Michael C. Gerald

The Drug Book by Michael C. Gerald is a compilation of 250 milestones in the world of drugs. The first thing Gerald does is define what he means by a “Drug.” It isn’t limited only to plants and compounds beneficial to humanity, Gerald also includes those plants and compounds that are detrimental. As with all books in this series, it goes by Chronological Order. In this case, it is complicated in some ways by when a drug was actually discovered. Sometimes it goes by when the drug went onto the market and other times it goes by the discovery date.

As you go through the entries, it is interesting to see how we went from hucksterism and quackery to sound medical practices. I suppose it is also interesting how a person used to be able to find a life-saving drug through a happy accident, but now it requires billions of dollars and years of time to determine whether or not it is safe and effective.

Some of the drugs in this book were used for unusual things, others were supplanted by drugs that treated symptoms far more effectively. All in all, this was an interesting take on the history of Drugs.… (mere)

This book contains 250 milestones in Biology, including some that we have to estimate, like the origin of life. It also contains some dark history in biology, mainly in eugenics, but doesn't go into depth. The book is printed in a straight-forward manner, with the text on the left side of the book and an image related to the text on the right side of the book.

The page will begin with the general title of the milestone and its approximate date, along with the names and active years of the founders. Let us take the Helix Structure of DNA for example. On the very top is the title of the finding, with the year 1953 in the left margin. Below the title are the names of the relevant people, namely James Watson, Rosalind Franklin and Francis Crick. Below that is a blurb about the finding and how it was also a race between the Watson Crick Franklin team and Linus Pauling. At the very bottom of the page is a description of the image on the next page.

Since it is printed in a layman friendly manner, it is quite easy to digest the information. They include some specialized language, but most of it is explained in the blurb. I really enjoyed it, though I don't think I will read it again.… (mere)