Download Nine Pints A Journey Through the Money Medicine and Mysteries of Blood Rose George 9781250230683 Books

Product details Paperback 368 pages Publisher Picador; Reprint edition (October 22, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1250230683

Nine Pints A Journey Through the Money Medicine and Mysteries of Blood Rose George 9781250230683 Books Reviews

• Anyone interested in the history of medicine and its applications will be riveted by Rose George's eloquent, well-documented, and often humorous description of the fits and starts leading to today's more-or-less sophisticated handling of our bodies' most vital fluid. Leeches for breast reconstruction in the 21st century? Yikes! Another chapter reveals the terrors of hemophilia in heart-rending detail for those of us who haven't encountered it personally. And folks who deal with menstruation as a routine, relatively stress-free part of life will thank their lucky stars when reading about the privations and persecution incurred by women in large areas of the world.
  
  Unfortunately, the version that I downloaded has a frustratingly marred format. The table of contents has no labels, and when you click on "Beginning" you are launched clear over to Chapter 4. One hopes these defects will be corrected in future downloads.
• Having just read several outstanding medical history/subject books (The Poison Squad; The Remedy; The Microbe Hunter; Dr. Mutter's Marvels), I was looking forward to Rose George's "Nine Pints" and a discourse into the world of blood.
  The book starts out well with a chapter that introduces blood through Georges' own donation and follows up with an interesting chapter on the use of leeches in medicine, and the advent of the modern system of blood donation centers.
  Then the book falls apart. There are lots of inconsistencies and poorly worded paragraphs and statement.
  For example, a sentence in Chapter 5 reads "A total of 4,689 hemophiliacs in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C, of whom 2,883 have since died." This sentence, based on a public report from 2018 revers to a cohort of hemophiliacs who received tainted clotting factors "....in the late 1970s and early 1980s....". The use of tainted blood is scandalous and criminal, the 61% mortality rate cited by George is misleading. Given that the mean life expectancy of hemophiliacs today is about 10 years less than for the general population (roughly 70 instead of 80 years in develop countries with good health care systems), the probability of a hemophiliac teenager to receive tainted clotting factor in 1980 to still be alive today is about 55% (the person would be in their mid- to late- fifties today). This rough calculation suggests that the tainted clotting factor increased mortality by about 15% - still scandalous and criminal, but less sensational and more factual.
  The need for a good editor is also apparent in Chapter 4 on HIV/AIDS in S Africa. An enlightened story indeed, but completely unrelated to the central tenant of the book. George is outraged by the reasons for high HIV transmission rates in Africa and a chauvinistic culture, but that has just about nothing to-do with blood. Chapter 5 can't decide if it is an indictment of for-profit plasma centers or a celebration of the success of clotting factors. Chapters 6 and 7 cover menstrual cycles and the abusive practices women have to endure during their menstrual cycle, but does little to link menses and blood physiology as one would expect. If these (and following) chapters seem disjointed, they pale in comparison to the hopscotch nature of individual paragraphs and even sentences throughout - did I mention there is a desperate need for an editor?
  The book lacks a central thesis that ties topics together, unless the central thesis is that many bad things are happening in the world and that some are tenuously linked to blood. Rose George, based on her excellent previous books, deserves a do-over have an editor actually work through the book with her, identify a central theme and then fact-check everything.
• Overall I really liked the book. George's writing style is snappy and witty, and I love her opening. I learned a lot, and I have spent the last 30 years involved in the US and global blood community, as a parent raising a child with hemophilia, and have written books myself about hemophilia. I loved all the statistics, interwoven with real life stories of individuals. I appreciate the focus on the suffering and plight of those with hemophilia, who contracted HIV and hepatitis C. I know some of the people she quoted. George has highlighted some very important and crucial concerns plasma donation practices, cultural differences regarding blood. The chapter on leeches was so interesting! As I am involved internationally in helping patients in developing countries gain access to clotting factor, I was very interested in the global situations she presented, especially India and Nepal, two countries I have been to many times. Just one bone to pick I know the doctor she quoted who said in 2017 there wasn't a patient over age 18 in Islamabad, Pakistan with hemophilia. So not true! Maybe in 1998 but not now. I've been to Pakistan about 5 times over 20 years and actually helped establish the Islamabad chapter of their national hemophilia organization so I know these patients personally, and their doctors, for years. Mostly, I think the other reviewers hit the nail on the head. George gets sidetracked a bit, the book is too involved in some chapters and not enough in others, and I agree with the reviewer who said that the central theme is kind of missing. Each chapter kind of exists unto itself. But she covers a lot of ground! And I will be referencing this book on my blog. I hope there is an updated book in a few years, which can polish this up a bit. Overall I recommend it! And please read Douglas Starr's excellent book, "Blood."
• it starts out interesting, with transfusions and leeches, but it has a very heavy middle, where she talks unendingly on menstruations in Indian women (2 chapters), too much for any book. Returns at the end, successfully. It is well written, though and interesting, except for the Indian women.
• Bought this book because of great review by The Economist. However … I did not find it as interesting and informative as I would have liked. A couple of chapters were very good, but several were more human interest than scientific or historic. Though I finished the book, I did skip some sections and only skimmed others.
• There was less physiology and more anecdote than I like in a book about blood.
• Serious research on aspects of blood the average person doesn't think about, much less know. The mixology of historical, medical, philosophical and geographical differences and conditions is profound. "Blood money" is not just mafia/gangster slang and vampires apparently know something we don't. Great read to learn and appreciate what flows inside you 24/7 for life.