Dr. Craddock presents the “story of medicine“ in painstakingly researched detail, not surprising considering he earned his doctorate by exploring “how transplants have for centuries invited reflection on human identity”.

Transplant surgery and space exploration exploded in the mid 20th century. The first successful heart transplant by Dr. Christian Bernard in Cape Town, South Africa was only two years before astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon.

But long before either event could happen, scientists explored and learned the basics of astronomy and of medicine. Before physicians could even begin to think about moving organs around, they needed to know what organs are in the body, what they do, and how they interact. One crucial step was understanding the circulatory system and the role of blood, which was “still entangled with ancient humoral and religious ideas.”


Thus Dr. Craddock begins his narrative in 16th century Renaissance Italy where surgeons first mastered skin transplants, or grafting techniques, to replace lost noses. And he goes back in time to the ancient Greeks where we encounter the teachings of Galen and Hippocrates.

Thousands of years before organized medicine, schools, and hospitals, people began investigating the human body by observing and experimenting on plants and animals, sometimes in ways we consider unethical now. Their motives ranged from curiosity, to compassion, to commercial.


In this book you will learn such fascinating facts as

Early blood transfusions involved animal blood infused into people- and was often successful, at least for a short time.

The first dental procedure was tooth extraction; and implantation of “donor” teeth became quite lucrative.

“The tooth transplants were the first exchanges of body parts to become heartless financial transactions.“

The differing definitions of death in each country played a role in the first heart transplant being done in South Africa instead of the United States

A pharmaceutical company made a breakthrough anti-rejection drug from fungal spores; soil samples containing the fungus had immune suppressive properties

The first kidney “transplant” was done by taping a kidney to the patient’s arm after attaching the blood vessels to her existing diseased kidney

By understanding vaccination, scientists developed the technique for blood typing, making blood transfusion safe.

In Iran, it is legal to sell one’s kidney. After all, “one kidney is enough.”


History and medicine buffs will recognize many familiar names like Aristotle, Galen, Copernicus, Boyle, Boerhaave, Harvey, Jenner, Lindbergh, Bernard, and Cooley. But the majority of characters are previously unknown, unsung players in the search for the mystery of human life.

“The story of transplantation is not merely..technical progress..but a primarily human journey….about how we understand our bodies, and our relationships with one another and with ourselves.”

One caveat for this book; although Dr Craddock tells his story tastefully it may not be appropriate for those who are squeamish about medical or bodily descriptions. I found some of the narrative convoluted at times, getting lost in the details. For those who like to delve deeply into historical narrative be warned that it's not a quick read but well worth the time and effort for serious students of medical history.

NetGalley and St Martin’s Press supplied a digital copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I was unable to write a full review of this title but I previewed this book in my post: https://www.mwgerard.com/books-for-june-22/

I thought this fascinating and compulsively readable and clearly well researched. It laid out the history of transplant surgery without getting too bogged down in the technical side of things. In fact, it functioned more as a history of ideas and I found the most interesting parts to be the discussions about how scientific and religious philosophies have related to the concept of transplants.

Craddock separates the book into chapters that focus on a time period as well as a body part being transplanted, from skin to blood to teeth to organs, like kidneys and hearts. He then ends with a short chapter on possible futures which include some comments on really fascinating experiments in transplant surgery as well as the critical lack of viable organs to be used in transplants in particular he compares the modern poor's selling of kidneys to the sale of teeth talked about earlier in the book.

Spare Parts is a very readable history of the evolution of transplants of human body parts, from skin grafts through heart/lung and covering many centuries. Craddock gives us the science involved in an accessible manner. The entire book is my favorite kind of history, full of social, political and cultural context. From earliest times, we receive stories about the scientists and inventors who figured out what worked. We learn the impact on human lives from both the donors 'and the recipients' and the surgeons' perspectives. At its worst, we find that in fact there are stories of people's organs being stolen and of dirt poor children in England selling their teeth so the rich could have prettier smiles, only to find tooth transplants either don't work or don't last long. At its best, we learn about the invention of dialysis by a Dutch researcher and successful kidney transplants.

I am old enough to remember Dr. Christian Barnard and the first heart transplant, the handsome guy who was as much a celebrity at the time as he was a renowned surgeon. This book has great illustrations. Tantalizes us with current research that includes a picture of a spinach leaf with heart cells growing on it. Horrifies us with the number of animals who died in the many experiments that led to this work. Craddock writes with mostly a "this is what happened" and "this eventually was the backlash," manner. But he can't help expressly recognizing the values of those who crossed serious ethical and inhumane boundaries to get where we are. He writes with humor, compassion and makes everything very, very personal. I'd love to sit around and hear him talking in a living room at a pot luck dinner about his work. Well done!

Author Paul Craddock has assembled a well written, thoroughly researched, interesting, and entertaining book all about the history of transplantation. From its humble beginnings to modern surgical suite and research lab, he leads the reader along with easy to understand (but far from simple) prose. Illustrations are helpful and informative. Especially important are the changes in thinking about the human body, (both generally, and specifically the donor and recipient patients) and Craddock tracks them effectively with examples of early doctors, experimenters, promoters, and madmen.

