This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The author uses retelling of historic surgeries as a springboard to explain different concepts or developments in surgery. His technical explanations of surgical procedures or advances are completely clear, yet never felt as if they were “dumbed down” for this non-medical reader.

I was slightly taken aback by the tone of the placebo chapter, which felt more judgemental than the more usual authorial tone of the rest of the book, but that is a minor quibble. I particularly enjoyed the Epilogue, where he uses the examples of ten doctors from science fiction to predict what he sees as upcoming changes in the field of surgery.

Altogether a highly recommended read.

I read an advanced reading copy from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley. Thanks!

In very graphic anecdotes, van de Laar offers a tour of the major turning points in surgery--laproscopy, germ theory, anesthetics, castration, gangrene and Herodotus comparing Egyptian and Persian skulls. In each case, he highlights a famous case (like George VI's at home lunch cancer surgery), explains modern procedure, context and the evolution of the medical field around it.

I'm amazed at the high rating of this book on Amazon. I must not have been reading the same book.. Far from the interesting read I had hoped, the book is dry and hops around from subject to subject - first starting about what lead up to the surgery being discussed, then often to the history surrounding the subject, then sometimes discussing the surgeons themselves, then back to the surgery, I had hoped for some interesting dinner-party type tidbits, but it's just incredibly dry and uninteresting, at least for me. I would give this one a pass.

This book was a very good in-depth look at various surgeries and how the surgical tehcnique has progressed. I could not put this book down. The information packed into this gem of a book, is very interesting. Also, the tidbits about how various surgeries were done in the past and some of the things are done during surgery, ie: the cold water on a heart to stop it, was amazing. I highly recommend this book and look forward to more from this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book.