Quackery

By Lydia Kang, Nate Pedersen,

Book cover of Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything

Book description

A tour of medicine's most outlandish misfires, Quackery dives into 35 "treatments", exploring their various uses and why they thankfully fell out of favour - some more recently than you might think. Looking back in horror and a dash of dark humour, the book provides readers with an illuminating lesson…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Quackery as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I scoured this book for strange and dangerous remedies people used to administer and it didn’t disappoint. Arsenic, mercury, bloodletting, to name a few. When I read about leeches used to treat painful menstruation, I put the book down… to add that gem into my fiction, of course. Interesting stories, great illustrations, great learning, and fun.

From Alina's list on making you glad for modern medicine.

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