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The Deadly Dinner Party: and Other Medical Detective Stories |  | Author: Dr. Jonathan A. Edlow M.D.
Publisher: Yale University Press
List Price: $27.50
Buy New: $13.75
as of 11/20/2009 22:03 CST details
You Save: $13.75 (50%)
New (24) Used (7) from $13.75
Seller: bookshop2
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 20114
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 264
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0300125585
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.075
EAN: 9780300125580
ASIN: 0300125585
Publication Date: September 22, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Picking up where Berton Rouechéâs The Medical Detectives left off, The Deadly Dinner Party presents fifteen edge-of-your-seat, real-life medical detective stories written by a practicing physician. Award-winning author Jonathan Edlow, M.D., shows the doctor as detective and the epidemiologist as elite sleuth in stories that are as gripping as the best thrillers. In these stories a notorious stomach bug turns a suburban dinner party into a disaster that almost claims its host; a diminutive woman routinely eats more than her football-playing boyfriend but continually loses weight; a young executive is diagnosed with lung cancer, yet the tumors seem to wax and wane inexplicably. Written for the lay person who wishes to better grasp how doctors decipher the myriad clues and puzzling symptoms they often encounter, each story presents a very different case where doctors must work to find the accurate diagnosis before it is too late. Edlow uses his unique ability to relate complex medical concepts in a writing style that is clear, engaging and easily understandable. The resulting stories both entertain us and teach us much about medicine, its history and the subtle interactions among pathogens, humans, and the environment.
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| Customer Reviews:
Fascinating medical mysteries November 14, 2009
Eric Davis (Brookline, MA)
This is a wonderfully written collection of medical mysteries. The cases are told as real-life stories, and I felt as if I was a part of the detective work which brought us back to the garlic bread or wet loofah. As a doctor, I find the cases are both gripping and educational. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in medical thrillers or if you want to see how doctors think about complex cases.
A worthy successor to Berton Roueche November 4, 2009
Shoe leather bureaucrat
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a physician and epidemiologist, who was pulled into the field by Berton Roueche's fantastic Medical Detectives articles, I am glad to say that Dr. Edlow has put together a collection of stories that carry the theme forward to today in a manner that is entertaining, witty, thorough, and educational. A superb book, and I recommend it highly!
this was a great read October 19, 2009
Robert L. Freitas (Florence, Italy)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read this book quite by chance on a transatlantic flight and was glad I did. I was bringing the book back to Italy for a friend, a doctor, who bought it in the US and forgot it while visiting. While on the flight for the first leg from Boston to Amsterdam I decided to read it and after reading about a third of it was disappointed when the plane finally landed. I read more on the flight from Amsterdam to Florence, and finished it in my apartment later that same day, in spite of having to unpack and get ready for work the next day.
Each story is easy to read, with a mix of detective work, explainable science, and in many cases enough about the human condition to make it amusing. Dr. Edlow writes it as if spinning a yarn sitting across from you in an Enoteca, giving descriptions of patients physical characteristics, quotes from the patient, family, and friends as well as explaining the working hypothesis of the investigators trying to solve each medical mystery. It also gave me a new appreciation for those medical sleuths that work attempting to solve the problems of infectious disease at places like the Center for Disease Control.
I ended up ordering my own edition of the book for my wife to read as well as one of Edlow's other books, "Bullseye"
Approachable, fascinating, entertaining and educational October 18, 2009
John Jesus (Boston, MA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Dr. Edlow is tenaciously honest and accurate in his communication of medical concepts and the limitations of medical knowledge; and he does so in a language everyone can understand. So approachable are Dr. Edlow's stories, that they are able to immerse their readers in a world of disease and investigation as if they were directly involved. He accomplishes this feat by wrapping each story in fascinating historical detail and everyday environments and foods many will have experienced. You may never attend a dinner party, pet your cat, admire Queen Elizabeth's crown jewels, or read Harry Potter in the same way again.
As a physician and a lover of well-written literature, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to the lay person and medical professional alike.
In the spirit of Berton Roueché October 9, 2009
M. A. Myatt (Devon, UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you like the sort of articles that Berton Roueché used to publish in the New Yorker and collected in books like Medical Detectives then you'll be sure to enjoy this. This is pretty much an homage to the master but interesting nonetheless.
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