From prehistoric brain surgery to the Human Genome Project, medical science has come a long way. In this 12,000-year chronicle, Clifford Pickover charts the advancement of medicine in 250 entertaining, illustrated landmark events. Touching on such diverse subspecialties as genetics, pharmacology, neurology, sexology, and immunology, Pickover intersperses historical milestones—the Hippocratic Oath, general anesthesia, the Polio vaccine—with unexpected and intriguing topics like "truth serum," the use of cocaine in eye surgery, a 19th century prosthetic big toe, and face transplants.