Strange Medicine: A History of Medical Remedies by John Farndon and Venitia Dean is a children's non fiction book. Many of today's illnesses are often treated with a prescription for medication. But long ago, people battled sicknesses with roots, plants, and even bugs. Learn more about early remedies and the seemingly strange ways people tried to cure illnesses. This book combines visuals and concise explanations of historical illnesses, accepted cures, and various other tidbits of information relating to the history of medicine.

Strange Medicine: A History of Medical Remedies is well organized with a combination of photographs and illustrations that help interest the audience and support the information in the text. The language used is clear and concise, giving information and entertainment mixed in together. The information is engaging and entertaining, with bits of weird facts (often involving pee or poop) that will appeal to those more interested in gross or silly facts of humor. I like that the medical history and odd facts included are not only about one area, culture, age or gender. More importantly, at no point is the information mocking of the people or practices. I think the blend of information and entertainment is very well done, and it is clear that the authors know their audience, and what will keep them engaged and reading.

Strange Medicine: The Sickening History of Medicine is a fun and informative collection of medical history complete with images that further interest and engage readers of all ages.

Like many non-fiction books aimed at young readers, this is more a collection of trivia than any real informative text. It relies somewhat on the gross-out factor of folk remedies but Farndon takes pains not to be overly graphic. The text is gentle enough for an upper elementary reader. Use this one to what a child's scientific appetite.

Incredibly enlightening and entertaining book that I learned a lot from.

This book was interesting but a little simplistic- so on a number of occasions I found myself thinking "that's not strictly true" - making the book a bit frustrating. Illustrations a little garish. Don't see this becoming a favorite.

Strange Medicine: The Sickening History of Medicine by John Farndon, illustrated by Venitia Dean, is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to that “sickening history,” with a good number of positive elements but a few slips that mar its overall effect, though not enough to prevent me from recommending it.

To begin with the positives, the premise — explaining not simply the history of medicine but instead the ways in which some of the historical “cures” were absolutely horrific or crazy to our modern minds — is I’d say a more interesting, especially for younger readers, entry into the topic. And Farndon knows his audience, as there is more than one reference to the use of urine and feces (or “pee” and “poop” in the book’s vernacular) for medicinal purposes, not to mention a brief history of the enema, all of which is sure to elicit groans and giggles. Another plus is the wide net the book casts across cultures (not just Western medicine but Chinese and Arab as well), time (ancient, medieval, 19th and 20th Centuries, and contemporary), and gender.

The slips for me came via a few different aspects. One is that it felt a bit strange to have a few paragraphs devoted to syphilis for a kid’s book. Granted, it was a major disease that had wide-ranging and long-running impact, but the list of such diseases in human history is long and so a sexually-transmitted disease seemed an odd choice given the audience. The book also seemed to veer off course now and then or be at times awkwardly organized/constructed. For instance, at times it felt like this wanted to be a straight history of medicine and at other times it felt more like what its title spoke to — a history of the weird and not-so-effective medicines. Another example is when one page has a paragraph that discusses how aspirin is made of salicin, which is found in willow trees and other plants, followed by a paragraph on how someone used willow bark to soothe the victims of “ague” (most likely malaria), and then this flow is interrupted by a paragraph on laudanum before returning to a paragraph on aspirin, but one which repeats that it is made of salicin (to be fair, this seems a miss not only by the author but by the editor as well). There’s also a page toward the end that just seems to throw a bunch of random examples of ancient medicine at the reader, zigzagging in time and usefulness. This sort of thing didn’t happen often, but it does detract here and there from the book’s effectiveness.

As for the visuals, Dean’s images are consistently simple, clear and often brightly colorful. There is also a nice mix of still depictions of bottles, plants, and the like along with more active images, such as a monk using a mortar and pestle, Beethoven pounding the keyboard, or a pair of doctors recoiling form a patient’s urine sample (there’s that pee again . . . ).

Despite a few missteps, Strange Medicine: The Sickening History of Medicine is a lively, informative, and fun bit of history, complemented by vivid and engaging illustrations, making it a good pick up for young readers either to be read on their own or as a read-aloud (something that might come in handy particularly with a sick-in-bed child, especially one who doesn’t want to take their medicine — you can tell them “At least it isn’t monkey poo!”

Strange Medicine by John Farndon is a children's book about medicines used in the past for diseases, disorders, and injuries.

This is a very intriguing book about the history of medicine that will help kids understand that it wasn't as easy to treat people's conditions as it is today. This book is definitely not for the faint of heart! There were some pretty disgusting methods used in the past, from roots to animals and everything in between. What's fascinating is how some of these outlandish methods led to some pretty important medicines that we use today.

We enjoyed all the information with detailed illustrations. The book goes over apothecaries, how plants helped us create medicines, mold to medicine, medicine through time, and even a few wives tales and legends. We also found the glossary and index very useful.

It's a great book for classrooms, libraries, and for anyone who wants to know about the history of remedies.

4****

This is a colourful and attractive book for children about various medicines throughout history. From the moment I opened the book I could imagine it on my bookshelf in my year five class! The information is put into bitesize sections with beautiful illustrations so it is easy to flick through and dip in and out of.

I Love that Florey and Chain are mentioned in the Penicillin section with cute diagrams.