Library quick links:
Best Books
Here are previews of what's new (or testimonies for old favorites) in the Texas Heart Institute Library and Learning Resource Center book collection.
February 2013 - Spotlight on Digital Book Collections
What's new in digital book collections?
Last month, THI's Dr. O.H. "Bud" Frazier was featured in an article in the Texas Medical Center News online, “Heart surgeon collects literary treasures.”
Here at the library, we always enjoy hearing about a doctor’s love of books and medical history. Thanks to digitization, collections of historical medical texts are now more accessible to everyone. For instance, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has a collection of selected rare books and items on the history of medicine, and unless you plan to visit the library in Maryland, you may never see these items in person. Digitization brings these items to you via the Internet.
NLM Digital Resources
NLM also has the full text of the recent book, Hidden Treasure: the National Library of Medicine, online in PDF form! The book highlights the NLM’s diverse historical collection, from anatomy and surgical procedures to dental cartoons. Adolf Hitler’s medical records are even included. The book is a fascinating read with photographs and an essay to accompany each item.
Hidden Treasure: the National Library of Medicine
PDF of book
Plus, an iPad app lets you virtually turn the pages of rare medical books from their collection!
There are many great online sources for free e-books. Larger medical libraries offer digital collections, and many older texts are available from Google Books.
De Humani Corporis Fabrica: Google Books
Here are some digital library collections to check out:
Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Medical Historical Library, Yale University
Wellcome Library, the History of Medicine Collection, London
Moody Library, Blocker History of Medicine Collection, UTMB Health
The TMC Library, John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center Digitized Collections, Texas Medical Center
Of Special Interest
Cooley, Denton A. 100,000 Hearts A Surgeon's Memoir. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012.
Visit 100,000 Hearts website. THI Library catalog entry.
In his memoir, 100,000 Hearts, Dr. Denton Cooley, founder of the Texas Heart Institute, tells about his childhood in Houston and his experiences as a basketball scholarship recipient at the University of Texas. After medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and Johns Hopkins, Cooley served in the Army Medical Corps. While at Johns Hopkins, Cooley assisted in a groundbreaking operation to correct an infant's congenital heart defect, which inspired him to specialize in heart surgery. Cooley's detailed descriptions of what it was like to be in the operating room at crucial points in medical history offer a fascinating perspective on how far medical science has progressed in just a few decades.
Updated February 2013
