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  • You Bet Your Life

  • From Blood Transfusions to Mass Vaccination, the Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation
  • Written by: Paul A. Offit MD
  • Narrated by: James Noel Hoban
  • Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)

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You Bet Your Life

Written by: Paul A. Offit MD
Narrated by: James Noel Hoban
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Publisher's Summary

One of America’s top physicians traces the history of risk in medicine - with powerful lessons for today.

Every medical decision - whether to have chemotherapy, an X-ray, or surgery - is a risk, no matter which way you choose. In You Bet Your Life, physician Paul A. Offit argues that, from the first blood transfusions 400 years ago to the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine, risk has been essential to the discovery of new treatments. More importantly, understanding the risks is crucial to whether, as a society or as individuals, we accept them.

Told in Offit’s vigorous and rigorous style, You Bet Your Life is an entertaining history of medicine. But it also lays bare the tortured relationships between intellectual breakthroughs, political realities, and human foibles. Our pandemic year has shown us, with its debates over lockdowns, masks, and vaccines, how easy it is to get everything wrong. You Bet Your Life is an essential listen for getting the future a bit more right.

©2021 Paul A. Offit, MD (P)2021 Basic Books

What the critics say

“In You Bet Your Life, Offit elucidates, using compelling case studies, how we come to know what we know in science and medicine: through a mix of imagination, experimentation, successes, misses and tragedies. It's a riveting story of what is possible when confidence and humility meet, and what seems inevitable when hubris dominates. Illuminating the Covid-19 pandemic and how we got to safe and effective vaccines so quickly, it is also a timeless read for anyone interested in science, ethics, discovery and how we can better prevent the next pandemic.” (Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation)

"What makes Paul Offit so special, beyond his extraordinary talents as a physician, vaccine-developer, and children’s advocate, is his ability to bring complicated scientific subjects to life. You Bet Your Life is the latest example - a thoughtful, beautifully written account of the risks and rewards of medical technology told through the eyes of the inventors and their patients. Tragedy is an inevitable part of the process; breakthroughs come at a human cost, even those that have saved untold millions of lives. To read this elegant book is grasp these ethical complexities - with a masterful medical writer as our guide." (David Oshinsky, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History for Polio: An American Story)

“Offit is a fluid storyteller armed with decades of knowledge, and he provides an educative...reading experience.” (Kirkus)

What listeners say about You Bet Your Life

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    4 out of 5 stars
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No Risk Free Choice

The only reason I'm giving this a 4 star is the abrupt ending. Other from that I loved this and will definitely listen again.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating Book!

A mesmerizing history of the human sacrifice made, unknowingly and sometimes needlessly, in the development of medicine and medical treatments. Could not be more relevant for the moment we are in. This is a great book and I can’t wait for Offit’s next! Highly recommend.

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Fantastic Review of Science, Medicine & Research

Loved this Audible

A fantastic review of scientific/medical milestones including the backstory!

Easy-to-understand language by an author that knows the area due to his education & personal experience!!

Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys history and/or medicine!

Bravo, Paul!!

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