Loved this book! Very informative and a fascinating history of drug use - prescribed or illicit. I appreciate the kid if commonly discussed drugs and those less known- now I know more about statins than before.

This book provides a history of drugs and medicines throughout history.
It is very inclusive and written in a style that allows everyone to follow, learn and understand.
Scientific names and procedures are all explained in a simple way.

I thought this book was full of curious and interesting information which I did not know before. It made me stop and think and research and appreciate the science that got us where we are today.

I didn't really enjoy the last part where the author goes into his own opinion about a certain drug and how the industry can suggest forcefully medicine on people. I understand that it is an important perspective to which we should pay attention to avoid being fooled, but it felt misplaced to me since the rest of the book is facts and history.

TEN DRUGS by Thomas Hager is subtitled "How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine" and Hager writes about both breakthroughs and unintended consequences of experimentation and development. In his Introduction, he stresses that "No drug is good. No drug is bad. Every drug is both." Leaving out more well-known drugs like penicillin and aspirin, Hager uses each of ten separate chapters to highlight the history of a drug (like CPZ, the first antipsychotic) or family of drugs (like statins), writing "my preference is for lively stories and memorable characters." For example, one chapter briefly covers efforts through the 1930s to isolate the hormone progesterone, outlines the continued research in the 1950s with support from Margaret Sanger and Katharine McCormick, and touches upon restraints from local laws and possible ethical concerns with regard to informed consent of patients. Hager then notes, "by 1967 [after FDA approval], thirteen million women around the world had taken some form of the Pill. The number of users today, with greatly improved formulations, tops one hundred million." Other chapters discuss opium, vaccines (especially smallpox), or chloral hydrate (knock-out drops). His summaries are indeed brief and readers will want to explore elsewhere for more details; what I found amazing, though, is our relative ignorance – even thirty years ago – about how some systems in the body work and therefore about how drugs might interact. TEN DRUGS received a starred review from Kirkus which commented also about how "nowadays, lifesaving drugs attract less attention than those that improve the quality of life."

Ten Drugs is as informative as it is entertaining.

The history of ten drugs or family of drugs and the influence on medicine and society they had is at the core of this book.

The financial aspects of the pharmaceutical industry were what I found most interesting.

A clearly and concisely written book, aimed at the lay reader, this is a great introduction to a fascinating and constantly evolving topic. In this volume Hager has deliberately chosen to look at drugs, or in some cases families of related drugs, that have changed the world of medicine, usually for the better, but also occasionally to the detriment of society. Among the drugs discussed are some expected molecules such as morphine and the development of antibiotic treatment, as well as the history of vaccination, the development of the contraceptive pill , the discovery of antipsychotics that fundamentally changed the treatment of those with mental illnesses previously deemed incurable , and even modern biotechnology based treatments for autoimmune disorders. The history behind these discoveries , be they serendipitous or due to scrupulous and painstaking research, makes for truly interesting reading , as does the discussion of their social impact. The author also scrutinised the financial ties between the medical and pharmaceutical industries, and made some very valid points about how this has shaped medical practice, not always for the best. I would recommended this book as the perfect introduction for anyone interested in the topic. I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Ten Drugs by Thomas Hager is a fascinating account of 10 drugs/classes of drugs that defined not only the history of medicine, as is suggested in the title, but also humanity's relationship with drugs throughout the last century. Amongst others, the author tells the story of opioids and the drug crises of yesteryear and today, the actual origins of vaccination, tales of antibodies and antibiotics, and the birth of Big Pharma. He narrates the history of each drug through the Seige cycle of honeymoon ("magic pills"), followed by nightmarish reports of the dangers and finally a balanced account of risks and rewards.
The book is aimed at the general reader, it's not very technical, as the author's intention is to entertain with interesting stories. Nonetheless he also cuts deep into serious issues regarding society's relationship with drugs, Big Pharma and the dangers associated with "magic pills". It's important to keep in mind that "every effective drug, without exception, also comes with potentially dangerous side effects".
I really loved this book and can only recommend it for anyone interested in the history of medicine and drug discovery.

A history of pharmacology that spotlights 10 drugs. Each drug is marketed as a wonder only to be undone by its side effects. Pros and cons to each one, yet it seems like people think there will still be a "magic bullet." Excellent.

Ten Drugs is a book that I enjoyed. I'm a chemist and so I find very difficult to find a book that talks about science and it's written well. In my opinion it's not important to explain every single detail to a general audience, the really important thing is to be clear and don't write blatantly wrong things.
The best thing of this book is Hager's writing style, which easy to understand and accessible to every reader. I also appreciated that there were few personal opinions expressed throughout the book, because I prefer to read from an objective point of view when I read the history of something (yes, I know this is not a chronological history of the pharmaceutical and medical industry, but even if the chapters are divided by subject they made a sort of history of medicine and humankind, since those discoveries were part of the driving force that changed society and the human condition).
This is a book that a reader without pharmaceutical knowledge can fully appreciate and can even entertain people with a deeper knowledge of the subject.

A wonderful book on drugs and their impact on society

I had read “Alchemy of Air” by Thomas Hager and so I had high expectations for “10 Drugs” and I wasn’t the least bit disappointed. The book has everything I like: clearly explained medicine and science, lots of history, and social implications of the drugs. Hager’s appraisal is honest - he thinks drugs are a good thing but that the drug companies are much less so. Hager is a great writer, and as with some of the drugs in the book, his writing is addictive. The book was hard to put down. I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in medicine and its history.

Ten Drugs is an entertaining, yet informative look at a number of drugs that have shaped medical history and today's world. This isn't a scholarly history of the pharmaceutical industry, but rather a collection of chapters about a variety of drugs that have shaped medical history. This book is a nicely written (and fascinating) introduction to the history of drug discovery and medicine, as well as providing information on how the pharmaceutical industry evolved and functions. Each chapter deals with a specific group of drugs and are bound together by common themes such as drug evolution, growth of the pharmaceutical industry, changing public attitudes and changes in medical practices and laws. Chapters are devoted to the following topics: opium; smallpox and vaccinations; chloral hydrate (the first totally synthetic drug and original date rape drug); herion, opiates and addiction; the not so "magic bullet" antibiotics; antipsychotics; lifestyle drugs, viagra, and birthcontrol; opioids; statins; and monoclonal antibodies. The book concludes with a look at the future of drugs, with personalized and digitized medicine.

Hager states that this book is aimed at people who know a little about drugs and want to learn more. In this regard, Hager has succeeded in writing a book that is (in my opinion) accessible, entertaining, informative and interesting, to the general public. I particularly appreciated the author's (mostly) objective and clear writing style.