A sad but fascinating story of centuries of missed opportunities, unnecessary suffering and misplaced faith in outlandish remedies. Nick Rennison, Sunday Times Culture The historical catastrophe of medicine has never been so excitingly and stirringly told. Druin Birch, Times Literary Supplement David Wotton [creates] a genuinely thrilling adventure out of the abysmal failings of doctors over the past 2000 years. Druin Birch, Times Literary Supplement A very stimulating and thought-provoking book. Theodore Dalrymple, Sunday Telegraph Ought to be required reading for every first year medical student. British Medical Journal lucid, elegantly written and pleasingly slim book Will Cohu, Sunday Telegraph

INTRODUCTION: BAD MEDICINE/BETTER MEDICINE; PART ONE: THE HIPPOCRATIC TRADITION; 1. Hippocrates and Galen; 2. Ancient Anatomy; 3. The Canon; 4. The Senses; CONCLUSION TO PART I: THE PLACEBO EFFECT; PART TWO: REVOLUTION POSTPONED; 5. Vesalius and Dissection; 6. Harvey and Vivisection; 7. The Invisible World; CONCLUSION TO PART II: TRUST NOT THE PHYSICIAN; PART THREE: MODERN MEDICINE; 8. Counting; 9. Birth of the Clinic; 10. The Laboratory; 11. John Snow and Colera; 12. Puerperal Fever; 13. Joseph Lister and Antiseptic Surgery; 14. Alexander Fleming and Penicillin; CONCLUSION TO PART III: PROGRESS DELAYED; PART FOUR: AFTER CONTAGION; 15. Doll, Bradford Hill, and Lung Cancer; 16. Death Deferred; Conclusion