East Markham Book Club
Aspirin: The Extraordinary Story of a Wonder Drug
by Diarmuid Jeffreys
Throughout the world we pop more than 200 billion of these little
white pills every year. Aspirin is effective not only against everyday
ailments, such as headaches and fever, but also as a preventative
treatment for heart attacks, strokes, and even some types of cancers.
Add to this its beneficiary role in a host of other conditions from
Alzheimer's to gum disease, and you have a medicine of unparalleled
importance to humanity, not to mention big business. Yet until 1971 we
did not even know how Aspirin worked. In this fascinating and
informative book Diarmuid Jeffreys follows the surprising and dramatic
story of the drug from its origins in ancient Egypt, through its
industrial development at the end of the nineteenth century and its
key role in the great flu pandemic of 1918 to its subsequent
exploitation by the pharmaceutical conglomerates.
Next Meeting Sunday 19th January 2020 at 7.30pm