"Charles Bardes' meditations on medicine . . . are beautifully-transparently-written, deeply informed . . . and they carry surprise."-Sven Birkerts, author of Reading Life and The Gutenberg Elegies
Whether mild or deadly, anemia affects an essential body fluid: blood. Probing deeply into this illness as metaphor, Charles L. Bardes explores the impact of both science and culture on its treatment across the ages. His innovative "life" of this condition ranges widely through history, art, literature, and clinical practice to examine how the way doctors think influences the practice of medicine.
