Sandra Hempel
Forfatter af The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science
Om forfatteren
Sandra Hempel is a medical journalist and the author of the award-winning The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump. She lives in London.
Værker af Sandra Hempel
The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science (2013) 162 eksemplarer
The Medical Detective: John Snow, Cholera and the Mystery of the Broad Street Pump (2006) 145 eksemplarer
The Atlas of Disease: Mapping deadly epidemics and contagion from the plague to the zika virus (2018) 52 eksemplarer
Atlas van ziekten en epidemieën van de pest tot ebola, dodelijke epidemieën en besmettingen in kaart gebracht (2020) 2 eksemplarer
L'Atlas des maladies - De la peste au coronavirus, une cartographie de la contagion et des épidémies (2021) 2 eksemplarer
Satte nøgleord på
Almen Viden
- Fødselsdato
- 1948
- Køn
- female
- Kort biografi
- I am a journalist and author who writes on health and social issues for national newspapers, consumer magazines, specialist medical journals, the Department of Health/NHS, professional organisations such as the Royal Colleges, and pharma companies across all media platforms.
My first two books – "The Medical Detective" and "The Inheritor's Powder" – are set in 19th century Britain and take as their theme a different aspect of the history of medicine. I am fascinated by the struggle of doctors and medical scientists down the ages to understand the workings of the human body and to diagnose and treat disease. The 1800s was a particularly fascinating era that saw many important advances but, at the time time of course, some major mistakes. It's so easy to look back with hindsight though and condemn some of the thinking as stupid and clearly wrong, but without doubt people will look back at our era and laugh at some of our favourite theories.
A great lover of crime books, I have tried to write both books as thrillers. "The Inheritor's Powder" in particular is a murder mystery, with the unmasking of the criminal left – a la Hercule Poirot – to the last few pages.
http://www.sandrahempel.co.uk/
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Statistikker
- Værker
- 7
- Medlemmer
- 365
- Popularitet
- #65,883
- Vurdering
- 3.7
- Anmeldelser
- 20
- ISBN
- 21
- Sprog
- 3
There are 4 sections to the book: airborne, waterborne, insects and animals, and human to human. Each chapter in the section then outlines a disease, from AIDS to Zika. The opening page has the disease name, the causal agent, transmission, symptoms, incidence and deaths, prevalence, prevention, treatment, and global strategy. For example, diptheria’s incidence and deaths statement lets us know that the germ causes around 5,000 cases per year worldwide, with 5-10% cases being fatal. The global strategy notes that there are childhood vaccination programs, but the World Health Organization (WHO) describes it as a “forgotten” disease. On the opposite page there is a painting by Francisco de Goya showing a man holding a child on his lap, supporting his head with his left hand while he probes the child’s mouth with his right. The work is entitled El Lazarillo de Tormes or El Garrotillo (“Diptheria”). When you turn the page you see illustrations of how the illness attacks the lining of the throat, causing the victim to strangle and suffocate.
I can honestly say I have learned more from this book than from many others I’ve read. The writer’s style is straightforward, sharing facts without drama, and extremely easy to comprehend. You won’t need a medical background to appreciate ATLAS. The author’s fascination with these illnesses is clearly portrayed on every page, as well as her depth of research. I cannot say enough superlatives about this book – it is far and away the best work I’ve read this year. If you are a devotee of disease, you will treasure this work forever. And for those of you who are not – please still read this. You will learn, you will be shocked, and you will appreciate the fragility of life.… (mere)