Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine

Wrote Mary Roach, author of "Stiff" and "Packing for Mars": "My fantasy holiday is a week spent locked in the archives of the National Library of Medicine, so you can imagine how excited I am about this book. It's an incomparable treasure trove. I hugged it to my chest like a four-year-old with a new pair of shoes."

Wrote John Harley Warner, Chair of History of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine: "Opening this volume is like lifting up the lid of a treasure chest. The images and artifacts from the NLM's historical coffers are intriguing, sometimes startling, unfailingly fascinating, and made all the more evocative by the authoritative, playful short reflections, many written by leading scholars in the history of medicine. Brilliantly conceived and beautifully produced, this is an amazing exploration of the visual and material cultures of health, medicine, and the body in their widest and most imaginative reaches."

The book is now online — free, the way we way like it.

[via Richard Kashdan]