Product Description

The curator of the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices shares his collection of hilarious, horrifying, and preposterous medical devices that have been foisted upon the gullible in their quest for good health. These modern-day snake oil salesmen, with their dubious devices, have preyed on the medically ignorant with ridiculous and sobering results. From the Prostate Gland Warmer to the Retro Rotor, from the Nose Straightener to the Wonder Electro Marvel, these implements reveal the desperate measures sought for magic cures. With period advertisements, promotional literature, and gadget instructions, this book offers a wealth of past -- and present -- medical fraud.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #770000 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 235 pages

American Medical Association News
The country's largest assemblage of medical bunkum on display to the public...McCoy is a barker for common sense in a carnival of medical quackery.

Money Magazine
Bob McCoy's engaging assortment of quackery on parade is simutaneously entertaining and thought-provoking.

Suzy Hansen Salon.com
"This is a bizarre and enthusiastic book, perfect for anyone who savors the intersection of human folly and weird science."

Customer Reviews

Funny and Sobering!
This book shows how foolish people have been in their quest for cures from disease and perfect health. The sad part is that it's still going on all around us and people are absolutely serious about it. Except now it's called "alternative medicine" and the government is spending taxpayers' dollars on it. Hilarious indeed!

Quaint, preposterous, and horrifying medical devices
Quack!: Tales Of Medical Fraud From The Museum Of Questionable Medical Devices is an informative and fascinating compendium of quaint, preposterous, and occasionally horrifying medical devices foisted upon the public by calculating charlatans and misguided medical practitioners. Some of these purveyors held the public's rapt attention for a time (Albert Abrams, who believed that all that was needed from a patient was a drop of blood, a single hair, or a handwriting sample which gave off a "vibration" that could be used for diagnosis and treatment, was promoted by Upton Sinclair in "Pearson's" magazine), while others were simple snake-oil vintage conmen whose tactics were to "hit and run". Profusely illustrated with photographs of odd medical mechanism, period advertisements, and newspaper clippings of the day, Bob McCoy (curator of the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices) offers a full-spectrum, very highly recommended survey of American medical quackery from the Prostate Gland Warmer to the Recto Rotor, the Nose Straightener to the Wonder Electric Generator.

A cure for all that ails you!
The long wait ends for a modern book on quack medical devices! The quality is everything one might hope for and more. Excellent quality, and highly entertaining.