Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quackery | 2017 | Lydia Kang | Buy |
Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything (2017) is a non-fiction book by Lydia Kang and co-author Nate Pedersen. The book catalogs history’s most misguided medical treatments, from drinking mercury to using radium as a health tonic, and explains how these practices found widespread acceptance.
Kang brings her experience as a practicing internal medicine physician to the research, while Pedersen contributes a journalist’s eye for storytelling. The result is a book that is both informative and frequently horrifying, covering everything from bloodletting and trepanation to patent medicine scams. The tone is darkly funny rather than dry, making it accessible to readers who have no medical background but enjoy learning about the strange corners of history.