Great Discoveries in Medicine, edited by William and Helen Bynum, Thames and Hudson, 2011, hardback, 304 pp., £24.95, ISBN 9780500251805

One of the greatest and most enduring triumphs of the secondary Schools History Project has been the introduction of a thematic study of medicine through time. William and Helen Bynum's book will stimulate further interest in this fascinating area of study and every secondary school library where this specification is taught should have a copy. Beautifully designed and illustrated, William and Helen Bynum's well-structured edited survey provides a lucid account of ‘the evolution of medical knowledge and practice from ancient Egypt to today's latest technology' and will also therefore appeal to a much wider readership. Its cover illustration of a scale model of an anatomy theatre built in Padua in 1594 focuses on the Renaissance prioritisation of the study of the anatomy and physiology of the human body, but the multi-authored text explains, often graphically, how a whole range of medical and health-related developments occurred, encompassing cardiac and obstetric surgery, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, vaccines and cancer smear tests. Moreover it is particularly strong on twentieth and twenty-first century developments which teachers and students often find so challenging.