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Ten Drugs
- How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine
- Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
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Summary
Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher’s genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine.
Beginning with opium, the “joy plant,” which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies. This is a deep, wide-ranging, and wildly entertaining book.
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What listeners say about Ten Drugs
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- Amazon Customer
- 22-07-20
Fascinating!
Fascinating subject, well researched.
Presented in a light and easy to absorb format. Explains complex concepts in a layperson style without "dumbing down".
In each case it includes a brief background history of the circumstances that brought about the creation/discovery of the various drugs both medical and recreational and examins their use in modern times.
I found the section on drugs, politics and finance particularly interesting - concerning how funding and/or the inclination for research is more easily addressed for some types of diseases or medical conditions but not others.
A pionent review on the subject of how some countries treat recreational drug users as criminals (The War on Drugs) or as victims and how these different attitudes affect society as a whole.
It also tackles the current "Anti-Vax" movement and the use of homeopathic drugs. Personal choice or selfish ignorance?
A most enlightening read.
My only criticism is the quality of the recording - not the narrator. The narrator's voice is clear, well paced and engaging. It seems to be a technical issue resulting in any word with a "S" in it sounding like an off-tuned "Short Wave radio" transmission from the moon. Try saying "Symbiosis, cynapsis, sepsis" etc. This can be mitigated somewhat by turning down the treble on the player but it is still a distraction.
Audible, please Quality Check your products.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Jo
- 23-08-20
The history of medicine - really interesting
What a fantastic book about the history of medicine. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about early use of opioids (laudanum), pain killers, antibiotics, obituates and more. The early chapters look at the trade of drugs - the initial excitement about their discovery, the politics, followed by the negative side effects. He looked at who used to push drugs, who pushes drugs now. (Historically users often tended to be the well off and middle classes with medical professionals extolling their benefits). There is a very interesting part that seems to rewrite the history I was taught about smallpox and vaccinations. It includes the pioneering work of Edward Jenner, but then we hear that actually in Turkey, vaccinations were happening a long time before he came along!
There is a chapter about statins, where the author, Thomas Hager, looks at their history, who benefits and the risks they may pose. Using his own personal experience he argues that deciding whether or not to take them is not as clear as the pharmaceutical industry leads us to believe.
The book meanders through history, the breakthroughs, euphoria, the tragic consequences of unknown side effects through poor or ineffective drug trialing. The pattern throughout history becomes apparent that drugs start off being celebrated for their amazing properties and only later, usually when it’s too late comes the realisation that there are usually major negative side-effects.
As a historical overview I enjoyed this a lot.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Ercan Eski
- 13-03-21
Turkish Ottoman amazing healing style
I like the book but I think I didn't get 17 century ottoman discripe barbarian in this book, I am not agreed, compare to Europe ottoman were respecting woman more then west, example if woman healing people in 17 century in West they might get killed by king because think she must be witch, also just become a empire ottoman some tribes rulled by lady lider, but ottoman woman healed English woman very basic techniques, sound to me ottoman had more knowledge life then west ?
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4 people found this helpful
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- Clive Smart
- 14-07-20
Very well read and very interesting
A wonderful guide to the history of medicine through the prism of 10ish drugs. We see the incredible and often scary influence of these drugs in medicine and society and the history of their discovery, development and use. Great chapters on opioids, pain killers, vaccines, antibiotics, statins...a whistle stop tour of our ongoing historical use of drugs, the battle with viruses and drugs, the pharmaceutical industry, addiction and side effects...overall: a fascinating keeper. Very well read. A keeper.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Tim Futter
- 28-08-21
But boring in places
Good book. Very interesting and knowledgeable...
Just a bit dry in places and dull.
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3 people found this helpful
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- jason houghton
- 16-04-20
Excellent
I really enjoyed this book.. very interesting and very informative without going overboard. As well as the drugs/medications, you will learn a good deal about world history too!
If you’re interested in medication and history of the world, I would recommend this book :)
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3 people found this helpful
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- Laura Nolan
- 03-09-21
Really interesting
I found this to be a really interesting overview of how some medicines came to be. It is easy to listen to the narrator.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 20-07-21
Great book
Absolutely loved this book. Gave such an interesting history of the drugs and then putting it into a modern social context. A must read if you like popular science.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ale
- 29-04-21
A must read for science lovers
Beautifully written book, amazing stories about live changing drugs together with meaningful data to make inform decisions about the pills we take
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1 person found this helpful
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- JK
- 11-04-21
One of the best books I have read
Originally got this because I had credits to spend.
I have a medical background so drawn to this book.
I think that everybody should red this book. It goes into ten land mark drugs, how they were found or made, the history of their development and use. It also goes into wars waged around these drugs.
I found myself looking forward to each new drug in the list .
You do not have to have a medical background to read and enjoy this book.
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1 person found this helpful