I wasn't sure what to think of the concept at first, but Craddock's voice made reading about transplants one part gruesome and three parts astoundingly interesting. Definitely one of my nonfiction favourites of the year, though not for those out there who might be a little squeamish. His dedication to being accurate and even at times more historical than necessary made for a fantastic read, and I'll be keeping him in my list.

I didn’t think I would really like this book as much as I did, it even made me cry. Just thinking that if it wasn’t for Willem Johan Kolff who started dialysis for kidney and artificial heart, I wouldn’t have known my grandad. Paul Craddock, the author, wrote that even the Layman could understand it. He even narrates his own book which I loved. I have learned a lot about transplants then I knew that was out there. Spare Parts has me wanting to read more about
medical history and where it started.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for letting me review this book.

What an incredible ride through medical history ! Who knew how dark and sinister as well as full of hope and light the history of transplants could be? Well written and heavily researched this was a wonderfully written book. You will have a hard time putting it down as I was glued to it This author is a talented story teller and a reader of history . This is my first adult level non fiction book I have been given to review on Netgalley.
For those of you sensitive to stories about animal experimentation just a slight warning . Though I understand the reasoning behind describing these experiment it was slightly hard for me to get past those parts . However in the end it made me appreciate how much has truly been sacrificed in the name of scientific advancement .

Do you know about transplant surgeries of the past? And how and where it all started? And have you heard about Waterloo teeth, skin grafts for the nose and the birth of blood transfusions and dialysis. If not, then you’re in for a treat. And did I mention the unique photos?!
I love the cover and loved the history of transplants. The subject matter held my attention and I learned a few things, not all good.
Things to look up about:
• Barber Poles
• Tooth worms
• Vitalism
This just scratched the surface on this fascinating topic but throughly entertaining. I highly recommend it.
Thanks St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

I left my review on Amazon, Instagram, B&N, kobo, GR and FB.

I have read many medical history books, but this was the first one where the emphasis was more on the history than the medicine and I found it refreshing.

“Spare Parts” is a journey through the history of transplants from the earliest nose transplants to the latest full-face transplants. As I mentioned, the focus was on the history surrounding the transplants, giving the reader (especially myself as I don’t consider myself a historian of any kind) a full understanding of how the medicine (in this case, transplants) came about and how they fit into society.

Whereas most of the book is written with the history as the focus, the last chapter of the book didn’t quite have the same historical texture as the previous chapters, perhaps because the history of other transplants (bone marrow, face, etc.) were too “new” and the history still being written.

As someone who has read many medical history texts, I was surprised that the author, when discussing Dr Hermann Boerhaave didn’t mention his eponymous description of Boerhaave’s syndrome -- the spontaneous esophageal rupture of the esophagus. I admit that I read the first half of the book while my husband was undergoing cancer surgery so it’s possible, I may have missed it.

Despite this, the book is an excellent read and I very much appreciated how author Craddock was able to present such a detailed historical background to the medical investigations and implementations. I would caution readers that some of the experiments are a bit on the gory side and even I was taken aback at some of the details.

I would recommend this book to both history enthusiasts as well as medical history fans as it is totally worth the read.


4/5 stars

Spare Parts tells the true, and frequently bloody, story of how mankind began transplanting skin, blood, teeth and organs from person to person.

It began with noses. Noses were lost frequently in the past due to duels, war injuries, criminal punishments, and venereal disease. Using tree grafting as a model, doctors used metal nose forms that were covered with a flap of skin still attached to the person’s forearm. The poor noseless person was forced to wear a metal brace for weeks holding his arm to his face. Eventually, the nose skin attached to the face and was cut from the arm. Being noseless must have been terrible if so many patients were willing to attempt this odious cure.

It may end with plants too. Some of the latest transplant ideas involve using the scaffolds of spinach plants to grow skin or grafting scaffolds from both plants and animals with human cells. I am Groot, indeed!

I began reading Spare Parts because a family member had a liver transplant recently. I never expected to be so fascinated by the history of transplants. Or to be so enchanted with its future. 4 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

When I attempted to open the downloaded book it would not load and I did not feel it would be fair to rate this low if i was unable to open the book as it feel that is a technical issue. I like the concept a lot and think it would make for an interesting read!

In all seriousness this book was fascinating! It answers such questions as:
“How did an architect help pioneer blood transfusion in the 1660's?
Why did eighteenth-century dentists buy the live teeth of poor children?
And what role did a sausage skin and an enamel bath play in making kidney transplants a reality?”

An impressive amount of research went into this book. Craddock delves into the science, sociology and religion behind medicine and transplants. You don’t need any sort of medical background to enjoy and understand this book. Craddock makes the information accessible for everyone without feeling like anything is watered down.

