Rating: 
Summary: Less In-depth than I had hoped
Review: I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. That being said, I was disappointed with this book's lack of depth. Many of the descriptions read like an unfinished thought. If you have any previous interest in "Strange Diseases and Conditions," you already know too much to count this book as a worthy investment. Not unlike a previous reviewer, I too was dissapointed by the copious references to websites. I am also curious as to why the author did not illustrate more examples, rather than directing the reader elsewhere. On the upside, it was a shockingly easy and quick read.
Rating: 
Summary: The strange case of the published book.
Review: If you buy this book thinking that you are going to get the sort of insight into medical conditions that you would get from Oliver Sacks, you are going to be massively dissapointed. This book is best characterized as a thin and cursory catalog of some of the more unusual medical conditions around. As such, I guess it has a place, but there is little in it that merits the time to read it. I was left wondering how she found a publisher to print it.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh please Jude Rouslin...
Review: Jude obviously has way too much time on his hands. I'm fairly certain after reading his review that he simple read some news quip online and not the actual book. Thank you for boring us all with your failed attempt to look intelligent.
Rating:
Summary: Vague writing, misleading title
Review: My review regards the reference made concerning the following passage. "Another bizarre mental disorder Butcher describes is the Alice-in-Wonderland syndrome, in which a patient's sense of time, space and body image are distorted. People may appear tiny or patients may feel that part of their body shape or size has been altered." It is in my opinion that Authors ought to make every attempt to do their research in order to not mislead the reader,by providing statements as seen above.It merely helps to perpetuate myths and reinforce stigmas. For the record,the above "bizarre mental disorder" that Butcher so poorly defined,is actually a Neurological Symptom of Epilepsy/Seizure Disorder.Specifically,Temporal Lobe Epilepsy/TLE Macrosomatosensory seizure,refers to one's perception of body image,hense,large,or humongous. Microsomatosensory refers to the oppocite,tiny or small. They are episodic in nature.Involvement may be one sided,both,or limited to a hand or foot.Similar symptoms may also be seen amongst particular Migraine Disorders as well. Neither of which,can be termed as just "Another bizarre mental disorder",as Butcher suggests. The term Alice In Wonderland refers to symptoms that were associated with Lewis Caroll's writings.He has been diagnosed since his death with having Epilepsy and Migraine's.However the debate is still out as to what exactly provoked Lewis Caroll's symptoms. Unfortunately,Nancy Butcher also goes onto demonstrate her lack of knowledge in the area of medicine.She has depicted not only one seizure as bizarre but also goes onto state other symptoms as being of the AW type,which are actually, three different seizure types in an of themselves. One is self perception of body image,hense altered state of body image,whereas the other,"in which a patient's sense of time"is affected,actually is another type of partial seizure and not always associated with Micro and Macro seizures. Thirdly,"People may appear tiny" is yet another description of a partial seizure,where the envrionment becomes distorted,as opposed to the first mentioned,which actually is more of an internal event. Nonetheless,they are all aspects of certain epilepsy syndromes.It is books such as these that are not researched totally,and it is not suprising that studies show just how prevelent, inaccuracies pertaining to medicine are widely published.Be it in books such as this one or any form of media. I feel that Nancy Butcher has written a modern day circus,complete with stigma's,myths and ignorance.This is very unfortunate.Jude Rouslin, Artist with Epilepsy(TLE)
Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate medical data promotes stigmas
Review: My review regards the reference made concerning the following passage. "Another bizarre mental disorder Butcher describes is the Alice-in-Wonderland syndrome, in which a patient's sense of time, space and body image are distorted. People may appear tiny or patients may feel that part of their body shape or size has been altered." It is in my opinion that Authors ought to make every attempt to do their research in order to not mislead the reader,by providing statements as seen above.It merely helps to perpetuate myths and reinforce stigmas. For the record,the above "bizarre mental disorder" that Butcher so poorly defined,is actually a Neurological Symptom of Epilepsy/Seizure Disorder.Specifically,Temporal Lobe Epilepsy/TLE Macrosomatosensory seizure,refers to one's perception of body image,hense,large,or humongous. Microsomatosensory refers to the oppocite,tiny or small. They are episodic in nature.Involvement may be one sided,both,or limited to a hand or foot.Similar symptoms may also be seen amongst particular Migraine Disorders as well. Neither of which,can be termed as just "Another bizarre mental disorder",as Butcher suggests. The term Alice In Wonderland refers to symptoms that were associated with Lewis Caroll's writings.He has been diagnosed since his death with having Epilepsy and Migraine's.However the debate is still out as to what exactly provoked Lewis Caroll's symptoms. Unfortunately,Nancy Butcher also goes onto demonstrate her lack of knowledge in the area of medicine.She has depicted not only one seizure as bizarre but also goes onto state other symptoms as being