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Blind Spots

When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health

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Blind Spots

By: Marty Makary MD
Narrated by: Marty Makary MD
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Bloomsbury presents Blind Spots written and read by Dr Marty Makary

From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Price We Payan eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm, and what you need to know about your health.

More Americans have peanut allergies today than at any point in history. Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they’re three years old. Getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure, the US now leads the world in peanut allergies—and this misinformation is still rearing its head today.

How could the experts have gotten it so wrong? Dr. Marty Makary asks, Could it be that many modern-day health crises have been caused by the hubris of the medical establishment? Experts said for decades that opioids were not addictive, igniting the opioid crisis. They refused menopausal women hormone replacement therapy, causing unnecessary suffering. They demonized natural fat in foods, driving Americans to processed carbohydrates as obesity rates soared. They told citizens that there are no downsides to antibiotics and prescribed them liberally, causing a drug-resistant bacteria crisis.

When modern medicine issues recommendations based on good scientific studies, it shines. Conversely, when modern medicine is interpreted through the harsh lens of opinion and edict, it can mold beliefs that harm patients and stunt research for decades. In Blind Spots, Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping—but the truth is essential to our health.©2024 Ladner Drysdale LLC (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Medicine & Health Care Industry Physical Illness & Disease Politics & Government Health Medicine Nutrition Health Care
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Critic reviews

A revolutionary book about health. Explains how the broken healthcare system has fueled some of our largest epidemics, and exactly how we can get back on track. A brilliant exposé that shines a path forward for global health in the 21st century, and contains what everyone needs to know to be empowered in their own health.
With trust in science on the wane . . . this may not seem like the best time to criticize the medical profession. Yet a dose of healthy skepticism may be the healthiest attitude when information seems contradictory, whether it’s about a decades-long practice or newer, faddish procedures.
Blind Spots will help you learn several critical and surprising things about what to ask and what to avoid, and it’ll encourage you to choose doctors whose treatments are based on evidence rather than hearsay.
Quick, compelling, and something all clinicians will want to read.
A passionate, well-argued and thought-provoking read.
[Makary’s] critical eye is well suited to this clinically sound report . . . An eye-opening look at how the American medical industry’s rigidity has stunted its reliability.
Timely and highly readable, Blind Spots gives us a much-needed diagnosis of what ails so much of our medical establishment and what can be done about it. Aided by an acute understanding of human nature, Dr. Makary both walks us through a disturbing number of major public health blunders—experts told us for decades that opioids were not addictive, for instance—and how we can instead get refocused on pursuing and following through on sound scientific studies and not fall into the trap of wrongheaded groupthink.
Smart, motivated people are prone to developing blind spots. It’s true in business, politics, and science, but there’s a remedy Dr. Makary argues. Blind Spots is a deep dive into our human tendency to resist new ideas, and a guide to impeccable objectivity. Along the way, you’ll learn about powerful medical research that is challenging conventional medical thinking and revolutionizing our understanding of health.
A renowned medical expert and leading voice in the medical community, Dr. Makary takes a fresh look at health, delving into research that is raising questions about big assumptions in the culture of medicine. Blind Spots is a call to action with lessons for every American about the art and science of being open-minded—a critical skill in science and life in general. As we enter a new era in medicine and society at large, everyone should have this book on their shelves.
Dr. Makary has out-done himself—Blind Spots is his best book yet!
A amazing biography of modern medicine and a practical education about health.
Marty Makary is one of the great thought leaders in medicine . . . [He] brilliantly lifts the veil on the state of modern medicine and the new ideas that are disrupting it.
All stars
Most relevant
In this time where science is being destroyed it is nice to come across someone who actually cares about following science with an inquisitive mind

An inquisitive mind

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i believe we are living under an ideology where nature is wrong and only the human brain helped us overcome nature and its flaws. the truth is somewhere in the middle. this book tries to find this middle path

the decency of trusting nature also

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Eye opening and informative, Read well and easy to listen to. I would certainly recommend it to friends and family

A must read

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This is a fascinating and impressive book which needs to be read widely and with an open mind by the public and the medical establishment alike.

The clarity of the thought and writing

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