Reviews for Epic!: History on the Big Screen - Baird Searles - Hardcover

The average rating for Epic!: History on the Big Screen - Baird Searles - Hardcover based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-06-17 00:00:00 Mark Thomas Barnes I just finished reading this book. It is amazing and I highly recommend it, especially to anyone who enjoys Oliver Sacks and/or House MD. The book details various malpractice suits for which Klawans has served as an expert on the patient’s neurology (mostly). No prior knowledge of science is needed to understand these cases, which are, as Klawans notes, often less about the patient than they are about the battle between lawyers as to who has to pay whom and how much. However, in detailing the patient’s background at the beginning of each chapter, Klawans does explain the medical aspects in some detail, so the neurology is not entirely overshadowed. Though it may not seem it, Trials of an Expert Witness is good for light reading; the chapters aren’t very long and don’t depend on one another to make sense. There is humor where one least expects it and much is made fun of the lawyers! To conclude, I would recommend this book to someone willing to wade into somewhat dense neurological explanations, but isn’t looking for anything too scholarly.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-07-20 00:00:00 Krista Thomas This book is a collection of true stories told by neurologist Harold Klawans about his experiences as an expert witness in medical malpractice suits that took place in the 1970's and 1980's. This book gives interesting insight both into the medical and legal side of each story, which I think is unique. Klawans is often compared with Oliver Sacks who more famously and popularly writes in this genre. I attempted to read Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales and honestly just couldn't get into it, which surprised me. I just prefer Klawans's writing style and have also read his books Strange Behavior: Tales of Evolutionary Neurology and Defending The Cavewoman: And Other Tales Of Evolutionary Neurology, which I enjoyed. I first was introduced to Trials Of An Expert Witness: Tales Of Clinical Neurology And The Law as an undergraduate and absolutely loved it. I was taking some sort of neuropsych/ethics class and the professor gave excerpts from this book as reading assignments. I was so fascinated I got the whole book from the library to read. Reading it now years later, I can't say I'd give it that same 5-star review I did previously. I think partly since going to graduate school and working in a medical setting, so much of what was so exciting and interesting learning something new is, well, no longer new. Also I did not recall the somewhat racist comments regarding foreign doctors sprinkled in there every once in a while. I got the vibe of "this patient didn't get appropriate care... well she had that asian/arab doctor who talked with an accent. wink wink". I guess that attitude was okay in 1991? Rather off-putting. But aside from that, the book is still very good and I would recommend it to others.