Dr. Golem
Douban
How to Think about Medicine
Harry Collins / Trevor Pinch
overview
Dr. Golem explores some of the mysteries and complexities of medicine while untangling the inherent conundrums of scientific research and highlighting its vagaries. In eight chapters devoted to case studies of modern medicine, Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch consider the prevalence of tonsillectomies, the placebo effect and randomized control trials, bogus doctors, CPR, the efficacy of vitamin C in fighting cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS cures, and vaccination. Throughout, Collins and Pinch remind readers that medical science is an economic as well as a social consideration, encapsulated for the authors in the timeless struggle to balance the good health of the many with the good health of a few. Dr. Golem is a timely analysis of the limitations of medicine that never loses sight of its strengths.
contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction - Medicine as Science and Medicine as Succor
1. The Hole in the Heart of Medicine: The Placebo Effect
2. Faking It for Real: Bogus Doctors
3. Tonsils: Diagnosing and Dealing with Uncertainty
4. Alternative Medicine: The Cases of Vitamin C and Cancer
5. Yuppie Flu, Fibromyalgia, and Other Contested Diseases
6. Defying Death: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
7. The AIDS Activists
8. Vaccination and Parents’ Rights: Mumps, Measles, Rubella (MMR), and Pertussis
Conclusion - The Themes Revisited
Notes
Bibliography
Index
