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    • Our Mission
    • Resources for Connection
    • News
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A sick history of medicine

£10.99

A disgusting history of medicine through the ages from Jelena Poleksic, featuring hilarious illustrations by Ella Kasperowicz.

In Stock

ISBN: 9781916745018 Category: Children's - Non-Fiction Tags: Children's / Teenage general interest: History & the past, Children's / Teenage general interest: Science & technology: general interes, Children's / Teenage personal & social issues: Body & health
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Description

WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED. This revolting history of medicine through the ages by Jelena Poleksic is full of blood, guts, and gore!

If you don’t like going to the doctor, spare a thought for your ancestors. Got a headache? We can drill into your skull! Need to buy medicine? Can we recommend a dose of ground-up Egyptian mummy? Want to fight off diseases? Try smelling a stinky cesspit.

It’s well-known that to make advances in science you have to make a few mistakes along the way. In this hilarious history book kids will be whisked around the world – from ancient Rome to imperial China – to meet the medical innovators who pushed the boundaries of what was possible, with sometimes disastrous effects. They’ll learn about the use of leeches, maggot-therapy (as gross as it sounds), dancing plagues, public dissections, grave robbers, electric eel treatments, exploding teeth, and much more!

Written by a doctor, everything in this book has been scrupulously researched and readers will learn about the development of some of our greatest inventions, from vaccines to X-rays. Amusing illustrations by Ella Kasperowicz make this a book kids will want to return to again and again.

The vile sequel to the equally revolting A Stinky History of Toilets!

Additional information

Weight 0.51 kg
Dimensions 29 × 23.6 × 1.2 cm
Author

Poleksic, Jelena

Publisher

Neon Squid

Imprint

Neon Squid

Cover

Hardback

Pages

48

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

610.9 (edition:23)

Readership

Children – juvenile / Code: J

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THANK YOU to everyone who came along to discuss The Vet's Daughter in May. For June, we will be reading The Director by Daniel Kehlmann. We have multiple sessions available to choose from, including our baby-friendly session on Thursday mornings.

Information and tickets available in-store or on our website.

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Loneliness Awareness Week (15 – 21 June) is a campaign dedicated to raising awareness of loneliness. It’s all about creating supportive communities by having open, honest conversations, acknowledging that loneliness affects us all at different times of our lives.

In acknoweldgment of this, Our Chatty Café Volunteers will be around to do what they do best – chat! Why not pop in to the shop, enjoy some free pastries, and have a good natter. No need to book, just drop in.☕🥐

🕑Monday & Wednesday 12 – 1pm

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Don't forget we are hosting a Lunchtime Lecture with Chris Moss on 5th June, discussing his book 'Lancashire: Exploring the historic county that made the modern world.' 

Chris will be specifically discussing Manchester, it's identity within Lancashire and eventually 'Greater Manchester' in 1974. This is a great talk for those interested in local history, as well as the wider context that makes our industrial city so important to British historians. Tickets available on our website or in-store 🏙️

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May 26



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Our bookseller Leah is recommending Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation to customers this week!

'They were in love once. He wrote her songs, she never missed her ex, they got married and had a child and didn’t realise they’d fallen out of love, until one day they had.

Offill captures the despair, the mania, the bargaining and rationalising of whether to stay or leave, and writes it in a stylised prose that doesn’t feel pretentious. It felt like a novel that could be paired alongside Nora Ephron’s ‘Heartburn’, with its soothing path through the grief of an ending.’

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After the success of last years drive (over 500 books!) we are so pleased to be collaborating with the @childrensbookproject for the second year in a row! 📚

Bring your preloved childrens books to store between the 23rd of May and the 20th of June and they will be gifted onwards to help tackle book poverty.

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About the project:

One in three disadvantaged children across the UK has fewer than ten books of their own at home*, and one in ten has none.

The Children’s Book Project seeks to tackle book poverty and to give every child the opportunity to own their own book. We believe in empowering children to choose a book they are motivated to read and in the power of reading communities.

Just before Christmas 2025 a child in London, Birmingham, Leeds or Manchester chose and took home our two millionth book at one of their school’s gifting events. 

The challenge we are tackling is huge. Over one million UK children do not own a single book. At the same time, vast numbers of books are pulped each year because the system is not designed to keep them in circulation. We address both problems with a sustainable model that blends environmental responsibility with social impact, putting pre-loved books straight into the hands of children who will treasure them.

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Thanks everyone for coming to our May event discussing Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter. In June's Feminist Book Club, we'll be discussing Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister. Whether you're new or regular come and join!📚😀

As always tickets are limited so book early to avoid dissapoint


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