brought up again. I was particularly confused by the constant assertions of acrimony between Mutter and Meigs with nothing to really back them up. I disliked the misleading title; I assumed this would be about the people behind Mutter's famed specimens, but instead it was about his life. Which is fine, but then it would also go on tangents about Meigs's beliefs or Mutter's students, and I would've rather learned more about his wife. I really enjoyed the writing style, but felt it needed a stronger eye for editing.