The Butchering Art is medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris's first book. And what a book! Descriptions that bring the horrors of pre-anaesthesia, pre-antisepsis surgery shudderingly into view? Very definitely. Science and history? Oh yes, lots of it, and beautifully told. And through it all, the humanity and vision of Joseph Lister and others like him, working to […]
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words and ecology, ecology and words
I love words (to the extent that I've been known to peruse dictionaries for pleasure). The Story of English was one of my favourite TV programs, back (long way back) in the day. So of course when I saw positive reviews for Robert Macfarlane's book, Landmarks, of course I had to get hold of a […]
Continue readingfarewell, sir terry pratchett
Today I heard that one of my favourite authors, Sir Terry Pratchett, had died (at the relatively young age of 66). And I cried. In his Discworld novels he created a world full of the most amazing characters, and while their voices – and through them his – will continue to speak to us, their […]
Continue reading‘paleo’ diet? or paleofantasy?
The 'paleo' diet story on Campbell Live tonight spurred me to finish my review of one of the most entertaining popular books on genetics that I have read for some time. Entertaining, and informative, in equal measure. I wonder what author Marlene Zuk would have made of the TV story. Marlene Zuk (2013) Paleofantasy: what […]
Continue readinghelicobacter pylori and the complexity of the human microbiome
In their first-year microbiology lectures. our students hear about Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium associated with the development of gastric ulcers (a discovery that eventually saw Barry Marshall and Robin Warren receive the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physology or Medicine). The trouble is, I suspect that this is all that they hear about a story that […]
Continue readingjust like ‘alien’ – moray eels have *two* sets of jaws
Around 14 months ago the husband & I were spending a lazy holiday in Rarotonga. We did quite a bit of snorkelling on the reefs, and especially enjoyed our experiences at Muri, where we saw a good range of reef fish in near-ideal conditions (as in, clear, calm, relatively shallow water). There were several moray […]
Continue readingessays on our fascination with those who are different
Book Review: The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels by Jan Bondeson Cornell University Press, USA (2004) Paperback: i-xxii, 297 pages ISBN: 0-8014-8958-X RRP: US419.95 It's all Grant's doing, really. If he hadn't picked up on an off-hand comment of mine (relating to vipers in bosoms) & turned that into a catchy blog post, I quite probably […]
Continue readinggoat glands, greed, and gullibility
Book Review: Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam, by Pope Brock Price: US$14.95 Paperback: 324 pages Publisher: Three Rivers Press, New York, USA (2008) Language: English ISBN: 978-0-307-33989-8 […]
Continue readingthe drunken botanist
That’s the title of one of the books I’m reading at the moment: The Drunken Botanist, by Amy Stewart. (I do not know any drunken botanists!) Contrary to any expectations engendered by the title, the book is a thoroughly engaging wander through botany, history, & a little bar-tending (although, now that I look at the […]
Continue reading“the aviator” – a vision of the future that’s a little too close for comfort
I found the Herald’s front page this morning a sad and depressing read. My heart goes out to all those affected in some way by the terrible bush fires ravaging so much of Tasmania, Victoria, & New South Wales. I also had a certain sense of deja vu as I read of the fires – […]
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