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A New and Unique Medical Browsing-Book for

Medics, Nurses, Patients and Hypochondriacs.

Sick Notes received rave reviews and was awarded a British Medical Association book prize in 1996.

D

octors are obliged to learn a huge vocabulary: not only the Latin and Greek words for the anatomical bits and pieces of which mankind consists, but also the many sicknesses and syndromes our flesh is heir to. Unfortunately they now have to remember all those terms by the noise the words make, as neither Latin nor Greek is taught at school.

This book gives the often fanciful origins of many common medical terms (useful for hypochondriacs) and also goes into amusing detail of classical mythology, folklore and mediaeval superstition. It reveals, for example, that the word for the navel is derived from a female transvestite; and that the original hermaphrodite was thought to have been created by mixed bathing (and wonders why a Latin word for the penis was feminine, while Greek for the womb was masculine).

Even conditions like plomboscillosis are included (from Latin plombus, lead + oscillare, to swing), as well as modern complaints like GOK (“God only knows”) and those so contagious that they are passed on through a handshake with a lawyer - and cured with the application of a large cheque. Also some of the scurrilous menemonics students have invented for remembering long and complicated words; and room is found even for the (non-medical) Spin Doctor - his entry suitably placed between Sphincter and Sputum.

Numerous illustrations, both humorous and historical enliven the book further, as well as cartoons by Bill Tidy.

“Extremely funny, erudite and witty - there are poems, there is music, there is history, there is politics....”

— Dr Fred Cavalier, Physician and Medical Corrrespondent of The Independent, speaking on Medicine Now, BBC Radio 4.

“The most truly addictive and meaningful medical book ever. It had me leaping frenetically from one true medical meaning to another. Forget the laughing-gas. This book is a much better way to relax! It’s deliciously hypodermic - Fritz Spiegl’s fascinating verbal romp gets right under the skin of all that pretentious medicobabble.”

— Dr Alan Maryon Davis, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Author, Musician, Broadcaster.

“Fritz Spiegl has created a browser’s dictionary: let your eyes drift down any of its pages and they’ll fix upon an entry that is intriguing, illuminating or amusing: a book not so much for the library shelf as for a bedside table.”

— Dr Michael O’Donnell, Physician, Author, Broadcaster, Editor of World Medicine.

Get a copy for your doctor today

- or for a patient, if you are a doctor...

ISBN 1-85070-627-1

171 pp. Hardback 101/4 x 73/4 inches.

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