Abstract
Following Charcot: A Forgotten History of Neurology and Psychiatry (ISBN 978 3 805595 568) rehearses some of the history of Charcot's work in Paris and considers others who were taught by him, including many of the famous names in neurology. There is a list of his house officers and short biographies, and pictures of many of his pupils (but not all). The volume is well produced, very readable, well laid out and with plenty of references.
Katharine Hodgkin has published Women, Madness and Sin in Early Modern England. The Autobiographical Writings of Dionys Fitzherbert (ISBN 978 0 75463018 0), published by Ashgate Publications. This series of contemporary editions comprises volumes about The Early Modern English Woman, 1500–1750. This volume is a pleasure to hold and read as are so many of Ashgate Publications. The book is well referenced and footnotes are so much easier to read than endnotes in a book of this sort. It is a worthy addition to the series.
Bodysnatchers to Lifesavers, Three Centuries of Medicine in Edinburgh by Tara Womersley and Dorothy H Crawford has been published by Luath Press in Edinburgh (ISBN 1 906817 588). A pleasant hardback and well illustrated, it discusses influential figures in the history of medicine in Edinburgh including a chapter on four men famous beyond medicine. These are James Hutton, Joseph Black, Charles Darwin and Arthur Conan Doyle. It is a pleasant and informative read.
Eric Arnott has written A new Beginning in Sight (ISBN 0 9548786 0 4) with a foreword by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. This autobiography discusses the evolution of surgery in ophthalmology.
Those who enjoy biography will be intrigued by those who write and enjoy music. Neurological aspects of music have generated much discussion and a recent book by Philip Ball, The Music Instinct – how music works and why we can't do without it (ISBN 978 1 847920 881) published by The Bodley Head in London, will intrigue particularly those with a more scientific bent. Well-illustrated with musical notation, this new hardback published in 2010 provides within more than 400 pages a fascinating analysis.
Doctor by Nature – Jonathan Couch: Surgeon of Polperro (ISBN 978 0955954 122) published by Polperro Heritage Press in Worcestershire is written by Jeremy Rowett Johns who established the Press in 2000. He writes about a Cornish doctor who had an enquiring and comprehensive naturalist's interest. Jonathan Couch (1789–1870) was the forerunner of the Quiller Couch family – from his son bearing that name without the hyphen. Well illustrated and beautifully produced, this is another very helpful edition to the books we have on medical biography.
The Dying and the Doctors – The Medical Revolution in Seventeenth-Century England is a book by Ian Mortimer from the University of Exeter (ISBN 978 0 861933 020), one of the studies in history from the Royal Historical Society. It has a sociological content dealing with medical practice and nursing, and with particular emphasis on East Kent and Central Southern England. It is a well-produced hardback.
John Shaw has written A Fortunate Apprentice (ISBN 978 1 841045 061) published as a very pleasant hardback by the Memoir Club of Durham as part of their series of such topics. He describes his studies as a medical student at Guy's during the war and later he assisted Norman Dott with the first operation in the new theatre in Edinburgh in 1960. Shaw's time in India is covered as are many other events along the road of his life and the images enhance the text.