medicine - popular books in this category at Reader2 libraryhttp://reader2.com/popular/medicineen<![CDATA[Flowers for Algernon]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/015603008X

Half.com - Buy and Sell Textbooks and more ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_1511_nobody<![CDATA[Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0393324826 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_3062_nobody<![CDATA[The Andromeda Strain]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0060541814 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_6219_nobody<![CDATA[The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 8)]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0064408663 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_515_nobody<![CDATA[The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0670894737 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_2220_nobody<![CDATA[The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0375760393 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_15641_nobody<![CDATA[Drums of Autumn]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/044022425X ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_1460_nobody<![CDATA[The Cider House Rules]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0345387651 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_8945_nobody<![CDATA[Voyager]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0440217563 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_1457_nobody<![CDATA[The Hot Zone : A Terrifying True Story]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0385479565 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_7503_nobody<![CDATA[Madness and Civilization : A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/067972110X ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_9613_nobody<![CDATA[Mind Wide Open : Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0743241665 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_10973_nobody<![CDATA[The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0374525641 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_24307_nobody<![CDATA[The Fasting Girl : A True Victorian Medical Mystery]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/1585421359 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_10888_nobody<![CDATA[The Demon in the Freezer]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0345466632 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_22896_nobody<![CDATA[The Physician]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0751503894
The first half of the book is my favorite. Rob, a boy orphaned at age 9, is taken in by a barber-surgeon. "Barber," as he calls himself, is a crude medic, entertainer, and seller of quack medicines, who does haircuts on the side. Rob is taken on as his assistant--as long as he can manage to learn how to juggle.

Eventually, Rob decides that medicine is his calling, and he wants to become a physician. Unfortunately, there aren't many places where one can study to be a physician in 11th-century Western Europe is not easy. There are some schools in France, but they mostly create quack doctors who are more interested in making money. The only *real* places to study medicine are in the Muslim East, and the schools are forbidden to Christians. So, Rob pretends to be a Jew and travels across a continent to reach the education he longs for.

The book is full of adventures (raids on elephants, plagues, a great race, politics, beatings, secret human dissections, and even romance).

At least one reviewer on Amazon complained about the historical accuracy of the book, and I'm inclined to believe him. The book takes place before the Norman invasion and the characters should have been speaking Old English and have Old English names, but this was not the case. I'm inclined to think that the author chose the first half of the 11th century because that was when the physician Ibn Sina was alive, and he wanted to time the story with the physician's life, but he didn't realize the difference that made to England.

So, don't trust this book to be absolutely historically accurate, but for an entertaining and interesting fiction novel, it's a great read.
]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_4011_nobody<![CDATA[For Her Own Good : 150 Years of the Experts' Advice to Women]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0385126514 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_1207_nobody<![CDATA[The Healing Nutrients Within: Facts, Findings, and New Research on Amino Acids]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/1591200377 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_2990_nobody<![CDATA[Why We Love : The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0805077960 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_3066_nobody<![CDATA[The Web That Has No Weaver : Understanding Chinese Medicine]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0809228408 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_14014_nobody<![CDATA[Let Them Eat Prozac: The Unhealthy Relationship Between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Depression]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0814736696 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_16891_nobody<![CDATA[The Far Side of the World]]>http://reader2.com/item/1f5ebe2369afdc930c675970654e6f54 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_20133_nobody<![CDATA[From Detached Concern to Empathy: Humanizing Medical Practice]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0195111192 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_2983_nobody<![CDATA[Faith, Madness, and Spontaneous Human Combustion : What Immunology Can Teach Us About Self-Perception]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0312268076 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_3050_nobody<![CDATA[Acupressure's Potent Points: a Guide to Self-Care for Common Ailments]]>http://reader2.com/item/asin/0553349708 ]]>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTitem_id_3183_nobody