This introduction to the history of medicine begins with the evolution of infectious diseases at the end of the last ice age. It describes the origin of science and medicine in ancient civilizations, including China and India. The first third of the book covers the early period that is considered the “classical” history of medicine. The remainder describes the evolution of modern medicine and surgery up to the present. The final chapter is a history of medical economics and explains the origin of health insurance, HMOs and medical malpractice lawsuits, subjects explained nowhere else in the medical school curriculum.

There is a 40 page index and over 550 footnotes, most of them references to the original articles described in the text. A bibliography of essential sources is also included.

5 Responses to “A Brief History of Disease, Science and Medicine”

1. Laura Emamian says:

   August 12, 2008 at 12:00 am

   The book arrived it great shape without any damage. Book was brand new just as stated in the description. Also, the book arrived in the amount of time that was stated.
2. Michael T Kennedy says:

   January 21, 2009 at 12:00 am

   This is the paperback edition of the hard cover book that has been available since 2004. It is a trade paperback and exactly the same size and content as the hardcover edition. The book has been adopted by a number of colleges as a textbook in general biology courses and even in some high school AP summer programs. This change to the paperback edition will keep it available indefinitely and the sales of the hardcover edition were still going pretty well. I decided not to do a third printing as I was unsure of the continued level of interest. This is the same book. The second printing had correction of a few typesetting errors in the first but this version is exactly the same as the second printing.
3. PerpetualStudentSC says:

   April 15, 2009 at 12:00 am

   As a soon-to-be medical student, I am very glad I read this book and would highly recommend it to anyone going into the field. It was thought-provoking through and through and fairly easy to read even though it dealt with weighty topics. Since I came from a non-medicine related undergraduate major, I had to keep wikipedia close-by to look up terms and indulge curiosities as I read, and I ended up learning a lot that way, so I recommend others do similarly.