Emil Cardan | University of Southampton (original) (raw)

Books by Emil Cardan

CARDAN E&V, Death and Medicine, 2016 This book consists of 21 chapters dealing with the entire s... more CARDAN E&V, Death and Medicine, 2016

This book consists of 21 chapters dealing with the entire series of important peri-mortem issues; it is neither a handbook nor a simple lecture, but a compendium of general medical knowledge on death.
Beyond a couple of short introductory chapters examining the various ways of dying and their semiotics, a good part of the text considers a range of pathologies in terms of their causal relationship to death. The first of these takes a detailed look at medical conditions of interest to intensive care units, including cardiac arrest and resuscitation, chemical pneumonia, malignant hyperthermia, drowning, and electrocution. Smoking, alcoholism, and irradiation disease come next, whereas the remaining pathologic entities are ‘allocated’ a place according to how and when they fatally interfere with the course of life.
As medicine today is no longer rigidly opposed to death, the book addresses the role modern medicine can play, on one hand, in generating organs for transplantation, and on the other hand, in engaging in society’s approach to euthanasia and – when useful – developing strategies to ease the process of dying. It is here that Dr J. Kevorkian’s contribution and Dignitas Clinic from Zürich are considered.
In addition to medical issues proper, the text also approaches several historical aspects of death, such as mummification, pandemics, the Crusades, the use of cadaveric blood, and the death penalty in its many notorious versions, including crucifixion and the guillotine.
A few short chapters are devoted to a number of postmortem matters, including autopsy, forensics, classic preservation and cryonics, cremation, and spontaneous decomposition, as well as the use of cadavers for teaching purposes, with Prof. von Hagens’ achievements. Since embalming is not currently addressed in medical materials, it is also discussed, along with – in the interest of thoroughness – contemporary taxidermy.
Finally, ethical concerns and a possible correlation between near-death experiences and paranormal phenomena are also given their due attention.
The 397-page text, supported by a list of 317 references and a thematic index, is firmly grounded in scientific and academic rigour. Its essayistic narration, some personal reflections in response to a selection of aphorisms, as well as several art reproductions, combine to strike a tone that is both accessible and memorable.
Efforts have been made by the publisher to offer a book that is easily readable. With a friendly graphic, and a robust physical structure, the volume remains open throughout, both figuratively and in the proper sense of the word.

CARDAN E&V, Death and Medicine, 2016 This book consists of 21 chapters dealing with the entire s... more CARDAN E&V, Death and Medicine, 2016

This book consists of 21 chapters dealing with the entire series of important peri-mortem issues; it is neither a handbook nor a simple lecture, but a compendium of general medical knowledge on death.
Beyond a couple of short introductory chapters examining the various ways of dying and their semiotics, a good part of the text considers a range of pathologies in terms of their causal relationship to death. The first of these takes a detailed look at medical conditions of interest to intensive care units, including cardiac arrest and resuscitation, chemical pneumonia, malignant hyperthermia, drowning, and electrocution. Smoking, alcoholism, and irradiation disease come next, whereas the remaining pathologic entities are ‘allocated’ a place according to how and when they fatally interfere with the course of life.
As medicine today is no longer rigidly opposed to death, the book addresses the role modern medicine can play, on one hand, in generating organs for transplantation, and on the other hand, in engaging in society’s approach to euthanasia and – when useful – developing strategies to ease the process of dying. It is here that Dr J. Kevorkian’s contribution and Dignitas Clinic from Zürich are considered.
In addition to medical issues proper, the text also approaches several historical aspects of death, such as mummification, pandemics, the Crusades, the use of cadaveric blood, and the death penalty in its many notorious versions, including crucifixion and the guillotine.
A few short chapters are devoted to a number of postmortem matters, including autopsy, forensics, classic preservation and cryonics, cremation, and spontaneous decomposition, as well as the use of cadavers for teaching purposes, with Prof. von Hagens’ achievements. Since embalming is not currently addressed in medical materials, it is also discussed, along with – in the interest of thoroughness – contemporary taxidermy.
Finally, ethical concerns and a possible correlation between near-death experiences and paranormal phenomena are also given their due attention.
The 397-page text, supported by a list of 317 references and a thematic index, is firmly grounded in scientific and academic rigour. Its essayistic narration, some personal reflections in response to a selection of aphorisms, as well as several art reproductions, combine to strike a tone that is both accessible and memorable.
Efforts have been made by the publisher to offer a book that is easily readable. With a friendly graphic, and a robust physical structure, the volume remains open throughout, both figuratively and in the proper sense of the word.