The Two-headed Boy, And Other Medical Marvels

Rating:
Summary: another great book from Jan Bondeson
Review: although we are taught that our interests in "freaks" is wrong and twisted, Jan Bondeson challenges this idea and takes us back to a time when such curiosity was normal and accepted, and some freaks were like rock stars. This book is intelligent, well written, insightful and very interesting. With excellent research Mr. Bondeson shows us how these people lived, some of their joys and many of their sorrows. He deconstructs some of the mythology that surronds these people and their stories. He shows us formost that they are simply people. I highly recomment it.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Book
Review: Author/physician Jan Bondeson's work, THE TWO-HEADED BOY & OTHER MEDICAL MARVELS is itself a marvel -- it is a sensitive, humane discourse on cases in teratology (the study of congenital malformations). The word teratology derives from the Greek root 'terato' which is often translated as "monstrous" or "freak", however it also means "wondrous" and "marvelous". Dr. Bondeson never loses sight of his subjects' humanity and focuses on the wondrous aspect of teratology.

Dr. Bondeson's work is well-written and meticulously-researched. He discusses teratology cases from the Middle Ages through the Victorian Era, often providing contemporaneous illustrations and an occasional photograph. The book focuses records of multiple-headed individuals (conjoined twins), dog people (hirsuitism), and stone children (lithopedia), among other things. Dr. Bondeson examines and analyzes archives and reports of medical marvels which sound like legends, myths, fairy tales and ingeniously-contrived hoaxes. The book reads like a good mystery novel with Dr. Bondeson as the detective. He offers plausible medical explanations for accounts which, otherwise, would seem questionable, if not outright fanciful.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Book
Review: Author/physician Jan Bondeson's work, THE TWO-HEADED BOY & OTHER MEDICAL MARVELS is itself a marvel -- it is a sensitive, humane discourse on cases in teratology (the study of congenital malformations). The word teratology derives from the Greek root 'terato' which is often translated as "monstrous" or "freak", however it also means "wondrous" and "marvelous". Dr. Bondeson never loses sight of his subjects' humanity and focuses on the wondrous aspect of teratology.

Dr. Bondeson's work is well-written and meticulously-researched. He discusses teratology cases from the Middle Ages through the Victorian Era, often providing contemporaneous illustrations and an occasional photograph. The book focuses records of multiple-headed individuals (conjoined twins), dog people (hirsuitism), and stone children (lithopedia), among other things. Dr. Bondeson examines and analyzes archives and reports of medical marvels which sound like legends, myths, fairy tales and ingeniously-contrived hoaxes. The book reads like a good mystery novel with Dr. Bondeson as the detective. He offers plausible medical explanations for accounts which, otherwise, would seem questionable, if not outright fanciful.