of the AW type,which are actually, three different seizure types in an of themselves. One is self perception of body image,hense altered state of body image,whereas the other,"in which a patient's sense of time"is affected,actually is another type of partial seizure and not always associated with Micro and Macro seizures. Thirdly,"People may appear tiny" is yet another description of a partial seizure,where the envrionment becomes distorted,as opposed to the first mentioned,which actually is more of an internal event. Nonetheless,they are all aspects of certain epilepsy syndromes.It is books such as these that are not researched totally,and it is not suprising that studies show just how prevelent, inaccuracies pertaining to medicine are widely published.Be it in books such as this one or any form of media. I feel that Nancy Butcher has written a modern day circus,complete with stigma's,myths and ignorance.This is very unfortunate.Jude Rouslin, Artist with Epilepsy(TLE)
Rating:
Summary: The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse
Review: Sadly, I have read this book; worse, paid for it (far overpriced for what it offers.) The chapter "Uncommon Diseases and Disorders" is well researched and written; the others have far too much of "According to Web site..."; while I know from my own reading some of what's said can be verified elsewhere, as a software engineer I also know that there are too many web sites that are not to be trusted or not entirely trusted. The result was for me a cobbling together of fact & possible fact with alot sounding like urban legend; wait 'til it's in your local library.
Rating:
Summary: The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse
Review: Sadly, I have read this book; worse, paid for it (far overpriced for what it offers.) The chapter "Uncommon Diseases and Disorders" is well researched and written; the others have far too much of "According to <whatever> Web site..."; while I know from my own reading some of what's said can be verified elsewhere, as a software engineer I also know that there are too many web sites that are not to be trusted or not entirely trusted. The result was for me a cobbling together of fact & possible fact with alot sounding like urban legend; wait 'til it's in your local library.
Rating:
Summary: This was a simple read
Review: The only reasons I liked this book were because it was a quick, easy read, and because it has a lot of strange information about diseases. I agree with most raters on how the title has nothing to do with the book, which is very misleading. I'm not a medical student so I was not aware of most of the information given in the book. It was a simple, interesting book that allowed me to quickly read a few interesting pages here and there over the course of the day. The main fault of the book is that the majority of the information was derived from websites. I am a researcher and I know not to believe everything that is derived from just any silly website. Regardless, I did enjoy a decent amount of information given in the book.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: This book is amazing! It includes incredible anecdotes about strange medical curiosities and diseases -- many of which are so bizarre that even our disease-obsessed media culture has somehow managed to ignore them. For someone who reads a lot of newspapers and magazines, I thought I had heard of them all. Hardly! This book is a virtual encyclopedia of strange disorders from the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine to Cotard Syndrome, which is the source for the book's title. In the latter disease, patients are convinced that they are dead -- and insist, even to the point of contradiction, that they are corpses. Just when you think you've read the most bizarre tale, the next one beats it. And the author has included excellent references to document these disorders so that you can distinguish the fact from the fiction.Bottom line: I couldn't put this book down. Organized into quick little chapters on topics such as parasites (you'll never guess the record for the longest parasite passed by a human being), sexual disorders, and deadly beauty treatments, the stories are written in easy-to-digest anecdotes and small vignettes. Not only is this a must-read book, but you'll also want to keep it around as a conversation piece for your guests, friends and family.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: This book is amazing! It includes incredible anecdotes about strange medical curiosities and diseases -- many of which are so bizarre that even our disease-obsessed media culture has somehow managed to ignore them. For someone who reads a lot of newspapers and magazines, I thought I had heard of them all. Hardly! This book is a virtual encyclopedia of strange disorders from the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine to Cotard Syndrome, which is the source for the book's title. In the latter disease, patients are convinced that they are dead -- and insist, even to the point of contradiction, that they are corpses. Just when you think you've read the most bizarre tale, the next one beats it. And the author has included excellent references to document these disorders so that you can distinguish the fact from the fiction. Bottom line: I couldn't put this book down. Organized into quick little chapters on topics such as parasites (you'll never guess the record for the longest parasite passed by a human being), sexual disorders, and deadly beauty treatments, the stories are written in easy-to-digest anecdotes and small vignettes. Not only is this a must-read book, but you'll also want to keep it around as a conversation piece for your guests, friends and family.
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