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A review by libraryofblood
The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
another morbid non-fiction read to start off the year! this biography focuses on joseph lister, a surgeon whose discovery that germs were the source of all infection, who transformed the medical industry in the victorian era. author and historian lindsey fitzharris details the gruesome world of 19th-century surgery and how it was transformed by the advances made in germ theory and antiseptics from 1860-1875.
this was a bit of a slow read for me; it took me about 2 weeks to finish. there was a lot of technical medical terminology i had to get used to, as well as keep the names straight of all the scientists, surgeons, and doctors that crossed joseph lister's path. but a lot of what i did learn was super interesting. the writing felt a little clunky at times; it felt like i was reading a medical textbook, not a biography.
one of my favorite periods to learn about in history is the victorian era, and i had never read much about the medical industry at the time, so this provided a lot of insight! before lister, surgery in the 19th century was not for the squeamish. operating theatres, no anesthesia, tools and instruments being reused and unwashed, rampant infections. even if a surgery was a success, a patient was likely to die from infection or sepsis.
joseph lister's contributions to science and medicine are still felt today. it was an interesting, albiet slow - and sometimes clunky - read.
tw: medical trauma, medical content, blood, gore
this was a bit of a slow read for me; it took me about 2 weeks to finish. there was a lot of technical medical terminology i had to get used to, as well as keep the names straight of all the scientists, surgeons, and doctors that crossed joseph lister's path. but a lot of what i did learn was super interesting. the writing felt a little clunky at times; it felt like i was reading a medical textbook, not a biography.
one of my favorite periods to learn about in history is the victorian era, and i had never read much about the medical industry at the time, so this provided a lot of insight! before lister, surgery in the 19th century was not for the squeamish. operating theatres, no anesthesia, tools and instruments being reused and unwashed, rampant infections. even if a surgery was a success, a patient was likely to die from infection or sepsis.
joseph lister's contributions to science and medicine are still felt today. it was an interesting, albiet slow - and sometimes clunky - read.
tw: medical trauma, medical content, blood, gore
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma