Sandra Hempel
Autore di The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science
Sull'Autore
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.
Opere di Sandra Hempel
The Atlas of Disease: Mapping deadly epidemics and contagion from the plague to the zika virus (2018) 52 copie
Atlas van ziekten en epidemieën van de pest tot ebola, dodelijke epidemieën en besmettingen in kaart gebracht (2020) 2 copie
L'Atlas des maladies - De la peste au coronavirus, une cartographie de la contagion et des épidémies (2021) 2 copie
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 1948
- Sesso
- female
- Breve biografia
- 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/
Utenti
Recensioni
I tell you, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
"Local businessmen...packed into the Commission Room...roaring their anger and denouncing reports of cholera as a 'malicious and wicked falsehood." This excerpt describes Sunderland money makers claiming cholera as fake news. The book begins as a ticking time bomb as cholera makes its way across Europe into the UK. Chapters 4-5 introduces John Snow, who "took no wine nor strong drink...and found every amusement in his science books his experiments and simple exercise" and believed in a most humane approach to animal experiments. By the time Snow qualified as a doctor, 32,000 people died of cholera in the UK. His first major medical breakthrough was the administration of chloroform as an anesthetic during surgery. He even administered chloroform to Queen Victoria during the birth of her 8th and 9th child. He was rewarded for minding the obstetrician, using the chemical sparingly, and his gentleness. It was during this time that cholera reappeared and became part John Snow's true legacy. He traced cholera's path and changed public health in ways we take for granted. He found cess pools near water tanks, privies near clogged drains, and then one particular water pump...
It was compelling, horrifying, relatable, and John Snow is likeable man, a true professional. You're cheering for him every step of the way, as he faces public ignorance and derision.… (altro)
"Local businessmen...packed into the Commission Room...roaring their anger and denouncing reports of cholera as a 'malicious and wicked falsehood." This excerpt describes Sunderland money makers claiming cholera as fake news. The book begins as a ticking time bomb as cholera makes its way across Europe into the UK. Chapters 4-5 introduces John Snow, who "took no wine nor strong drink...and found every amusement in his science books his experiments and simple exercise" and believed in a most humane approach to animal experiments. By the time Snow qualified as a doctor, 32,000 people died of cholera in the UK. His first major medical breakthrough was the administration of chloroform as an anesthetic during surgery. He even administered chloroform to Queen Victoria during the birth of her 8th and 9th child. He was rewarded for minding the obstetrician, using the chemical sparingly, and his gentleness. It was during this time that cholera reappeared and became part John Snow's true legacy. He traced cholera's path and changed public health in ways we take for granted. He found cess pools near water tanks, privies near clogged drains, and then one particular water pump...
It was compelling, horrifying, relatable, and John Snow is likeable man, a true professional. You're cheering for him every step of the way, as he faces public ignorance and derision.… (altro)
Overall, this was good. Hempel frames the rudimentary beginnings of forensic science - specifically toxicology - within the narrative of a famous poisoning case of the time, that of the Bodle family, which resulted in the death of George Bodle, the rather wealthy patriarch.
She sets up a rather thrilling beginning; I was at once riveted to the story as we're walked through the morning of the poisoning. I very much wanted to know what was going to happen next.
And this is where Hempel falters. Because just when you're on the edge of your seat, she launches into the science, the scientists and the research of the time, which leads her into side avenues of other contemporary cases. These are also interesting, but she throws so many names and events at the reader in these side alleys to her narrative, that by the time she wends her way back to the Bodles, I've lost track of who everybody was.
This becomes slightly less of a problem in the second half of the book, as things become too exciting for Hempel to get sidetracked, but it's still a regular occurrence. And the thing is, these deviations are the part where all the interesting science-y bits are; about all the attempts at trying to detect arsenic definitively; how Marsh was inspired to create his game-changing test, and how it wasn't *quite* the game-changer so many pinned their hopes on. And it's all good stuff. But Hempel is a victim of her own success at spinning a gripping narrative; I started out wanting the science-y bits but ended up just wanting to know who killed George Bodle.
Worth reading, definitely. But it's not necessarily an easy read for unexpected reasons.… (altro)
She sets up a rather thrilling beginning; I was at once riveted to the story as we're walked through the morning of the poisoning. I very much wanted to know what was going to happen next.
And this is where Hempel falters. Because just when you're on the edge of your seat, she launches into the science, the scientists and the research of the time, which leads her into side avenues of other contemporary cases. These are also interesting, but she throws so many names and events at the reader in these side alleys to her narrative, that by the time she wends her way back to the Bodles, I've lost track of who everybody was.
This becomes slightly less of a problem in the second half of the book, as things become too exciting for Hempel to get sidetracked, but it's still a regular occurrence. And the thing is, these deviations are the part where all the interesting science-y bits are; about all the attempts at trying to detect arsenic definitively; how Marsh was inspired to create his game-changing test, and how it wasn't *quite* the game-changer so many pinned their hopes on. And it's all good stuff. But Hempel is a victim of her own success at spinning a gripping narrative; I started out wanting the science-y bits but ended up just wanting to know who killed George Bodle.
Worth reading, definitely. But it's not necessarily an easy read for unexpected reasons.… (altro)
The Atlas of Disease: Mapping deadly epidemics and contagion from plague to the zika virus
By Sandra Hempel
October 2018
Nonfiction, health
I received a digital ARC copy of this book for review from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.
This is an interesting review of the history and spread of contagious disease. It is well organized and provides basic information which is easy to read. The history and location of origin is fascinating and beneficial information. There are helpful maps to help visualize the information.… (altro)
By Sandra Hempel
October 2018
Nonfiction, health
I received a digital ARC copy of this book for review from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.
This is an interesting review of the history and spread of contagious disease. It is well organized and provides basic information which is easy to read. The history and location of origin is fascinating and beneficial information. There are helpful maps to help visualize the information.… (altro)
Liste
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Statistiche
- Opere
- 7
- Utenti
- 365
- Popolarità
- #65,883
- Voto
- 3.7
- Recensioni
- 20
- ISBN
- 21
- Lingue
- 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.… (altro)