The Invention of Surgery: A History of Modern Medicine: From the Renaissance to the Implant Revolution

by David Schneider

Overview

Written by an author with plenty of experience holding a scalpel, Dr. David Schneider's The Invention of Surgery is an in-depth biography of the practice that has leapt forward over the centuries from the dangerous guesswork of ancient Greek physicians through the world-changing "implant revolution" of the twentieth century.

The Invention of Surgery explains this dramatic progress and highlights the personalities of the discipline's most dynamic historical figures. It links together the lives of the pioneering scientists who first understood what causes disease, how organs become infected or cancerous, and how surgery could powerfully intercede in people's lives, and then shows how the rise of surgery intersected with many of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the last century, including the evolution of medical education, the transformation of the hospital from a place of dying to a habitation of healing, the development of antibiotics, and the rise of transistors and polymer science.

And as Schneider argues, surgery has not finished transforming; new technologies are constantly reinventing both the practice of surgery and the nature of the objects we are permanently implanting in our bodies. Schneider considers these latest developments, asking "What's next?" and analyzing how our conception of surgery has changed alongside our evolving ideas of medicine, technology, and our bodies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643136943
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	04/13/2021
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	532,978
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Dr. David Schneider is one of the most sought-after total shoulder and total elbow replacement surgeons in the world. He has written for the New England Journal of Medicine, among other medical journals, and is also a lecturer on the history of surgery and a frequent guest on regional radio and TV programs. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction xi

1 Dilemma 1

2 Paper, Prophet, and Printing Press 12

3 Vesalius and De Hurnani Corporis Fabrica 23

4 The Rise of Science 39

5 Harvey and Hunter 54

6 Pathology 80

7 Germs 98

8 Antibiotics 122

9 Anesthesia 142

10 Elective Surgery 160

11 Vitallium 183

12 Oversight and Entitlement 196

13 Device Clearance 210

14 Medical Industrial Complex and Medical Devices 226

15 Surgery of the Heart 235

16 Specialization in Surgery 247

17 Implant Revolution 263

18 The Birth of Sports Medicine 277

19 Calculating the Impact 288

20 Brain Implants 306

21 Cyborg Future and Homo Electrus 323

Acknowledgments 339

Endnotes 343

Index 367

Editorial Reviews

"Comprehensively researched, deftly told, and radiating both intellect and passion, The Invention of Surgery is essential reading for anyone interested not only in the history but also in the future of medicine. This book is a labor of love, and it shows."

Frank Huyler

"Bold and compelling. Lively and informed by Schneider’s fascination with the field's 'tinkerers, oddballs, and lonely geniuses.' Uniformly excellent, and often wryly amusing."

The Wall Street Journal

"Rampaging through surgery’s history, David Schneider’s unique take on its heroes and their achievements is cut with poignant, pithy stories from his own experience of repairing our bodies. He celebrates the audacity of putting something foreign inside of us, ruminates on its current costs and ethics, and asks us to join him on a fascinating ride into the future of implants."

Helen Bynum PhD

"Brace yourself! The Invention of Surgery is a globetrotting historical adventure, told from the inside of the operating room. Through a series of colorful, bizarre and, at times, stomach-churning stories, Dr. Schneider reveals how the human, messy side of surgical history adds up to the wondrous advances we see today. This is medical writing at its most exhilarating."

Michael Paul Mason

"The orthopedic surgeon David Schneider writes in The Invention of Surgery that, as a result, by the late eighteen-hundreds 'surgeons did the unthinkable. Instead of just operating on people in extremis, at the point of death, surgeons began the practice of elective surgery.' As a surgeon, Schneider is known for his success in the replacement of entire joints, especially shoulders, and, in the later chapters of the book, he shifts his gaze to what he calls the implant revolution. 'The ability to implant foreign materials in the body would awaken the imagination of engineers, biologists, and surgeons, and would usher in one of the most significant upheavals in human history.’ "

The New Yorker - Jerome Groopman

The most riveting passages are Schneider's recollections of his medical training and memorable patients.

Booklist

02/01/2020

Schneider, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in shoulder and elbow replacement, relates a history of surgery that is informative, entertaining, and highly readable. He begins with the invention of the printing press, which allowed early students of medicine to share information, and then continues to explain how the Renaissance stimulated interest in human anatomy and physiology. At the time, surgeons were held in disdain by nonsurgical physicians. One of the first to lead the way in overcoming such attitudes was Andreas Vesalius, who wrote the first anatomical text, in the process disputing much of the "common knowledge" in medicine in place since the Roman Empire. Following the Renaissance, rapid developments in science and the scientific method advanced surgical practice. Schneider covers innovations in pathology, germ theory, antibiotics, and anesthesia, and spends the last few chapters specifically discussing implant surgery, issues with FDA clearance of devices, and the future of implants as they become increasingly miniaturized. VERDICT Written for general readers, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the current state of health care and how we got here. It will be of particular interest to those who have experienced implantation surgery.—Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL

Library Journal