The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity - Tapa dura

Roy Porter’s brilliant new book immediately becomes upon publication the standard work on the history of medicine. It is also, characteristically, a joy to read.

Medicine advances ever faster, and with it not just a capacity to overcome sickness, but to transform the very nature of life. Starting in ancient Antiquity, Roy Porter’s magnum opus charts how this health revolution came about and how life for human beings in the West has ceased, in Hobbes’ memorable phrase, to be ‘nasty, brutish and short’.

Porter plots the growth of medical specialisms – pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, neurology, bacteriology – and the institutions of medicine – the hospital and asylum – to show how medical advances have often created as many problems as they have solved.

The book is also a treasure trove of historical surprises: Porter shows how the ancient Egyptians treated incipient baldness with a mixture of hippopotamus, lion, crocodile, goose, snake and ibex fat; how a mystery epidemic devastated ancient Athens and brought to an end the domination of that great city; and how lemons did as much as Nelson to defeat Napoleon.

Medicine advances ever faster, and with it a capacity not just to overcome sickness, but to transform the nature of life itself. Beginning in antiquity, Roy Porter's titanic history examines the traditions of both East and West to chart how this revolution came about and how the life for human beings, in some parts of the world at least, has ceased to be nasty, brutish and short.

The growth of civilization has unleashed successive new plagues upon humanity: 'The Greatest Benefit to Mankind' demonstrates how our need to understand where these diseases come from, how they are transmitted and what we can do to control them has – perhaps above all else – inspired developments in medicine through the ages. It also explores how medicine is integral to, and develops out of, the wider religious, scientific, philosophical and political beliefs of the culture which surrounds it. It is against this background that Porter describes the rise of medical science – the emergence of specialisms such as anatomy, physiology, neurology and bacteriology – and the development of wider medical practice at the bedside, in the hospital and in the ambitious public health systems of the twentieth century. It ends with a brilliant and controversial chapter on the future of medicine.

The book is also a treasure trove of historical surprises: Porter relates how the ancient Egyptians treated incipient baldness with a mixture of hippopotamus, lion, crocodile, goose, snake and ibex fat; how a mystery epidemic devastated ancient Athens and brought to an end the domination of that great city; how lemons did as much as Nelson to defeat Napoleon; how yellow fever, carried by African mosquitoes to the Americas, led the French to fail utterly in their attempts to recover Haiti after the slave revolt of 1790; and how the explorers of the South Seas brought both syphilis to Tahiti and tuberculosis and measles to the Maoris. 'The Greatest Benefit to Mankind' becomes from the moment of publication the standard work on its subject. It is also a magnificent entertainment and a delight to read.

"What? Yet another compulsively readable, astonishingly encyclopaedic book from Roy Porter. 'The Greatest Benefit to Mankind' might be his best to date: an epic, one-volume narrative history of man's struggle with the infirmities of his body, from Aesculapius to Aids. The author's perceptiveness is, as usual, scalpel-sharp; his manner genially bedside; his erudition invigorating. To get the full benefit of Dr Porter’s tonic, take a dose of the book at least once a day and retire early to bed."
SIMON SCHAMA

"Only the unique artistry of Roy Porter could have created this panoramic and perfectly magnificent intellectual history of medicine. It makes no difference whether one reads it for its wisdom, insight, inimitable perspective, or simply for its plenitude of information – this is the book that delivers it all, plus the sheer joy of hearing the distinctive voice of one of today's most fascinating commentators on the development of the ancient art of healing."
SHERWIN B. NULAND, M.D.