Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2017, Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2017. . She introduces us to Lister’s contemporaries―some of them brilliant, some outright criminal―and leads us through the grimy schools and squalid hospitals where they learned their art, the dead houses where they studied, and the cemeteries they ransacked for cadavers.Eerie and illuminating, The Butchering Art celebrates the triumph of a visionary surgeon whose quest to unite science and medicine delivered us into the modern world. She clearly, if sometimes quickly, explains medical and scientific terms and techniques while also using novelistic details and narrative techniques to move the story along. of accessibility and comprehensive coverage, Kolchin's American Slavery is a singularly important achievement. Members save with free shipping everyday! All paramedics have stories. Even the increased number of water closets between 1824 and 1844 did little to solve the problem. peaceful night’s sleep? Click or Press Enter to view the items in your shopping bag or Press Tab to interact with the Shopping bag tooltip. —Caitlin Doughty, bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity"The Butchering Art is a brilliant and gripping account of the almost unimaginable horrors of surgery and postoperative infection before Joseph Lister transformed it all with his invention of antisepsis. Lister had plenty of opportunities to explore miniature worlds with the microscope while he was growing up. Would you know one if you held it in your hand?In ... History students and Victorian enthusiasts looking for comprehensive information on dining practices of Victorian America ... History students and Victorian enthusiasts looking for comprehensive information on dining practices of Victorian America The curriculum at UCL would be as radical as the secular foundations on which it was built, the founders decided. He had first become interested in the subject as a young boy when he discovered that a bubble trapped in the window glass of his own father's study acted as a simple magnifier. Joseph Jackson Lister was an exception. The article continued by imagining that the university would be built in the notorious slums near Westminster Abbey named Tothill Fields; "in order to meet any objections which heads of families may make to the perilous exposure of their sons to the casualties arising from crowded streets, a large body of plain respectable females, of the middle age, will be engaged to attend students to and from the College in the mornings and evenings of each day." ―Henry Marsh, bestselling author of Do No Harm"Electric. An entire underground army of "bone boilers," "toshers," and "mud-larks" developed to exploit the tide of human waste underneath the city. At the age of fourteen, he left school and became an apprentice to his own father, a wine merchant. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. He found carbolic acid and against great opposition from the medical world everywhere, he persisted with its use and his patients stopped dying. You Save 9%. I was pleasantly surprised how the narration flowed in a very story like manner. —Ed Yong, bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes "The Butchering Art is medical history at its most visceral and vivid. The Butchering Art is a spectacular book—deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. Facebook is showing information to help you better understand the purpose of a Page. —Henry Marsh, bestselling author of Do No Harm"Electric. Answers about the Afterlife: A Private Investigator's 15-Year Research Unlocks the ... Cruising the Mediterranean: From the luminous canals of Amsterdam and Venice to the... Lindsey Fitzharris is the creator of the popular websites. The drama of Lister's mission to shape modern medicine is as exciting as any novel." . Do you love history and science? . Full of quirky facts, wry observations and gruesome details, this is a gripping book. By the 1820s, the architect Robert Smirke had begun construction of the new British Museum on Roget's street. ―Erik Larson, bestselling author of Dead Wake In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of nineteenth-century surgery and shows how it was transformed by advances made in germ theory and antiseptics between 1860 and 1875. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2018. The opening section which describes an operation pioneering the first use of ether is a bravura piece of stomach-turning prose. The Butchering Art is a spectacular book—deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Guided by Pasteur's findings that infection consisted of microbes and could be transmitted through the air and by contact, Lister spent years searching for an antidote to stop their spread. [Fitzharris] has an eye for morbid detail, visceral imagery and comic potential." Everything was contaminated with toxic substances, from the food that was consumed each day to the very water that people drank. You will race through it, wincing as you go, but never wanting to stop." While engaged with his own business, Joseph Jackson somehow found time to grind lenses himself and supply the mathematical calculations necessary for their manufacture to some of the leading makers of microscopes in London. In deftly capturing an 'epochal moment when medicine and science merged,' the author also offers an important reminder that, while many regard science as the key to progress, it can only help in so far as people are willing to open their minds to embrace change." She conjures up early operating theaters―no place for the squeamish―and surgeons, who, working before anesthesia, were lauded for their speed and brute strength. ―Bookish, A Publishers Weekly Picks Books of the Week, ". Life was a gift to be employed in honoring God and helping one's neighbor, not in the pursuit of frivolities. A fan of gruesome tales of medical mishaps? Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing Short-listed for the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize A Top 10 Science Book of Fall 2017, Publishers Weekly A Best History Book of 2017, The Guardian Warning: She spares no detail! So thankful for trailblazers like Joseph Lister, who had the courage to question the things accepted as facts in his time. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. )”“Atmospheric . Lindsey Fitzharris recounts the fascinating story of Joseph Lister, and his quest to improve the chances of patients undergoing surgery in 19th century Britain who, more often than not, died of post-operative infection. In deftly capturing an "epochal moment when medicine and science merged," the author also offers an important reminder that, while many regard science as the key to progress, it can only help in so far as people are willing to open their minds to embrace change. Must read for lovers of science and history alike. Unlike the foldaway versions that tourists tucked in their pockets and carried with them on trips to the seaside, the instrument before him was something altogether grander. In the first decade of the last century my grandmother, then a young medical student in London, heard Lord Lister lecture about the benefits of antisepsis in medical practice. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. . I read 25% of it before I forced myself to stop. He noticed how the blood slowly circulated through the surface of the limbs and over the back of the heart as the creature wriggled under his gaze. Definitely a must read for lovers of science and for those who aren’t faint of heart. —Erik Larson, bestselling author of Dead Wake and The Devil in the White City"With an eye for historical detail and an ear for vivid prose, Lindsey Fitzharris tells a spectacular story about one of the most important moments in the history of medicine: the rise of sterile surgery. He made it his mission to share his findings with a medical establishment clinging to old beliefs. To order a copy for £14.44 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime. --John J. Ross, The Wall Street Journal "[Fitzharris] paints a compelling portrait of a man of conviction, humor and, above all, humanity. It’s my great pleasure to unveil the trailer for THE BUTCHERING ART. The Butchering Art is thoroughly enjoyable." . The Butchering Art is a spectacular book—deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. I was absolutely riveted, start to finish. It didn’t feel like cut and dry historical facts. • The Butchering Art is published by Allen Lane. Churchyards were bursting at the seams with human remains, posing huge threats to public health. The Butchering Art Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine (Book) : Fitzharris, Lindsey : Winner, 2018 PEN/E.O. Thank you, Dr. Fitzharris, for this beautiful book, for all the research and effort that went into it, and for honouring Lister’s legacy so magnificently. Before then, many streets in London were effectively open sewers, releasing powerful (and often deadly) amounts of methane. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Within the space of a hundred years, London's population soared from one million to just over six million inhabitants in the nineteenth century. I learned two essential things reading ‘The Butchering Art.’ Society is benefited by the good health of all the individuals within it, and that innovation has been fought by the general population throughout human history. The Butchering Art is thoroughly enjoyable." Readers will learn how breakthroughs such as pasteurization and the use of ether as an anesthesia led to a greater comprehension of bacteria and infection. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. With gusto, Dr. Fitzharris takes us into the operating theaters of yore as Lister awakens to the true nature of the killer that turned so many surgeries into little more than slow-moving executions. You will race through it, wincing as you go, but never wanting to stop." It was sleek, handsome, powerful: a symbol of scientific progress. Lindsey Fitzharris Allen Lane, 2017, HB, 304pp, £16.99, 978-0241262498 From the start, Lindsey Fitzharris’s account of the life and times of surgeon Joseph Lister gleefully evokes the smells, sights, and sounds of mid-nineteenth century medicine. —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"A slightly gory, occasionally humorous, and very enjoyable biography of a man whose kindness, care, and curiosity changed medicine forever." The Butchering Art is a spectacular book - deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. Simplicity was the Quaker way of life. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Very few people who purchased a microscope during this period did so for serious scientific purposes. She paints the scene exactly as it would have been - which is certainly a shock when you think about how things are now! This was a radical approach inspired by French microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur’s discovery of bacteria. “Lister’s methods transformed surgery from a butchering art to a modern science, one where newly tried and tested methodologies trumped hackneyed practices,” Fitzharris writes. (Oct.), 06/15/2017Our understanding of health and medicine has developed rapidly in the last 200 years. ―Erik Larson, bestselling author of Dead Wake and The Devil in the White City"With an eye for historical detail and an ear for vivid prose, Lindsey Fitzharris tells a spectacular story about one of the most important moments in the history of medicine: the rise of sterile surgery. