Customer Reviews
If you only read one book in your lifetime make it this one.... - By: L. Jefferies, 01 Dec 2008 
I saw some of the TV series on which this book is based & found it utterly fascinating so I just had to buy the book to find out the bits I missed on TV. The title makes it sound very gruesome & whilst some of the techniques covered live up to this title the way it is written makes it very enjoyable & entertaining to read without making you feelin the least bit queazy. It really highlights the way the surgical techniques we have today have been founded on the ideas of pioneers who came up with inventions ranging from the astounding to the downright bizarre & morally questionable. Throughout the book I was constantly asking myself "how on earth did they come up with that?!" These really are people who were prepared to try absolutely anythingin the pursuit of medical advancement. There are also some excellent pictures & photos which illustrate the techniques discussed. This is really the most interesting book I have ever read & I'd recommend it to anyone.
Readable and Engaging - By: Colin Jervis, 25 Aug 2008 Blood & Guts is a pithy & readable history of surgery that does not hold back on the successes & the botches.
One of the most amusing anecdotes became known as the "night of the pigs" & takes placein the National Heart Hospitalin Londonin 1969.
Surgeon Donald Longmore waits for a delivery of pigs. He plans to graft a pig's heart & lungs into a patient to keep him alive. One pig has other ideas & makes its escape onto Wimpole Street, pursued by gowned, capped, masked & booted theatre staff.
The pig, now secured by the expert team, is taken to the mortuary to be put to sleep, but the anaesthetist assigned to the task is Jewish. Another anaesthetist is found, but there is another problem: the patient is also Jewish & unconscious so unable to take any decisions for himself. Mr. Longmore calls a rabbi whoin fits of laughter gives the go ahead for a genuine attempt to save the patient's life. Unfortunately, the operation failsin its final stages owing to an unforeseen reaction of pig heart to an injection of calcium.
Medical mavericks seem to have been responsible for much surgical progress, so it's surprising to read how often innovations we now take for granted were at first rejected by established leaders & institutions. Plus ca change!
