Review: Ancient Medicine by Andrew Langley

Ancient Medicine by Andrew Langley. A Medicine Through the Ages Book.

Raintree
Publication Date: January 2013
List Price: $33.99
ISBN-13: 9781410946607

Review: Do you like medicine, or are you interested in becoming a doctor? Ancient Medicine, by Andrew Langley, describes some creepy methods, weird tools and magic people used to treat ailments in the past. This non-fiction book includes information about famous people from ancient history such as Aristotle, Galen, Hippocrates, and more. Andrew Langley makes me appreciate the medical world we have today. He gives an overview of old techniques to cure diseases, headaches, and other harmful sicknesses. I now realize that past generations should be highly respected for their medical contributions.

Ancient Medicine breaks down how historical civilizations and settlements evolved with their medical treatments. Each chapter focuses on a different country. The timeline rewinds to include the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian Empires, which existed thousands of years ago! Some healing methods are somewhat disturbing. The book also describes the medical practices of Indian civilizations and the Chinese states. Some ancient methods are still in use today, such as Chinese acupuncture, body dissection, taking vitamins and minerals, proper hygiene, and doctors taking the Hippocratic oath. It's amazing how much there is to learn about ancient medicine!

I like Andrew Langley's account of the history of getting rid of pains. I am amazed by how people performed complicated surgeries so long ago. For example, ancient Indian surgeons had 120 instruments! The target audience is nine to thirteen year old readers who are interested in history and the medical field. Even though I do not have much interest in those subjects, I still enjoyed Ancient Medicine enough to recommend it to all readers. Although the content is pretty general, Andrew Langley notes numerous interesting facts, such as the Chinese doctors stressing the importance of vitamins for health over 1,700 years ago. Read Ancient Medicine to find out which people thought "a head cold would disappear if the sufferer kissed a mule on the nose!"

Watch a book trailer created by the student reviewer, below:

Review written by Allie (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Media Masters Publicity for providing a copy of Ancient Medicine for this review.

Have you read Ancient Medicine? How would you rate it?