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, most microscopes were sold as gentlemen's toys. The Butchering Art is a spectacular book―deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. Never mind, it is gruesome enough with details of mistakes like a penis chopped off alongside a leg because, before ether, the patient was awake and speed was crucial. The very first time he looked down the barrel of a microscope, Lister marveled at the intricate world that had previously been hidden from his sight. He drew and labeled all the bones in the cranium, as well as those of the hands, from both the front and the back. He delighted in the fact that the objects he could observe under the magnifying lens were seemingly infinite. Through observation, experimentation, and a passion to keep patients alive, Lister eventually overcame the prevailing beliefs of his day and saved countless lives. [Fitzharris] has an eye for morbid detail, visceral imagery and comic potential." Lister was also preoccupied with a sheep's head that summer of 1841 and in the same letter declared, "I got almost all the meat off; and I think all the brains out ... [before] putting it into the macerating tub." You'll love this book - a  study about the addictive seduction of power. Dr. Fitzharris takes you on a journey of the past that traces the steps through history and outlines why we know what we know about the human body and the world that surrounds us. Trenches brimming with piss ran down the middle. He wrote to his father with glee, "It looks just as if [the frog] was going to take a leap," adding, conspiratorially, "Do not tell Mary about the piece of wood.". It is thanks to Lister's tenacity and belief in the efficacy of his techniques, despite widespread skepticism, that so many people today don't have to look at surgery as a possible death sentence. In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of nineteenth-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation.She conjures up early operating theaters--no place for the squeamish--and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who … ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"A slightly gory, occasionally humorous, and very enjoyable biography of a man whose kindness, care, and curiosity changed medicine forever." His father insisted that each of his children read to him in the mornings while he dressed. ... Those engaged in scientific researches constantly show us that they realize not less vividly, but more vividly, than others, the poetry of their subjects. They thought disease was created spontaneously and could not be stopped. These pioneers knew that the aftermath of surgery was often more dangerous than patients’ afflictions, and they were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. The Butchering Art is a spectacular book―deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. Some of it reads as the brutal relic of a vanished past; some of it reads as a brutal relic of the present.”—Genevieve Valentine, NPR"Readers interested in the medical field can’t go wrong with this one." —Kate Womersley, The Spectator“Fast-paced, thoroughly researched . After a long day's work, these same men carried on their clothes the ordure of their unholy profession back to the slums in which they lived. . The title: The Butchering Art, is misleading because it's a biography of Joseph Lister's life and not a history of surgery, as I thought. The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris is a 2017 Scientific American/Farrar Straus and Giroux publication. Warning: She spares no detail!" At this new institution, there were to be no religious stipulations. The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, Previous page of related Sponsored Products. —Ed Yong, bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes "The Butchering Art is medical history at its most visceral and vivid. [Fitzharris] infuses her thoughtful and finely crafted examination of this [antiseptic] revolution with the same sense of wonder and compassion Lister himself brought to his patients, colleagues, and students . It was the first university in the country that didn't require its students to attend daily Anglican church services — a fact that suited Lister quite well. Joseph Jackson toiled to fix this flaw and in 1830 showcased his achromatic lens, which eliminated the distracting halo. Slowly his fame spread and he was honoured as a giant in the history of medicine. What Lister saw, which his colleagues did not, was that doctors in the Victorian era were making people sick. With Alexander Tol, Perry Jaques, Declan Cooke, Adrian Bouchet. ―Ed Yong, bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes "The Butchering Art is medical history at its most visceral and vivid. Current price is $15.5, Original price is $17. of Montana Lib., Missoula. The Butchering Art. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine, The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery, The Sawbones Book: The Hilarious, Horrifying Road to Modern Medicine, Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages, The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth: And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine, Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew, It's Not the Trauma, It's the Drama: Stories by a Chicago Fire Department Paramedic, The Art of Fully Living: 1 Man. 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