Abstract
Neoarthistory written by John Onians (ISBN 978 0 30012 677 8) and published by Yale University Press considers the period from Aristotle to a current writer, Zeki. The book is written in a series of twenty-five chapters each of which deals with an individual worker, for example, Pliny the Elder in his famous Natural History is discussed and Semir Zeki's work on A Neurophysiology of Vision is discussed in the final chapter. Leonardo, Marx, Freud and others receive due recognition. This book is easy to handle and a pleasure to read.
Mary Slessor (1848–1915) Everybody's Mother. The Era and Impact of a Victorian Missionary (ISBN 978 1 55635 601 8) by Jeanette Hardage provides an extended biography of this missionary from Dundee. Hardage's paper on Slessor appeared in the Journal of Medical Biography and the cover of her book illustrates the image as seen on the Clydesdale Bank £10 note. An interesting story, well written and presented, which should fascinate those interested in missionary care.
Doctor of Love, James Graham and His Celestial Bed, (ISBN 978 1 84688 054 4) aptly summed up in the flyer and the dust jacket that reads: ‘Widely accepted as the world's first sex therapist, Dr Graham set out to bring the sublime into the sex life of every married couple. He guaranteed both ecstasy and fertility to the users of his infamous Celestial Bed, a contraption which harnessed all the most exciting developments of the Enlightenment. Electricity, magnetism, mind-altering gases and music all played a part in this astonishing invention, luxuriously designed to impart exquisite pleasure and produce perfect babies.’
The Woman who walked into the Sea: Huntington's and the Making of a Genetic Disease (ISBN 978 0 30010 502 5) by Alice Wexler. This is not a straightforward text book on Huntington's Disease but with copious references discusses the idea of inventing hereditary chorea and introduces us to Cornelia Huntington (1803–90) as a parent, novelist and aunt of George Huntington. The work discusses the social course of the disease as well as the genetics and the changing meanings of hereditary, disability, stigma and medical knowledge, not only in medicine but in science and those not involved professionally in medicine.
A Truly Happy and Affectionate Family, Life among the Denmans, Crofts and Baillies (1733–1847) by Rosemary Poole contains colour illustrations – a rare event considering the cost these days – but they enhance this interesting work published privately from the Dower House, 17A Knight Street, Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, CM21 9AT. This Derbyshire family has been studied extensively and is a tribute to an author who published privately.
Anecdotes of a Life of Contrasts (ISBN 978 1 84104 188 9) by John Hofmeyr is another publication from the Memoir Club. The anecdotes cover the period from the middle of World War I to the time after World War II. A family history with anecdotes presents a volume that can be picked up and read in short bites or read from cover to cover. Another biography to interest, amuse and provide learning points.
On the Shoulders of Giants – Eponyms and Names in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ISBN 978 1 90475 264 6) in its second edition written by Thomas Baskett. Published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Press, it is an excellent source of short biographies and images of those influential in the development of the specialty. Medical biographers will find this a very useful source book.
Mr Roscoe's Garden (ISBN 978 1 84631 166 6) is a beautiful hardback produced by Liverpool University Press. It is the story of the Liverpool Botanical Collection established in 1803. The artist, Jyll Bradley, has used photography, drawing and other images to construct a picture book with stunning images followed by an essay with, unusually, thumbnail copies of the images accompanying the text. Sadly re-housing of the collection in Liverpool now is needed urgently.
The name of Sir Arthur Porritt is well known and his biography entitled No Ordinary Man has been published by Graeme Woodfield and Joseph Romanos (ISBN 978 0 95828 395 3). With a foreword by Prince Philip, this biography provides multiple illustrations and colour pictures, quotations and the story of a fascinating life that will interest surgeons and non-surgeons alike.
Hospital histories appear from time to time and very recently The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital 1741-2006 has been published by Andrew Knox and Christopher Gardner-Thorpe. Available from The Coach House, la College Road, Exeter, EX1 1UK (£8.99 Paperback, £16.99 hardback each plus £2.50 post and packing). All profits will go to the Devon and Exeter Medical Society to fund medical research in Exeter.
Tilli Tansey has drawn attention to further references that might be of value to readers of biography in relation to two papers published in this journal. These are Geison, GL, Michael Foster and the Cambridge School of Physiology, the scientific enterprise in late Victorian society, published by Princeton University Press, and The Ashgate Research Companion to Thomas Lovell Beddoes (Nineteenth Century Series) by Berns U and Bradshaw M (eds), published by Ashgate.