The Remedy

Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis

By: Thomas Goetz

Narrated by: Donald Corren

The riveting history of tuberculosis, the world’s most lethal disease, the two men whose lives it tragically intertwined, and the birth of medical science.

In 1875, tuberculosis was the deadliest disease in the world, accountable for a third of all deaths. A diagnosis of TB - often called consumption - was a death sentence. Then, in a triumph of medical science, a German doctor named Robert Koch deployed an unprecedented scientific rigor to discover the bacteria that caused TB. Koch soon embarked on a remedy - a remedy that would be his undoing.

When Koch announced his cure for consumption, Arthur Conan Doyle, then a small-town doctor in England and sometime writer, went to Berlin to cover the event. Touring the ward of reportedly cured patients, he was horrified. Koch’s “remedy” was either sloppy science or outright fraud.

But to a world desperate for relief, Koch’s remedy wasn’t so easily dismissed. As Europe’s consumptives descended upon Berlin, Koch urgently tried to prove his case. Conan Doyle, meanwhile, returned to England determined to abandon medicine in favor of writing. In particular, he turned to a character inspired by the very scientific methods that Koch had formulated: Sherlock Holmes.

Capturing the moment when mystery and magic began to yield to science, The Remedy chronicles the stunning story of how the germ theory of disease became a true fact, how two men of ambition were emboldened to reach for something more, and how scientific discoveries evolve into social truths.

©2014 Thomas Goetz (P)2014 Recorded Books

Story of Scientific Discovery, Ego and Medicine

Surprisingly interesting and oddly competitive and egotistical tale of the men who discovered bacteria, anthrax and the cure for tuberculosis . . . in a time when consumption killed thousands of people and the average life span was 40, and the medical "science" of the day was still using leaches to adjust the body's humors . . . these medical pioneers were outnumbered and thought ridiculous . . . yet they persisted . . . sometimes beyond their own usefulness . . . great listen . . .

Too long.

An interesting topic but certainly does not have the depth of other subjects that Isaacson has covered. Therefore this book could have been well written with half the pages.
The reader was a little slow and I read most of the book at 1.1 but as it advanced to the last few chapters I found myself speeding it up to 1.2 and 1.3 and 1.5.

Good read for the infectious diseases enthusiast

The story acts as a reminder of how microbes affect our world in the context of the history of two great scientsists--Koch and Pasteur and the great British novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Good fast paced story telling and good narration make it a worthwhile buy for hour car trips.

outstanding book!

As a Microbiologist and a lover of books, I can't wait to listen to it again!

well worth it!

The author provides a great background without loosing focus of the core. I found the narration to be well done. Very easy to listen to and made it very easy to stay engaged.