Medicine – The Bell Bookshop

Free for all

Emma — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

‘Needle-sharp analysis from the front line’ Ian Rankin’Utterly compelling’ Henry Marsh’Wonderful … A heartbreaking chronicle of the NHS’s near-demise, and a call to action’ Leah Hazard’A reminder of what is important, what we hold dear, and who we are’ Christie Watson’Compassionate, clever, curious, principled, humane … A succinct, elegant and beautifully written account of what the NHS should and could still be’ Rachel ClarkeBritain’s health service is dying. Gavin Francis shows us why we should fight for it. Since its birth in 1948, the powers that be have chipped away at the NHS. Now, Britain’s best-loved institution is under greater threat than ever, besieged by a deadly combination of underfunding, understaffing and the predatory private sector. In the wake of the pandemic, we have come to accept a ‘new normal’ of permanent crisis and years-long waiting lists. But, as Gavin Francis reveals in this short, vital book- it doesn’t have to be this way, and until recently, it wasn’t. Drawing on the history of the NHS as well as his own experience as a GP, he introduces us to the inner workings of an institution that has never been perfect but which transformed the lives and health of millions, for free – and which has never been more important. For those who believe in the future of the NHS and its founding principles, this is essential reading from the bestselling author of Recovery and Intensive Care.

Side effects

Emma — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

***A Waterstones Best Books of 2022 pick***’David Haslam is uniquely placed to reflect on how healthcare has lost its way, what needs to be done to fix it and why all of us are responsible for doing so… The importance and timeliness of his messages shines through.’ Dr Phil Hammond’A fascinating and important book.’ Dr Amanda BrownWith a single drug in the UK currently costing Ã¯ ¿ ½340,000 per patient per year, or a gene therapy in the USA being costed at $1.2million, who should get such treatments, and how can we begin to afford them? Should we all be entitled to timely mental health therapy? How should we care for our old? As we grapple with the world’s worst pandemic for a century, our minds are on our health more than ever. But what should we rightfully expect of doctors? In this original and thought-provoking book, Sir David Haslam explores what good healthcare should achieve and asks how we pay for it. Informed by patient stories and data from across the world – from US big pharma to Britain’s NHS – this is an urgent and often moving examination of our most important asset: our health.

What is a doctor?

Emma — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

What Is a Doctor? is a vital contribution to the ongoing debate about how we maintain an NHS that is both fit for purpose and free. Using stories and case studies from across his thirty-year career as a GP, Dr Phil Whitaker offers insight into the medical movements, political interference and societal changes that have transformed the role of doctor over the past three decades.

Much has altered for the better but, even when based on good intentions, an equal or greater amount has been damaging and threatens the sustainability of the NHS. In examining what it means to be a doctor today, this book also answers an accompanying question ‘what is a patient?’ – and how we can all take a more active role in our healthcare. And, looking forward, Dr Whitaker describes what might yet be done to restore the NHS and its capacity for properly patient-centred care.

Undoctored

Emma — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

This is Going to Hurt was the publishing phenomenon of the century, read by many millions, loved by at least fifty of them, and adapted into a major TV series. But it was only part of the story.

By turns hilarious, heartbreaking and humbling, Undoctored is about what happens when a doctor hangs up his scrubs, but medicine refuses to let go of him.

It’s about an extraordinary medical school education.
It’s about opening old wounds and examining the present-day scars.
It’s about hospital admissions and personal ones.
It’s about blowing up your life and stitching it back together.
It’s about being a doctor and being a patient.
It’s about 300 pages long.

Undoctored is Adam Kay’s funniest and most moving book yet – an astonishing portrait of a life in and out of medicine, from one of Britain’s finest storytellers.

Infectious

Emma — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

‘The perfect gift for the armchair epidemiologist’ Wall Street Journal

Nature wants you dead.

Not just you, but your children and everyone you have ever met and everyone they have ever met; in fact, everyone. It wants you to cough and sneeze and poop yourself into an early grave. It wants your blood vessels to burst and pustules to explode all over your body. And – until recently – it was really good at doing this?

The subject of infection and how to fight it grows more urgent every day. How do pathogens cause disease? And what tools can we give our bodies to do battle? Infectious is not only a vital overview of what goes awry in our bodies, but also a hopeful story of ongoing human ingenuity.

Side Effects

Emma — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Unseen Body

Emma — Thu, 26 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In his beautifully written prose, Dr Jonathan Reisman – physician, adventure traveller and naturalist – allows readers to navigate their insides like an explorer discovering a new world.

Through his offbeat adventures in healthcare and travel, Reisman discovers new perspectives on the body: a trip to the Alaskan Arctic reveals that fat is not the enemy, but the hero; a stint in the Himalayas uncovers the boundary where the brain ends and the mind begins; and eating a sheep’s head in Iceland offers a lesson in empathy. By relating his experiences in far-flung lands and among unique cultures back to the body’s inner workings, he shows how our organs live inextricably intertwined lives in an internal ecosystem that reflects the natural world around us.

Reisman’s unique perspective on the natural world and his expert wielding of wit ultimately helps us make sense of our lives, our bodies and our world in a way readers have never before imagined.

‘An elegant, elegiac, and deeply enjoyable meander through human anatomy . . . the images Reisman conjures will linger long after you’ve devoured his delightful prose.’ – Nicola Twilley, co-author of Until Proven Safe and co-host of Gastropod podcast

Recovery

Emma — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER: an uplifting account of hope and healing by GP Gavin Francis’I cannot think of anybody – patient or doctor – who will not be helped by reading this short and profound book’ – Henry Marsh’Such a wise, gentle, quietly hopeful book. Exactly what I needed’ – Rachel Clarke’A lovely little book’ – Michael RosenWhen it comes to illness, sometimes the end is just the beginning. Recovery and convalescence are words that exist at the periphery of our lives – until we are forced to contend with what they really mean. Here, GP and writer Gavin Francis explores how – and why – we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it. Characterised by Francis’s beautiful prose and his view of medicine as ‘the alliance of science and kindness’, Recovery is a book about a journey that most of us never intend to make. Along the way, he unfolds a story of hope, transformation, and the everyday miracle of healing.

Words Fail Us

Emma — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

‘TIMELY’ David Mitchell ‘MOVING … REMARKABLE’ SUNDAY TIMES ‘ONE OF THOSE RARE BOOKS I HADN’T REASLISED I’D BEEN WAITING FOR UNTIL I READ IT.’ Owen Sheers’OPEN-MINDED, THOUGHTFUL AND WISE… A LIBERATING BOOK’ Colm ToibinIn an age of polished TED talks and overconfident political oratory, success seems to depend upon charismatic public speaking. But what if hyper-fluency is not only unachievable but undesirable? Jonty Claypole spent fifteen years of his life in and out of extreme speech therapy. From sessions with child psychologists to lengthy stuttering boot camps and exposure therapies, he tried everything until finally being told the words he’d always feared: ‘We can’t cure your stutter.’ Those words started him on a journey towards not only making peace with his stammer but learning to use it to his advantage. Here, Jonty argues that our obsession with fluency could be hindering, rather than helping, our creativity, authenticity and persuasiveness. Exploring other speech conditions, such as aphasia and Tourette’s, and telling the stories of the ‘creatively disfluent’ – from Lewis Carroll to Kendrick Lamar – Jonty explains why it’s time for us to stop making sense, get tongue tied and embrace the life-changing power of inarticulacy.