Author:Roy Porter
Mankind's battle to stay alive is the greatest of all subjects. This brief, witty and unusual book by Britain's greatest medical historian compresses into a tiny span a lifetime spent thinking about millennia of human ingenuity in the quest to cheat death. Each chapter sums up one of these battlefields (surgery, doctors, disease, hospitals, laboratories and the human body) in a way that is both frightening and elating. Startlingly illustrated, A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE is the ideal presentfor anyone who is keenly aware of their own mortality and wants to do something about it. It is also a wonderful memorial to one of Penguin's greatest historians.
Penrose is truly one of the world's leading mathematical physicists. Genuinely magnificent and stimulating
—— Scotland on SundayScience needs more people like Penrose, willing and able to point out the flaws in fashionable models from a position of authority, and to signpost alternative roads to follow
—— IndependentThis is a tour de force that is unlikely to be bettered this decade
—— Financial TimesCaptivating... An evolutionary biologist with interesting and amusing things to tell us
—— Wall Street JournalEye-popping, filthy and funny
—— Literary ReviewIn this witty account of his year, Hickman discusses matters that are of importance to us all...
—— Glasgow HeraldThis is the book you need to kick-start a green and guilt-free lifestyle.
—— V MagazineHis account of the year is very entertaining.
—— Colchester Evening Gazette