The Laws of Medicine: Field Notes from an Uncertain Science (TED Books) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

303 ratings

Part of: TED Books (26 books)

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ISBN-13: 978-1476784847

ISBN-10: 9781476784854

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Essential, required reading for doctors and patients alike: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of the world’s premiere cancer researchers reveals an urgent philosophy on the little-known principles that govern medicine—and how understanding these principles can empower us all.

Over a decade ago, when Siddhartha Mukherjee was a young, exhausted, and isolated medical resident, he discovered a book that would forever change the way he understood the medical profession. The book, The Youngest Science, forced Dr. Mukherjee to ask himself an urgent, fundamental question: Is medicine a “science”? Sciences must have laws—statements of truth based on repeated experiments that describe some universal attribute of nature. But does medicine have laws like other sciences?

Dr. Mukherjee has spent his career pondering this question—a question that would ultimately produce some of most serious thinking he would do around the tenets of his discipline—culminating in The Laws of Medicine. In this important treatise, he investigates the most perplexing and illuminating cases of his career that ultimately led him to identify the three key principles that govern medicine.

Brimming with fascinating historical details and modern medical wonders, this important book is a fascinating glimpse into the struggles and Eureka! moments that people outside of the medical profession rarely see. Written with Dr. Mukherjee’s signature eloquence and passionate prose, The Laws of Medicine is a critical read, not just for those in the medical profession, but for everyone who is moved to better understand how their health and well-being is being treated. Ultimately, this book lays the groundwork for a new way of understanding medicine, now and into the future.

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Editorial Reviews

Unknown

"This mininarrative, packed with complex ideas translated into easily accessible language and an engaging style, leaves the readers time to ponder the author's ideas at greater length, and the result is a fascinating and illuminating trek through a beautiful mind. A splendid exploration of how medicine might be transformed." (Kirkus (starred))

"The prose is lovely, often witty, always clear.... a fast and informative read." (Booklist)

“This is a fantastic book.” (A Bookish Type)

“What he writes is important, and he does so in an elegant,engaging fashion. This is a moving, deeply humane book.” – Los Angeles Review of Books

Review

“What he writes is important, and he does so in an elegant, engaging fashion. This is a moving, deeply humane book.” – Los Angeles Review of Books

"This mininarrative, packed with complex ideas translated into easily accessible language and an engaging style, leaves the readers time to ponder the author's ideas at greater length, and the result is a fascinating and illuminating trek through a beautiful mind. A splendid exploration of how medicine might be transformed." (Kirkus (starred))

"The prose is lovely, often witty, always clear.... a fast and informative read." (Booklist)

“This is a fantastic book.” (A Bookish Type)

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00WFOQ20Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster/ TED; 1st edition (October 13, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 13, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4273 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 97 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #103,899 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #4 in Physician & Patient Diagnosis
- #9 in Physician & Patient Healing
- #11 in Physician & Patient Medical Ethics

Customer Reviews:
303 ratings

About the author

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Siddhartha Mukherjee

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Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician and researcher. He is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and a staff cancer physician at the CU/NYU Presbytarian Hospital. A former Rhodes scholar, he graduated from Stanford University, University of Oxford (where he received a PhD studying cancer-causing viruses) and from Harvard Medical School. His laboratory focuses on discovering new cancer drugs using innovative biological methods. Mukherjee trained in cancer medicine at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard Medical School and was on the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has published articles and commentary in such journals as Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Neuron and the Journal of Clinical Investigation and in publications such as the New York Times and the New Republic. His work was nominated for Best American Science Writing, 2000 (edited by James Gleick). He lives in Boston and New York with his wife, Sarah Sze, an artist, and with his daughter, Leela.

His author website is www.siddharthamukherjee.me

Customer reviews

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3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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G Raf

Succinct and compelling

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2019

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A fantastic essay on the art of medical practice. I gave it as a gift to my friends in medical fields and they all loved it. It's also really short so even busy clinicians had time to read it. I could imagine this being a fantastic gift for anyone striving to practice medicine, go into nursing, or do meaningful biomedical science.

