The Butchering Art
Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
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The Butchering Art
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Narrated by:
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Ralph Lister
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Written by:
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Lindsey Fitzharris
About this listen
The gripping story of how Joseph Lister's antiseptic method changed medicine forever
In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. These medical pioneers knew that the aftermath of surgery was often more dangerous than their patients' afflictions, and they were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. At a time when surgery couldn't have been more hazardous, an unlikely figure stepped forward: a young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister, who would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
Fitzharris dramatically recounts Lister's discoveries in gripping detail, culminating in his audacious claim that germs were the source of all infection - and could be countered by antiseptics. Focusing on the tumultuous period from 1850 to 1875, she introduces us to Lister and his contemporaries - some of them brilliant, some outright criminal - and takes us through the grimy medical schools and dreary hospitals where they learned their art, the deadhouses where they studied anatomy, and the graveyards they occasionally ransacked for cadavers.
Eerie and illuminating, The Butchering Art celebrates the triumph of a visionary surgeon whose quest to unite science and medicine delivered us into the modern world.
©2017 Lindsey Fitzharris (P)2017 Audible, Inc.What the critics say
What listeners say about The Butchering Art
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lenka Chvatal
- 2021-02-01
Very enjoyable
You gotta be ok listening to some pretty gruesome stories, but that was reality. It was well written, well read and very informative. Very much enjoyed it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Amy
- 2020-12-09
Enjoyed it
Cool perspective and educational book on the development of modern medical practices and the struggle of a brilliant thinker to break through the concrete minds of the science and medical community. Lindsey is truly fascinated in this field and it shows through this book. I found the book from her podcast with Joe Rogan which I wholeheartedly reccomend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- caroline
- 2019-10-28
Very interesting
I enjoyed listening to this book about Lister but the reader has an accent which is a little bit difficult as English is my second language. Good book though.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- heather
- 2020-01-14
So glad I don’t live back then!!!
A great story about how medicine evolved in the 19th century!! Aseptic techniques to anaesthetic and many more discoveries and surgery’s. Cutting a limb off in 60 seconds while the patient is awake!! Kill me now!!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- RW
- 2018-06-03
Great book!
Loved this book, it was so interesting! The narrator keeps you interested and the book is so well detailed!
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- JohnS
- 2020-03-06
We've come a long way...
This book is above all a biography of Joseph Lister with a shorter description of the life and contribution of his mentor and father-in-law, James Syme. It is a great history book on the development of antiseptic techniques as applied to surgical procedures.
The narration by Ralph Lister is excellent.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Steven
- 2019-10-30
Wow a wonderful read!
Great writing with a top notch narrator. The book keeps you entranced! You come to understand the people and the era.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-09-26
enjoyable bit of the medical history
An excellent telling of the beginnings of modern surgery and hygiene. I knew so little about this before listening to this book and am so pleased to have come across it. A great listen. American accents put on are a little clunky but forgivable because everything else was really very good.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ehm
- 2024-07-17
AMAZING
I will be listening again and again .....maybe again and again too!!
this book was amazing and amazingly written
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Shannon H
- 2019-09-03
Great history, Awesome Narrator
The history is intriguing and accurate, the narrator makes it entertaining. A great read for anyone interested in medical evolution.
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2 people found this helpful