The History of Medicine in Twelve Objects by Dr Carol Cooper #virtualbooktour @drcarolcooper @randomthingstours @quartobooksuk @aurumpress #thehistoryofmedicineintwelveobjects

 

Discover the fascinating history of medicine from its primitive beginnings to the lifesaving technologies of today.

Award-winning author Dr Carol Cooper takes you on a journey through the 12 objects that have come to define medicine through the ages – from the barbaric and bizarre to the inventive and impressive, this captivating read is peppered with fascinating anecdotes.

In this unique history, you will discover how ill health has been with us for as long as humans have existed, as has the drive to treat and understand it. Over the course of centuries, the ways in which doctors have engaged with sickness has changed drastically, and so too have the tools at their disposal.

And as these tools have morphed and evolved, our knowledge of health and disease has expanded. Medical theories have slowly advanced, allowing people to live longer and healthier lives.

The 12 groundbreaking tools explored in this collection include:

THE TREPHINE

THE BONE SAW

THE MASK

THE MICROSCOPE

THE STETHOSCOPE

THE ETHER INHALER

THE HYPODERMIC SYRINGE

THE OBSTETRIC FORCEPS

THE X -RAY MACHINE

THE ECT MACHINE

THE HIP PROSTHESIS

THE HEART-LUNG MACHINE

The history of these medical tools is truly astounding, revealing the true extent of human ingenuity, curiosity, and compassion. This is a book for anyone interested in medical history or looking for a fresh and dynamic take on their specialist subject. With her immense knowledge and engaging writing style, Dr Cooper delivers a history that is not for the faint of heart.

The History of Medicine in Twelve Objects by Dr Carol Cooper was published in paperback on 20 August 2026 by Aurum. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour. 

I've followed Carol Cooper on social media for some time and read and really enjoyed her novel The Girls from Alexandria back in March 2021. I was so intrigued by this non-fiction title and have really enjoyed it. It is definitely a book that I will keep and look back on.

There are some subjects that can appear quite intimidating when presented as non-fiction. Medicine, with its science, terminology and centuries of complicated development, is certainly be one of them. Dr Carol Cooper manages to make it really accessible in The History of Medicine in Twelve Objects. It is a fascinating journey through the inventions and discoveries that have transformed the way we understand and treat the human body.

The concept is quite simple. The Author has chosen twelve objects, ranging from the trephine and bone saw to the microscope, stethoscope, X-ray machine and heart-lung machine, and each one is used in an in-depth story. It is not just an account of how particular pieces of medical equipment were invented. It's about the people behind them, the thinking of the time, the experiments, accidents, failures and eventual breakthroughs that moved medicine forward.

The author has a wonderfully chatty and engaging style. There's an enormous amount of information here, yet I never felt as though I were being lectured. It just feels like sitting down with someone incredibly knowledgeable who happens to have an endless supply of extraordinary stories to tell. The anecdotes and human stories have real impact, putting patients and medical practitioners alongside the science and reminding us that progress was often achieved through persistence, curiosity and considerable courage.

Some of the earlier practices are astonishing when looked at with modern eyes. Others demonstrate just how ingenious our ancestors could be with comparatively little understanding of what was happening inside the human body. There are moments that may make the more squeamish reader wince, but there are plenty that will make you smile too.

What really made me think,  was how we accept modern medicine as simply being there. A stethoscope, syringe or X-ray seems entirely ordinary, and then you consider the centuries of knowledge, experimentation and occasional sheer chance that eventually produced it.

Informative without being dry, detailed without becoming overwhelming, this is exactly the sort of history book that sends me off looking things up afterwards. Dr Cooper combines medicine, social history, biography and science with real storytelling flair.

A hugely readable and frequently astonishing book that left me very grateful indeed to be receiving medical treatment in the twenty-first century.  Highly recommended. 

Carol Cooper is a doctor, journalist, and author. She has taught students at Imperial College Medical School for almost twenty years, for which she received the Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award in 2022. She was selected President of the Guild of Health Writers in 2014, and delivered the prestigious Tom Olsen Lecture in 2022 ‘Has Covid Fractured the Way We Live?’. She is a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, her alma mater.

Carol has authored and edited a string of non-fiction books. These include numerous guides on child health and parenting, as well as an award-winning book on general practice. More recently, she has turned to writing novels with a medical strand.