Naked to the Bone: Medical Imaging in the Twentieth Century (Sloan Technology Series)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.37 (522 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0813523583 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 398 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-08-16 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
By the late 1960s, the computer and television were linked to produce medical images that were as startling as Roentgen's original X-rays. By the 1920s, the technology was a commonplace wonder: army recruits had routinely lined up for chest X-rays during World War I, and children delighted in seeing the bones of their feet in the green glow of shoestore fluoroscopes. Despite their formidable power to reveal the inner secrets of the body, no form of medical imaging can claim to be the product of a technological imperative. As Kevles points out, few of these costly inventions made it easily to the marketplace, and all are vulnerable to the changing economics of the health-care system. In the early years of X-rays, many doctors, technicians,
Kevles provides an excellent history of the technology of medical imaging--x-rays, CT, NMR, PET, ultrasound, and mammography--but builds on it to examine the wider ramifications of bodily transparency. It is difficult for us to imagine how mysterious the inside of a living person seemed only 100 years ago, when x-rays were discovered. . Anyone going through the high-tech diagnostic gauntlet of the turn of the millennium will want to read this book. At that time only God could see a person in the mother's womb; now ultrasound baby pictures, like the one of Bettyann Kevles's grandson on the dedication page of Naked to the Bone, can be mailed out six months before the child is born
Rick Hunter said superior science writing. I love reading science books geared toward non-scientists such as I. Bettyann Holtzmann Kelves Naked to the Bone: Medical Imaging in the Twentieth Century exactly fit the bill. Profusely illustrated and gracefully written, this fine work of non-fiction tells the story of x-rays, CT scan, MRI, sonograms, and PET scans. Kelves writes for the non-scie. "What an incredible story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it." according to A Customer. I listened to the interview on NPR's Science Friday several months ago thought how exciting can the discovery of x-rays be? I gave it a quick glance at a local book store and I was hooked. Did people actually buy lead lined underwear? Do physicians make mistakes? Even if they are treating the president of the United States? Lawyers found a way to p. "An occasional error- - - - " in "Naked to the Bone". On page 92 of "Naked to the Bone", author Kevles gibes at the 1896 edition of "Practical Radiography", which through 20 years of reprints carried an inverted x-ray frontispiece captioned "The Human Heart in situ". She explains that "manypeople, including physicians, simply could not tell what they were looking at in a radiograph or through a fluoro