Praise for The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine
âExcellent . . . As Le Fanu explains in a telling phrase, the human hip joint is more slippery than a skate sliding on ice. How could such a thing be made artificially? This is one of the fascinating âtwelve definitive momentsâ that make up the first part of the book. Le Fanu describes them â from penicillin to heart surgery and the treatment of infertility â with just the right mixture of science, history and anecdote. The struggles, disappointments and fatal errors of these early pioneers are described with zest, authority and a special brand of wry humour . . . An endlessly fascinating readâ
M AX W ILKINSON in the Financial Times
âLe Fanu [is] one of todayâs leading writers on medicine to the informed public. The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine is a substantial work (and very good value) for those with a fairly serious interest in health mattersâ
H UGH F REEMAN in the Daily Telegraph
âStand by for a brilliant read. James Le Fanuâs massive book, bulging with juicy medical history and anecdotes, will set your heart palpitating and your blood pressure rising from the start. It is an absolute must-read for all people interested in medical matters, and particularly for those (like me) whom Le Fanu dubs The Worried Well, i.e. the ones who are âwellâ but âworriedâ we might not be . . . By reading Le Fanuâs book we will be made aware of the thrilling power of the scientific method and the manner in which it pushes the boundaries of knowledge, to thank our lucky stars for the leaps forward in medicine and to acknowledge the enormous limitations imposed by the inscrutable mysteries of biologyâ
V AL H ENNESSY in the Daily Mail
âRecently writing a history of medicine from the Stone Age to New Age, I deeply regretted that there was no up-to-the-minute account of modern medicine which I could pillage. That book has now arrived . . . Its author, the distinguished medical journalist Dr James Le Fanu, writes with clarity and authority, and has the great knack of making even the most complex technical developments in immunology or embryology exciting and intelligible . . . Youâll find nowherea better crafted and more expert account of how modern medicine helps ensure that the great majority of us live to a ripe old age . . . Erudite [and] absorbingâ
R OY P ORTER in the Observer
â[A] well written, fascinating and informative book, which should be read by anyone with an interest in contemporary medicine . . . Everyone will finish the book knowing much that he did not know before, and stimulated into thought about the future of medicine. At the very least, the reader will have a more realistic appreciation of the powers and limitations of medicine; and in an age of hysteria about the subject, that is no mean achievementâ
A NTHONY D ANIELS in the Sunday Telegraph
âThis book is a major achievement. It will be a test of the state of modern medicine to see whether that achievement is acknowledged and The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine accorded the widespread discussion it deserves. It is a book that desperately needed to be written. And it is an indictment of the universities and medical schools that the job had to wait for the attentions of one of the countryâs most gifted freelance intellectuals. The book succeeds at two levels. It is at the same time a thorough, scholarly and well-referenced text, and a clear, vivid and compelling narrative, accessible to the interested lay personâ
B RUCE C HARLTON in The Tablet
âIn this invaluable amalgam of human drama, vivid history, cutting-edge nous and old-fashioned polemic, Le Fanu issues an appeal to reason and calls for medicine to recover its sense of what it is for . . . The ambition of this, the first historical account of this period, is admirably justified throughout. Le Fanu communicates complex material in
âExcellent . . . As Le Fanu explains in a telling phrase, the human hip joint is more slippery than a skate sliding on ice. How could such a thing be made artificially? This is one of the fascinating âtwelve definitive momentsâ that make up the first part of the book. Le Fanu describes them â from penicillin to heart surgery and the treatment of infertility â with just the right mixture of science, history and anecdote. The struggles, disappointments and fatal errors of these early pioneers are described with zest, authority and a special brand of wry humour . . . An endlessly fascinating readâ
M AX W ILKINSON in the Financial Times
âLe Fanu [is] one of todayâs leading writers on medicine to the informed public. The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine is a substantial work (and very good value) for those with a fairly serious interest in health mattersâ
H UGH F REEMAN in the Daily Telegraph
âStand by for a brilliant read. James Le Fanuâs massive book, bulging with juicy medical history and anecdotes, will set your heart palpitating and your blood pressure rising from the start. It is an absolute must-read for all people interested in medical matters, and particularly for those (like me) whom Le Fanu dubs The Worried Well, i.e. the ones who are âwellâ but âworriedâ we might not be . . . By reading Le Fanuâs book we will be made aware of the thrilling power of the scientific method and the manner in which it pushes the boundaries of knowledge, to thank our lucky stars for the leaps forward in medicine and to acknowledge the enormous limitations imposed by the inscrutable mysteries of biologyâ
V AL H ENNESSY in the Daily Mail
âRecently writing a history of medicine from the Stone Age to New Age, I deeply regretted that there was no up-to-the-minute account of modern medicine which I could pillage. That book has now arrived . . . Its author, the distinguished medical journalist Dr James Le Fanu, writes with clarity and authority, and has the great knack of making even the most complex technical developments in immunology or embryology exciting and intelligible . . . Youâll find nowherea better crafted and more expert account of how modern medicine helps ensure that the great majority of us live to a ripe old age . . . Erudite [and] absorbingâ
R OY P ORTER in the Observer
â[A] well written, fascinating and informative book, which should be read by anyone with an interest in contemporary medicine . . . Everyone will finish the book knowing much that he did not know before, and stimulated into thought about the future of medicine. At the very least, the reader will have a more realistic appreciation of the powers and limitations of medicine; and in an age of hysteria about the subject, that is no mean achievementâ
A NTHONY D ANIELS in the Sunday Telegraph
âThis book is a major achievement. It will be a test of the state of modern medicine to see whether that achievement is acknowledged and The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine accorded the widespread discussion it deserves. It is a book that desperately needed to be written. And it is an indictment of the universities and medical schools that the job had to wait for the attentions of one of the countryâs most gifted freelance intellectuals. The book succeeds at two levels. It is at the same time a thorough, scholarly and well-referenced text, and a clear, vivid and compelling narrative, accessible to the interested lay personâ
B RUCE C HARLTON in The Tablet
âIn this invaluable amalgam of human drama, vivid history, cutting-edge nous and old-fashioned polemic, Le Fanu issues an appeal to reason and calls for medicine to recover its sense of what it is for . . . The ambition of this, the first historical account of this period, is admirably justified throughout. Le Fanu communicates complex material in
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