Blood and Guts

An "impressive" overview of the history of surgery based on the five-part BBC series, featuring tales of medical advances and deadly errors (Financial Times).

"A whistle-stop tour of a gruesome and fascinating field. . . . What better medical history than one that recounts both successes and failures with honesty and gratitude." —Publishers Weekly

Today, astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making limb transplants, face transplants, and a host of other previously undreamed-of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of medical progress. In Blood and Guts, veteran science writer Richard Hollingham weaves a compelling narrative from the key moments in surgical history. We have a ringside seat in the operating theater of University College Hospital in London as world-renowned Victorian surgeon Robert Liston performs a remarkable amputation in thirty seconds—from first cut to final stitch. Innovations such as Joseph Lister's antiseptic technique, the first open-heart surgery, and Walter Freeman's lobotomy operations, among other breakthroughs, are brought to life in these pages in vivid detail. This is popular science writing at its best.

"A quick, entertaining read filled with operating-room dramas that end in disaster or triumph and a wide variety of heroes and villains." —Kirkus Reviews

"A riveting read." —The London Paper

"An excellent history of surgery. . . . A highly readable book, full of gripping anecdotes." —The Mail on Sunday

"Hollingham's re-creations of famous operations . . . are powerfully done." —Time Out London