One person found this helpful

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John E. Downing

The uncertainty principle in medicine

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2016

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An excellent exposition of how little we know for sure in medicine. After 50 years of practicing medicine, I am beginning to understand how true that is. My son is also a physician, And in his first year of medical school his professor told the class that when they graduated in four years half of what they had been taught will have been proven wrong. The problem is, they don't know which half. It is a constantly evolving profession, And endlessly challenging and surprising.

35 people found this helpful

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pathak

It is an amazing "little" book which provided me very useful insights in ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2018

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It is an amazing "little" book which provided me very useful insights in to the medical profession. The use of Bayesian statistical thinking is indeed needed as much as the attention demanded by outliers. Dr. Sidhartha Mukherjee is a very good writer and a very thoughtful professional. This book joins in my high praise for the two books about genetics and cancer.

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Tiffany

Never returned library book?

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2020

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This is a fantastic book. It's a quick and inspiring read. This would be a perfect gift for a graduate or someone who is finding themselves a bit burnt out in the medical field.

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Joseph Sciuto

Stimulating!

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2019

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"The Laws OF Medicine" by Siddhartha Mukherjee (acclaimed author of "The Emperor of all Maladeries" and "The Gene") is a short, engrossing, intellectually stimulating discussion that focuses on "medicine" as an uncertain science that despite all the technological advances still needs to rely on a one on one, doctor-patient, relationship to achieve a correct diagnosis and expermental certainity... There are simply too many variables in medicine to rely totally on technology to achieve accurate results. A patient's history, behavior, environment, and family history are just a few things that are important in treating a patient's illness and in running experimental trials that give you are more perfect and correct result. Medicine, unlike physics, is an uncertain science and in order for it to continue to evolve it needs to look at all possible factors in treating patients and running important trials and not to rely solely on technology.

11 people found this helpful

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Latinshopper

Book came in great condition, secured and nothing damnaged

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2017

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Book came in great condition, secured and nothing damnaged. The book is great give it a try and you'll enjoy some light reading regarding medical practice.

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Abeer

Love Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2015

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Love Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee. This book is a very nice follow-up of emperor of all maladies.. written beautifully and concisely.. Worth a read..

One person found this helpful

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David Sherwood

Short and Sweet

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2020

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Easy to digest. Short and to the point.

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Top reviews from other countries

Natasha Wilding de Miranda

Utterly true

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2018

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A concise, engaging and well-written thesis on some of the key principles of medicine, integrating wider aspects of science and clinical examples. As a medical student I found it pithily relevant to the profession which I am stepping into and a must read for fellow medics.

Amazon Customer

Short but amazing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

Really good read for medical students. A lot shorter than his other books but this doesn't take away from the brilliance of this author.

C. Mccord

the

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2016

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3 "làws" (I would call them rules) , eloquently discussed _ but far from the whole story. The rules are important, but making them into laws is overkill.

One person found this helpful

Mohamed M.

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2018

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Excellent book

Cliente Amazon

An inspiring and eye-opening book

Reviewed in Brazil on July 2, 2016

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From the three laws the author announces, two should suffice to change the way doctor works and patients expect them to work:

1) A strong intuition is much more powerful than a weak test.
2) For every perfect medical experiment, there is a perfect human bias

If these two laws were persistently applied, medicine would cost us much less not only in money, but also in despair and suffering.

I am among those who believe that lab test have been used more often to obfuscate medical ignorance than to help patients. And medical experiments, especially with expensive drugs and expensive medical procedures are much prone to enrich doctors and ameliorate Big Pharma bottom line than to help patients.

After reading this short book everyone will the able to better understand why much of what we hear about expensive drugs and sophisticated medical procedure are injuring us, killing us and making us poorer. Everyone will also understand why intuition is an attribute so necessary in the art of healing.

I recommend this book for everyone who thinks good medicine means tens of expensive lab tests followed by a long prescription of modern and expensive drugs. For these people, this book might save their lives. Or, at least save them big bucks.

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