A Crisis and the Heroic March of Medicine

A Crisis and the Heroic March of Medicine

The Great War and the Birth of Modern Medicine: A History by Thomas Helling, M.D. Pegasus Books, 2022. Hardcover, 496 pages, $32. Reviewed by Karl C. Shaffenburg The inscription on Dr. Thomas Helling’s book, The Great War and the Birth of Modern Medicine: A History...
The Elon Musk of Botany Bay?

The Elon Musk of Botany Bay?

The Multifarious Mr. Banks: From Botany Bay to Kew, The Natural Historian Who Shaped the World By Toby Musgrave. Yale University Press, 2020. Hardcover, 357 pp., $35. Reviewed by Karl C. Schaffenburg In current usage “multifarious” refers to a thing that demonstrates...
On Goats, and What to Do

On Goats, and What to Do

How to Burn a Goat: Farming with the Philosophers By Scott H. Moore Baylor University Press, 2019. Hardcover, 224 pp., $29.95. Reviewed by Karl C. Schaffenburg In a brief volume of shorter meditations and several more extended essays, Scott H. Moore, a philosophy...
Yes It’s Poetry, But Is It Good?

Yes It’s Poetry, But Is It Good?

The Soul is a Stranger in this World: Essays on Poets and Poetry By Micah Mattix. Cascade Books, 2020. Softcover, 164 pages, $21. Reviewed by Karl C. Schaffenburg Lovers of poetry will find much to enjoy in this volume, which collects short essays written by the...
The Doctor as Amoralist

The Doctor as Amoralist

Under the Knife: A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations by Arnold van de Laar, translated by Andy Brown. St. Martin’s Press, 2018. Hardcover, 357 pages, $30. Reviewed by Karl C. Schaffenburg In his entertaining and readable review of the history of surgery,...