Dictionary of Medical Folklore

By Carol Ann Rinzler

Book Overview

This handbook is intended to help the reader separate the myth from reality among the legends surrounding the retention of good health and the fight against disease. It attempts to answer such... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1853263230
• ISBN13: 9781853263231
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating, if a bit out of date

First published in 1979, Carol Ann Rinzler's "Dictionary of Medical Folklore" provides a nearly complete collection of our medical myths, beliefs, and delusions, from acne to zinc oxide. Often, they are fascinating. For instance, most people have read a mystery in which a corpse's nails keep growing after death; according to Rinzler, that's absolutely false: the cuticles shrink, making the nails merely look longer. I was also pleased to learn that chocolate does not cause acne, which would have made my adolescence a little less argumentative. There are a few items that have become outdated as medical research rolls on, but on the whole, this is a worthwhile book to have in your library, to help answer trivia questions or do research for stories.