It amazed me how far we have come since the middle ages, with most of the advances happening in the not so distant past. There is a good deal of humor injected into the text, which makes sense considering some of the absurd beliefs that were held regarding the human body. For example, attempting to resuscitate a drowned person by blowing air or smoke into his/her anus in hopes that this would animate his/her “vital principle”.

One of the most interesting sections is the future of transplantation, which includes a 3D-printed material known as bioglass that can be used to encourage bone growth. Scientists have even seeded a spinach leaf with human heart cells through a process called decellularization. The scaffolding of plant vascular systems are remarkably similar to our own. How amazing!

The toughest part about the book is all of the animal experimentation and vivisection that is discussed. None of it was a surprise to me, especially since I briefly worked in lab animal research, but it may upset some readers.

Thanks so much to @stmartinspress for the gifted ARC and @netgalley for the e-galley!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of Spare Parts by Paul Craddock to review.

Such an interesting introduction to transplant surgery. This well-researched book starts in the 1600s and moves through the centuries to present day. Plant grafts and nose jobs (even back then they were done), politics, teeth transplanted from poor kids to the mouths of the rich, why barbers were surgeons and a seamstress who taught a doctor her skills so that he and those that followed could better stitch organs into bodies. These are only a few of the things I learned on what influenced transplants while reading this book. A notes, bibliography, index section and illustrations are also included. Truly a fascinating read if you are interested in transplants and how they evolved.

Pub date: 5/10/22
Genre: nonfiction, history of medicine
In one sentence: Transplant surgery has been around since ancient times - here's its untold history.

If you like history of science/medicine and aren't squeamish, this is the book for you! It was wild reading about how surgeons tried to do transplants before knowing anything about blood groups or self/non-self in the immune system. Author Paul Craddock does a great job telling an unvarnished history - I especially enjoyed the sections on teeth transplantation fueled by tooth "donations" from the lower class, egos surrounding the first heart transplants, and the early beginnings of dialysis. He connects everything back to the question of whether organs are indeed "spare parts" for the "machines" of our bodies, and it really made me think!

Thanks St. Martin's Press for providing a NetGalley ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Review posted to Goodreads and Instagram 5/8/22.

This book has a super interesting premise and the topic intrigued me.. I enjoyed the different topics it discusses and how the transplant matter has its origins from folklore and myths too. I loved reading those! Unfortunately, after reading two chapters (these are long chapters), I wasn't able to finish the book. While the research was in-depth and phenomenal, the presentation of the facts was dry. This was most probably a me-problem. Please do not let my review deter you from picking up this book! There is a lot of good information in this book!

Pub Date: May 10th, 2022

***Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this gifted review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.***

I have to admit, I was wary about this book. I normally don't make it very far into books on science before my eyes glazing over and I feel like I'm back in freshman year bio.

Well, I was dead wrong. I loved this book. Paul Craddock's Spare Parts is more than just a history of medicine. It's also part sociology, a little bit of religion, and not a small amount of comedy. The story chronicles all of the parts of science and medicine as they come together to finally bring us to present day (and possible future) transplants.

I can't stress how many tones Craddock balances throughout the book. He gives you just enough science to understand what is happening without overdoing it. He praises many of his characters without shying away from the fact that some of them were really bad people otherwise. (Doctors could be narcissists? Who knew?!) Craddock plays it right down the middle and it makes for an easy and very entertaining experience.

Oh, and the poor animals. If you are squeamish...well you might been in for a rough time. In the end, it's worth it, though.

(This book was provided to me as an advance copy by Netgalley and St. Martin's Press. The full review will be posted to HistoryNerdsUnited.com on 5/10/2022.)

Was never able to read this because it wasn't available for kindle! That said. it looks interesting and I appreciate the ARC. Thanks to Netgalley.

Today we take things like dental surgery and medical transplants for granted. We get our blood tested before transplants. These weren't always a given, and the new book Spare Parts: The Story of Medicine Through the History of Transplant Surgery by Paul Craddock explores the world of transplants.  Craddock shows the origins of things like skin grafting, stem cell transplants, dental surgery, and even the really frightening idea of animal blood transplants to human beings to try and given them those characteristics.

Spare Parts is written intelligently, but in a way that is easily accessible to everyone. Be prepared for some pretty startling origins for modern procedures. For those who love medical history and the weird world around us, Spare Parts is a must read.

Spare Parts is available May 10, 2022.

I really enjoyed this book that walks us through the past of early medicine to transplants as they are today. I often was reminded of Sawbones. We believed a lot of weird things! This is written expertly, but it also has a lot of humor. I really enjoyed the figures thrown in. One of my favorites has to be the one with the descriptor "Two men attempting to resuscitates a drowned woman by blowing into her anus."

I am in the medical field, but I really don't think you have to have any background in medicine to enjoy this book. Very little of this was part of any training I had. I certainly never learned about transfusions between different animals, for example.

This is definitely a 5 star read for me, and also a very quick read. Thank you netgalley and St. Martin's press for giving me an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.