Who Goes First?

by Lawrence K. Altman

Book Overview

Lawrence Altman has authored the only complete history of the controversial and understudied practice of self-experimentation. In telling the stories of pioneering researchers, Altman offers a history... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394503821
• ISBN13: 9780394503820
• Release Date: June 1987
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 430 Pages
• Weight: 1.78 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A classic that is worth the high praise lavished upon it

This book is a classic - informative and well written. Dr. Altman writes with clarity, imparting a lot of medical information in an exciting manner. This is a rare non-fiction book that is a page-turner as well as being very informative. The book details stories of doctors and medical scientists who used themselves to test inoculations against diseases, new medicines, and to learn more about the working of the human body and disease processes. They studied the workings of the heart, the cause and treatment of yellow fever and other viral diseases, parasitic diseases such as malaria, fungal and bacterial diseases, diet deficiency diseases such as scurvy and pellagra, blood diseases, cancer, and many more. Many of these experiments were dangerous and a few researchers died from them. The book not only describes these experiments, but also goes into the motivation of the researchers and the deeper question as to the ethics of self-experimentation. Dr. Altman feels not only that it is ethical for a researcher to go first, but also endorses this procedure, and in the final chapter of the book he explains the benefits of doing so. In fact, he goes further and questions the behavior of experimenters who can go first, but choose not to experiment on themselves, even to the extent of suggesting that one not participate in an experiment unless the experimenter has gone first (unless there is a good reason why this is not possible or advisable). This book was written more than 20 years ago, but it is timeless in the information provided, the questions that it raises, and the high quality of the writing. I recommend this book to those interested in medicine, science, and history, and to all those who just like to read a well-written and exciting book.

A Magnificent Book

This is one of the few nonfictional books that I have ever read that I have literally had a hard time putting it down. Dr. Altman not only wrote a book of significant importance about the need for self-experimentation, and the history of it...but he wrote it so well that I wanted to know what and who did the next group of experiments. It also explained a lot of procedures I learned about in medical school, but sometimes without the knowledge of the history behind it complete understanding is impossible. The author also explains quite clearly why we can't use just animals in experimentation, and gives numerous illustrations of physicians and scientists who...surprise!...actually think about others compassionately and are able to put themselves in the shoes of the patients. After undergoing an experimental cochlear implant which failed (in its early days), this book makes it a lot easier for me to explain to others why I undertook such a risk and didn't sue when it failed and made me ill. The book also makes clear the need for both patient and doctor awareness of informed consent...for all patients, including those who are disabled or those who lack a complete education. Dr. Altman wrote a book that should definitely be required reading by all medical personnel in ethics classes. Karen L. Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh, klsst23@pitt.edu

A gripping book

This book discusses a taboo in medical research--self-experimentation. The self-experimenters ranged from the oddball to the dedicated, experiments ranged from shots in the dark to well planed out Gives a glimpse into the courage of these men and women. I highly recommend this unusual and thrilling book.

"Excellent"

This is a wonderful book about a nearly wholly ignored aspect of medical research - - doctors who are the cutting edge of experimentation. Hopefully it will be in paperback soon