Diabetes: The Biography

• Diabetes is a familiar disease growing rapidly in the modern world, so highly topical
• Fascinating mixture of social and cultural history and the development of medicine
• Robert Tattersall is a leading medical authority on the disease
• Part of the Biographies of Diseases series, edited by William and Helen Bynum

Readership: Readers of popular science and those interested in the history of medicine and science

Robert Tattersall, Special Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Nottingham, University of Nottingham

"A first-rate and much-needed history...It deserves to and will be widely read." - Michael Bliss, Emeritus Professor of History, Toronto, and author of 'The Discovery of Insulin'

"Anyone interested in medical discoveries, lay or professional alike, would read it with pleasure." - Peter Watkins, Clinical Medical

"This book is very interesting to read...Rarely has the history of the discovery of insulin been summarised in such a balanced way." - Victor Jorgens, European Association for the Studies of Diabetes, Diabetologia

"It is a marvellous piece of writing, extremely well written." - David Kerr, Diabetes Digest

"This book should be compulsory reading for anyone offering diabetes care." - David Kerr, Diabetes Digest

"Robert Tattersall has compiled a fact-filled, comprehensive pictyre of Diabetes." - Nursing Care

"Tattersall's biography provides the reader with illuminating and fascinating stories...This is essential reading." - Diabetes & Primary Care

"In this remarkably succinct, comparative, and engaging book, Tattersall offers a comprehensive and thorough history." - Journal of the History of Medicine

"An important contribution to the history of medicine, it should be read by all." - Journal of the History of Medicine

"In his "biography" of the disease...Tattersall provides a complete yet very readable history." - Thomas A. Buchanan, American Journal of Epidemiology

"He does an outstanding job of conveying the increasing knowledge of medical and social aspects of the disease." - Thomas A. Buchanan, American Journal of Epidemiology

"The author and editors are to be commended for producing a text that can be understodd by experts and laypeople alike." - Thomas A. Buchanan, American Journal of Epidemiology

"Robert Tattersall... provides as authoritative a handbook of the known facts as can exist." - George Rousseau, Times Literary Supplement

"The notion of an ailment having a birth, a lifespan, and - ideally - a demise...is an illuminating and useful concept." - Wendy Moore, British Medical Journal

"These four 'biographies' of diseases go far beyond questions of biology or medical practice; they talk politics, sex and class, faith." - The Scotsman

"Fascinating stuff." - The Scotsman

"The stories they tell are often fascinating and alarming - pitched somewhere between farce, genius, horror and a lab report." - The Scotsman

1: The pissing evil: defining the disease
2: Unravelling the role of the pancreas
3: Insulin: a force of magical activity
4: The dark ages: once daily insulins, free diets, and a sense of doom
5: Treating long term complications in the eyes, kidenys, and nerves
6: Adult onset diabetes and the long awaited oral treatment
7: At the laboratory bench: new insulins and hopes of a cure for type 1 diabetes
8: The pharmaceutical era: a pill for everything
9: Diabetes becomes epidemic: the penalty of progress
Further reading