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Title: Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas Starr ISBN: 0-688-17649-6 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This book is the bible of research and information on blood
Comment: I originally took this book out of my local library to do a research project for my final exam in History. Since the culmination of my research, I have rented this book three more times in to read it for my own enjoyment. The topic of blood is purely fascinating. Starr has brilliantly written a book that informs the reader of important issues, as well as being entertaining and thought provoking. The reader gets a profound understanding of the importance of blood that spans from the 17th century, though World Wars, and through current problems with AIDS in the world's blood supply. I have never read a nonfiction book that has kept my attention as acutely as this one. This book is truly one that you'll want to keep.
Rating: 5
Summary: A trail, quite literally, of blood
Comment: Who knew that a book about transfusions and blood in medical history would turn out to be such a fascinating read? Starr works from the 17th century (with occasional visits to even earlier times) forward to the current environment of blood as monetary commodity.
Scintillating, thought-provoking, disturbing, and even amusing, the storytelling does justice to the story. Brilliant people discovered amazing things about this liquid that keeps us alive, and Starr encapsulates the many discoveries extremely well.
If you enjoy social history writing at all, you will likely appreciate BLOOD: AN EPIC HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND COMMERCE.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good book but makes many omissions
Comment: I borrowed this book from the library to help me with a lengthy article that I am writing on the history of blood banking. If I wasn't doing in-depth research, like combing through medical journals and scientific papers, I would have given this book 5 stars. However, Starr makes many omissions and skips vital facts, and I fail to understand why. For example, he credits Richard Lewisohn with discovering the use of sodium citrate, to keep blood from coagulating. However, nowhere does he mention that Lewisohn was not the first to use it in a successful transfusion. Two doctors published results right before he did, and another one gave a talk to the Nationl Acaademy of Sciences a month before Lewisohn published his results. Lewisohn is credited with finding the perfect formulation, and that is where credit is due. But Starr makes it seem that Lewisohn was the only one doing this research.
He completely leaves out the work of Rous and Turner, who first used glucose to expand the life of red blood cells--a necessity in blood banking. He also completely omitted WW I--amazing! That's when the very first blood depot was set up and stored blood was used for the first time.
I've found that he has embellished some personalities and downplayed others. He made it sound like no one was doing blood transfusions until Carrel's fateful night when he saved the baby, but in fact, they were being performed.
Anyway, this is a good book and I am surprised to find these glaring flaws in it. I found it useful as a background for my research, but I don't understand why he chose to write it this way.
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Title: Bad Blood: Crisis in the American Red Cross by Judith Reitman ISBN: 0786005084 Publisher: Pinnacle Books Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blood Saga: Hemophilia, AIDS, and the Survival of a Community by Susan Resnik ISBN: 0520211952 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Dailey's Notes on Blood by John F. Dailey ISBN: 0963181963 Publisher: Medical Consulting Group Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: History of the Cross by Henry Dana, M.A. Ward, Henry Dana Ward, Paul Tice ISBN: 1585090565 Publisher: Book Tree Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach ISBN: 0393050939 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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