Dead Ends!: Flukes, Flops & Failures That Sparked Medical Marvels

by Lindsey Fitzharris, Adrian Teal, Adrian Teal (Illustrator)

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris, a riveting middle grade nonfiction book about medicine's most fascinating failures and dead ends.

Beheadings! Bloodletting! Bodysnatching! Journey down a snaking road bristling with medicine's most astonishing “dead ends.” Marvel at the diagnoses, experiments, and treatments that were frequently useless, and often harmful, but that sometimes led doctors to discoveries that changed the world for the better.

Enjoy a whirlwind tour of the human body-from brain, to heart, to limbs-during which New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris and caricaturist Adrian Teal will guide you through centuries of medical mistakes, festooned with riveting facts, pitch-perfect humor, and vivid illustrations. Celebrate the flukes, flops, and failures that have given science a better understanding of our bodies and ways to treat them.

This fascinating book of foul-ups is sure to delight young readers, and inspire them to embrace their failures, too!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547615025
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	10/14/2025
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Lindsey Fitzharris is a New York Times bestselling author of The Butchering Art and The Facemaker, and the co-author of Plague-Busters! She holds a Ph.D. in the history of science and medicine from Oxford University, and regularly writes for major publications. She is also the writer and host of the Smithsonian TV series The Curious Life and Death of….

drlindseyfitzharris.com

Adrian Teal is a caricaturist, cartoonist, fine artist, and illustrator. He is the co-author and illustrator of Plague-Busters! His work has appeared in numerous TV shows, including Spitting Image and Big Heads. He has produced art for publications such as the Sunday Telegraph, the Times, the Guardian, Time Out, and the Daily Mail.

adrianteal.com

Editorial Reviews

* Macabre, madcap, and surprisingly wholesome in its positivity.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“* An informative and entertaining dive into the successes and failures of medical history.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“* Plague-Busters! is chock full of awesomely appalling medical history that is sure to delight audiences, and possibly even spark interest for some future pathologists.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review, on PLAGUE-BUSTERS!

“* Engaging, informative, but also gross.” —SLJ Reviews, starred review, on PLAGUE-BUSTERS!

“Fans of Albee's Poison will feel right at home with this darkly comedic piece of nonfiction.” —The Horn Book, on PLAGUE-BUSTERS!

“A lively illustration of the perils of illness in the olden days.” —Kirkus Reviews, on PLAGUE-BUSTERS!

“An entertaining, accessible, and satisfyingly disgusting history of six diseases . . . an equally worthy choice for researchers and browsing pathologists.” —Booklist, on PLAGUE-BUSTERS!

“* Meticulously researched and compulsively readable.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review), on THE FACEMAKER

“* An excellent biography of a genuine miracle worker.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review), on THE FACEMAKER

“This book is riveting. It is gruesome but it is also uplifting . . . What a triumph.” —Mary Roach, author of FUZZ and STIFF, on THE FACEMAKER

“Atmospheric . . . The story it tells is one of abiding fascination.” —Jennifer Senior, The New York Times, on THE BUTCHERING ART

From the Publisher

★ 2025-07-04
In the vein of theirPlague-Busters! (2023), Fitzharris and Teal round up wild examples of medical trial and error.

Arguing that “success and failure are often two sides of the same coin,” the co-authors demonstrate that mistakes have often resulted in groundbreaking medical breakthroughs. A 19th-century surgeon unable to patch up a hole in a patient’s side was afforded the rare opportunity to observe digestion up close; deaths from the first blood transfusions led to the discovery of blood types. Fitzharris and Teal present fascinating content, writing in an easy-to-digest, conversational tone while occasionally slipping in some gallows humor. The promise of grotesque medical tales will lure readers, but the authors also make some profound, even moving conclusions: Failure is a key part of learning, and medicine has come a long way over the years. The material is organized by body parts, with delightfully punny chapter titles: “Racking Your Brains,” “No Guts, No Glory.” “A Taste of Their Own Medicine” sections between chapters are ripe with tales of dark irony and people getting hoisted by their own petards. Teal’s black-and-white images use pops of bright red to spice up the visual gags and caricaturelike portraits of scientists and doctors. The subversive, gory humor is transgressive and fun for young readers without being so graphic as to disturb any but the most sensitive. Extensive backmatter will reward those with the guts to delve deeper.

Macabre, madcap, and surprisingly wholesome in its positivity. (selected sources, further reading, index)(Nonfiction. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews