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Start giftingStrange Medicine
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Learn moreNow published in five languages, Strange Medicine casts a gimlet eye on the practice of medicine through the ages that highlights the most dubious ideas, bizarre treatments, and biggest blunders. From bad science and oafish behavior to stomach-turning procedures that hurt more than helped, Strange Medicine presents strange but true facts and an honor roll of doctors, scientists, and dreamers who inadvertently turned the clock of medicine backward:
● The ancient Egyptians applied electric eels to cure gout.
● Medieval dentists burned candles in patients' mouths to kill invisible worms gnawing at their teeth.
● Renaissance physicians timed surgical procedures according to the position of the stars, and instructed epileptics to collect fresh blood from the newly beheaded.
● Dr. Walter Freeman, the world's foremost practitioner of lobotomies, practiced his craft while traveling on family camping trips, cramming the back of the station wagon with kids—and surgical tools—then hammering ice picks into the eye sockets of his patients in between hikes in the woods.
Strange Medicine is an illuminating panorama of medical history as you've never seen it before.
Nathan Belofsky is the author of Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages and The Book of Strange and Curious Legal Oddities. His writings have appeared in major publications and been cited by the New Yorker Book Bench, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. He lives in New York City, where he writes and practices law.
Chris Andrew Ciulla is a versatile performer with over 50 audiobook credits to his name. The genres of his titles range from mystery/thriller to sci-fi, to fantasy and romance. He also excels at sports-related nonfiction, being a former sports radio host and frequent show guest. He's a boxing expert who is a commentator for professional matches. In addition to frequent film, television, and on-camera commercial work, Chris has voiced characters for the popular video game titles Fallout 4 and Mafia III, and can be heard in national commercial campaigns. AudioFile magazine reviewed a recent performance: "Narrator Chris Ciulla adopts a slight accent to illustrate her Lithuanian roots and adds a slight tremulousness to his timbre so that Ona sounds old but still spry and spirited . . . Ciulla's open performance and slightly hurried pacing for the boy perfectly translate his unfiltered but sweet nature . . . Quinn didn't always fulfill his parental responsibilities but Ciulla makes his fundamental decency and kindness clear to the listener."