THE HISTORY NEWS: MEDICINE
edited by Philip Gates & illustrated by Vanessa Card
The latest entry in the History News series covers the highlights of medicine, beginning 20,000 years ago with trepanning, and covering major figures such as Galen, Pasteur, and Nightingale, as well as such lesser known doctors as Susruta, who made wax noses for people who had lost their own as part of a ``familiar Indian punishment.'' The gimmick of the series, of course, is that each volume features ``reprints'' from back issues of newspapers, complete with fake ads, corny jokes, sensational headlines, and tabloid-style writing, but lacking in some important basics. Transfusion is covered, but without a word on AIDS; the miracle of antibiotics makes news, but not the development of antibiotic-resistant strains; the development of X rays sees print, but not the problems associated with radiation. In other words, this is a classic journalistic whitewash, with all the glories of medical discoveries, but none of the disgraces. The format, with full-color and black-and-white illustrations, is elaborate, but the content is weak. (index, not seen, diagrams, charts, chronology) (Nonfiction. 8-10)