Jonathan Edlow's "The Deadly Dinner Party" is an excellent read that follows in the tradition of "Bull's Eye", his earlier work on uncovering the mystery of Lyme Disease. Each chapter provides a fast paced vignette of a deadly or serious malady that vexed a medical practitioner, his or her backup team and, of course, one or more victims. Nothing is what it seems, and patients suffer, usually seriously and often close to death, with the Grim Reaper acting as timekeeper in the physician's game of wits with unruly and often unknowable secrets of nature.
Although modern technology offers information and support for these modern medical sleuths, very often it is the physician's knowledge of prior medical research and clinical history from decades or centuries past that provides the critical clues allowing the right treatment from modern medicine's arsenal. In many cases the solution is not an esoteric drug or procedure, but something as simple as a change of diet, or a change of process by a third-party such as a food vendor. In each case Edlow gives us an in-depth view of the many researchers and clinicians that pursued obscure and dangerous diseases in times past. To a layman it is fascinating to see how various historic figures pursued their quarry with such energy and diligence, and it is equally fascinating to learn that they documented their work so carefully that it is available to rescue today's medical professionals in modern dilemmas. The author presents current symptoms and prior research in sufficient detail (sometimes approaching the graphics of TV's CSI series) to give the reader a gripping sense of how a patient suffers and what dreadful fate might await him or her. This also provides the reader with great insights not only into clinical practice and medical history, but also into the need for good personal and social hygiene.
Dr. Edlow, in his description of patients, treats each with great tenderness and respect. As an aside, he reminds us in each chapter that the patient's name is fictitious, which I found somewhat tedious, but which is no doubt required by publishers in our litigious society. His description of each patient's humanity also gives us insight into the humanity of their medical providers. The reader can sense the anxiety and concern that doctors have when they can't solve a patient's problem. Even though we all convince ourselves that medical professionals learn to leave problems at work and not bring them home, among Edlow's practitioners that's not the case. For those of us who have been patients, we take great solace in believing that our service providers are thinking about us 24 hours a day. And so it is with Edlow's detectives, professionally trained, blessed with high intellect and typically overachievers (the type whom we probably envied or disliked in high school) who give no quarter and have no rest until their patient is restored to health. Behind the hospital administrator, insurance analyst or Medicare bureaucrat and a large impersonal hospital edifice, Edlow subtly tells us there is a doctor, nurse or lab technician that cares about each patient. If they didn't, the medical mystery would go unsolved and the patient would continue to suffer, and die.
Not only is "The Deadly Dinner Party" entertainment, but it is a convenient way to learn some interesting things about medicine, hygiene and technology. In short it is highly educational. In fact, it should be considered as an educational tool for high school and college health or social science classes. The cases are realistic, and fun. (I was struck by the realism when I discovered that one of the service providers described in a specific case, which I won't mention so that the mystery is not revealed in advance to the reader, is a service provider that I use to this day. I inquired of one of its employees if the case was factual, and learned that indeed it was.) For senior high school and college students Edlow's treatment of these mysteries would provide inspiration for some students to choose a career in medicine, but for all it would provide great insights into modern advances in biology, genetic science and medicine, and the need for conscientious practice of personal, social and industrial hygiene. "The Deadly Dinner Party" is entertaining and stimulating for all, and a great educational tool.
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Son loved it
I got this book for my son, he had to write an essay on it as part of his summer homework and he truly enjoyed it. It has a lot of different medical stories which he enjoyed. It's light weight and not that thick so he could easily take it with him when we were out and about. He said he recommends it...
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