Rating: 
Summary: shocking and fascinating
Review: A good friend recommended this book as both an unusual yet impossible to put down biography. She was correct. Dr. Nagami describes what life is like for a doctors who work with the diseases other doctors don't want to, or know how to treat. Stuff like flesh eating strep, wild parasites and worms, chickenpox etc. This is truly one of the best bio's I've had my hands on because Dr. Nagami not only describes the guts and glory of her work but details an unusual human side to life in the diseased world. Her perspective was very different from what I had guessed. This book makes you think about life.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: Dr. Nagami tells a facinating story. Her knowledge in the area of infectious disease if vast and her ability to tell the stories behind each disease is a true gift. The people in this book were brought to life with her page-turning prose and she made difficult and complex diseases easy to understand.When I started to read this book I had no idea that I would not be able to put it down. Several hours later, bleary-eyed, I finished and knew that I had found a terrific holiday gift for several of my friends. I have the book sitting in my living room and many people have picked it up, started reading and asked if they could borrow it. This book is a facinating must-read.
Rating:
Summary: USC Med Student
Review: Dr. Pamela Nagami M.D.'s Maneater is one of the most fascinating books I've read as a med student, and one of the most captivating reads I've had in a long time. Her detailed explanation of various diseases that so many people are ignorant of was more intriguing and exciting than any lecture I've ever attended. I highly recommend it not only to the curious med student, but anyone who wants to learn how the simplest actions in life can prove to be the most deadly.
Rating:
Summary: Better than ER!
Review: Even if creepy medical stuff scares you, this book is a "must read"! Dr. Nagami is a real heroine for people who get awful things growing in them and no one but a sleuthing infectuous deseases specialist can save their lives! The Red Cross First Aid course isn't enough. Be safe. Read Maneater.
Rating:
Summary: This one will amaze you!
Review: I recently finished this book and found myself wishing that there was more to it; I enjoyed it that much! It is always good to find a book that engages my interest in infectious diseases without being too scholarly (I'm not a doctor) or too simplified for the masses (I am, however, very intelligent). "Maneater" is exactly that kind of book -- it hits all the right notes -- neither too smart nor too dumbed down. I will admit to thoroughly enjoying being "grossed out" by my reading material, but to my surprise, I found that Dr. Nagami has also injected quite a lot of humor, pathos and compassion into her book. Yes, the book made me swear to never forget my shots before going to the tropics and to always eat properly cooked food (no raw cobra hearts for me!). But it also made me realize how lucky we are to have people like Dr. Nagami, who are brilliant yet always aware of their humanity and faults and who are capable of incredible compassion in the face of so much pain. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in infectious disease, whether you're an expert or a novice. One person complained that he wanted a more scholarly approach and that this book is worthless to him. Well, perhaps "Maneater" isn't a medical text on tropical disease, but it does hold valuable lessons for physicians on how to treat patients-- and I don't just mean with medicines. This book is a very enjoyable, fast read that excites, grosses you out and makes you all too aware of how close we all are to getting something very deadly. If I ever catch one of these diseases or wind up with worms in my brain, I hope I have someone as good as Dr. Nagami treating me!
Rating:
Summary: This one will amaze you!
Review: I recently finished this book and found myself wishing that there was more to it; I enjoyed it that much! It is always good to find a book that engages my interest in infectious diseases without being too scholarly (I'm not a doctor) or too simplified for the masses (I am, however, very intelligent). "Maneater" is exactly that kind of book -- it hits all the right notes -- neither too smart nor too dumbed down. I will admit to thoroughly enjoying being "grossed out" by my reading material, but to my surprise, I found that Dr. Nagami has also injected quite a lot of humor, pathos and compassion into her book. Yes, the book made me swear to never forget my shots before going to the tropics and to always eat properly cooked food (no raw cobra hearts for me!). But it also made me realize how lucky we are to have people like Dr. Nagami, who are brilliant yet always aware of their humanity and faults and who are capable of incredible compassion in the face of so much pain. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in infectious disease, whether you're an expert or a novice. One person complained that he wanted a more scholarly approach and that this book is worthless to him. Well, perhaps "Maneater" isn't a medical text on tropical disease, but it does hold valuable lessons for physicians on how to treat patients-- and I don't just mean with medicines. This book is a very enjoyable, fast read that excites, grosses you out and makes you all too aware of how close we all are to getting something very deadly. If I ever catch one of these diseases or wind up with worms in my brain, I hope I have someone as good as Dr. Nagami treating me!
Rating: 
Summary: Really, wow, hohum.
Review: I'm sorry but three stars is as high as I can rate this book by Dr. Nagami. Give it an extra star if you're a fan of the TV medical shows but honestly it reads very much like a diary and quite frankly I find it difficult to believe all this state of the art Medical wisdom is alive and well at a H.M.O. no less. I admit being impressed by the degree of empathy emoted by Dr. Nagami but I also have to assume there was a mountain of manipulation done to make the book readable.
Rating: 
Summary: ignorance is bliss or is it?
Review: I've been listening to the audio version of this book and find it facinating. The narrator does an excellent job. I haven't a medical background and was never drawn to this sort of topic, actually it usually gave me the creeps, but I'm in a college biology class and its peaked my interest of bugs,germs,worms, infectious diseases. This is such a good book! I've learned a great deal with concerns to the environment around me and precautions we all should apply to keep ourselves from illness. Many of these portrayals leave me to question just why our public health hasn't already given us this information. are they so afraid of a panic, we could all benefit if they would. I didn't know about the south west's coyxx (?sp.) season between thanksgiving and xmas when the dust blows these organisms into the air and its potential effects. Or just how important it is to be sure your food is well cooked especially when eating out or with travel. This book does a really good job of explaining,and informing without creating a phobic reaction from its readers. It just brings about a great awareness of things many of us just had no idea of. Looking forward to more of the doctor's publications.
Rating:
Summary: Fans of Oliver Sacks will like this
Review: If you like medicine and the human condition but never really wanted to be a doctor, this is a book you will enjoy. Pamela Nagami is an infectious disease expert and brings her full experience to bear as we see in each of the mini cases she writes about in this book.
If you enjoy Oliver Sacks' books such as "Awakenings" or "The Island of the Color Blind", you will enjoy Pamela Nagami. Dr. Nagami also has a newer book out "Bitten: True Medical Stories of Bites and Stings" that is equally as compelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Not organized well
Review: Maneater was disappointing to me. It is not an easy book to use. I wanted more of a book that allows me to look for symptoms of these maneating diseases, not a novel on what they are and who they have attacked. Perhaps I failed to realize what this book was before I ordered it but it is not a useful book to me and I was disappointed that a book with so much content was so poorly organized. I would have preferred a more detailed table of contents and a book less of personal stories and clever writing and more medically journal oriented. I don't want to read about worms invading the human body for the fun of it, I choose to read about these horrible subjects to try to learn something. I would prefer that the book helps me learn or respond quickly to a problem rather than entertain me about worms. Just the facts ma'm. I would rather see a Maneaters for Dummies and less personal stories about individual patients. There is not enough written about this subject in a style that is helpful to the layperson. I hope someone tackles this subject with a much more informative approach.
| 
