LEADER 03160nam 22004092 450 001 9910798749603321 005 20170821062053.0 010 $a1-78138-867-9 010 $a1-78138-346-4 035 $a(CKB)3710000000870380 035 $a(UkCbUP)CR9781781383469 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4806702 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL4806702 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr11346600 035 $a(OCoLC)958936779 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000870380 100 $a20170307d2016|||| uy| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aRoald Dahl's marvellous medicine /$fTom Solomon$b[electronic resource] 210 1$aLiverpool :$cLiverpool University Press,$d2016. 215 $a1 online resource (253 pages) $cdigital, PDF file(s) 300 $aTitle from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 11 Aug 2017). 311 $a1-78138-339-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 330 $aMost people know Roald Dahl as a famous write of children's books and adult short stories, but few are aware of his fascination with medicine. Right from his earliest days to the end of his life, Dahl was intrigued by what doctors do, and why they do it. During his lifetime, he and his family suffered some terrible medical tragedies: Dahl nearly died when his fighter plane went down in World War II; his son had severe brain injury in an accident; and his daughter died of measles infection of the brain. But he also had some medical triumphs: he dragged himself back to health after the plane crash, despite a skull fracture, back injuries, and blindness; he was responsible for inventing a medical device (the Wade-Dahl-Till valve) to treat his son's hydrocephalus (water on the brain), and he taught his first wife Patricia to talk again after a devastating stroke. His medical interactions clearly influenced some of his writing - for example the explosive potions in George's Marvellous Medicine. And sometimes his writing impacted on events in his life - for example the research on neuroanatomy he did for his short story William and Mary later helped him design the valve for treating hydrocephalus.In this unique book, Professor Tom Solomon, who looked after Dahl towards the end of his life, examines Dahl's fascination with medicine. Taking examples from Dahl's life, and illustrated with excerpts from his writing, the book uses Dahl's medical interactions as a starting point to explore some extraordinary areas of medical science. Solomon is an award-winning science communicator, and he effortlessly explains the medical concepts underpinning the stories, in language that everyone can understand. The book is also peppered with anecdotes from Dahl's late night hospital discussions with Solomon, which give new insights into this remarkable man's thinking as his life came to an end. 676 $a823/.914 700 $aSolomon$b Tom$01566032 801 0$bUkCbUP 801 1$bUkCbUP 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910798749603321 996 $aRoald Dahl's marvellous medicine$93836297 997 $aUNINA