Kill or cure : an illustrated history of medicine / Steve Parker.

This is a gripping tale that traces medicine's extraordinary history. Kill or Cure tells the riveting history of medicine from chipping holes in skulls to the latest gene therapy and revolutionary cancer treatments. Compelling stories of drama and detective work reveal the trial and error behind man's endless search for cures to diseases and how lucky we are to have the medicines we do today. Uncover the gripping and sometimes gruesome life and death tales behind the medical advances that we take for granted through key figures' diaries and notebooks, showing you discoveries through the eyes of the people who were there at the time. Plague and other global epidemics, the roots of psychiatry and the arrival of robot surgeons are brought to life, with maps, timelines and stunning images ranging from Roman surgical instruments and medieval bloodletting to artificial hearts and the latest scanners. Written by Steve Parker, a Senior Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society and author of over 250 books, Kill or Cure is the perfect prescription for anyone interested in the history of medicine, terrible diseases and revolutionary cures.