Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health
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Overview
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Price We Pay-an eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm, and what you need to know about your health.
More Americans have peanut allergies today than at any point in history. Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they’re three years old. Getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure, the US now leads the world in peanut allergies-and this misinformation is still rearing its head today.
How could the experts have gotten it so wrong? Dr. Marty Makary asks, Could it be that many modern-day health crises have been caused by the hubris of the medical establishment? Experts said for decades that opioids were not addictive, igniting the opioid crisis. They refused menopausal women hormone replacement therapy, causing unnecessary suffering. They demonized natural fat in foods, driving Americans to processed carbohydrates as obesity rates soared. They told citizens that there are no downsides to antibiotics and prescribed them liberally, causing a drug-resistant bacteria crisis.
When modern medicine issues recommendations based on good scientific studies, it shines. Conversely, when modern medicine is interpreted through the harsh lens of opinion and edict, it can mold beliefs that harm patients and stunt research for decades. In Blind Spots, Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping-but the truth is essential to our health.
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Price We Pay-an eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm, and what you need to know about your health.
A New York Times-bestselling author with a huge national presence: Dr. Makary has appeared everywhere from NBC “Nightly News” to CBS “This Morning” and Fox News; has written more than fifty op-eds tied into The Price We Pay for outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and others, and keynotes up to fifty major conferences each year. His non-partisan, data-driven yet accessible approach has earned him media connections just about everywhere that are sure to propel this book.
A renowned medical expert exposes the harmful effects of widespread medical misconceptions: This book tackles factual medical errors that have resulted from misinterpreted or botched research studies, and there are few figures more trusted to reinterpret and clarify in an accessible, science-driven way. A Johns Hopkins surgeon and member of the American Academy of Medicine, Makary has also led World Health Organization operations, was the primary expert in the Netflix medical documentary “The Bleeding Edge,” and was the main subject of HBO’s “Bleeding Out.” A recognizable, trusted figure, this book is sure to appeal to his legions of fans and earn him new ones.
A media favorite with a track record of big book publicity: For his last book with Bloomsbury, Marty Makary appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Fox’s “Fox & Friends,” CBS News’s “The Doctors,” NPR’s popular “Planet Money” podcast, USA Today, and elsewhere, appearing on television more than 1,000 times in his career. He also placed a dizzying list of op-eds-and, of course, appeared on many bestseller lists. This book is sure to follow suit.
A revolutionary book about health. Explains how the broken healthcare system has fueled some of our largest epidemics, and exactly how we can get back on track. A brilliant exposé that shines a path forward for global health in the 21st century, and contains what everyone needs to know to be empowered in their own health.
With trust in science on the wane . . . this may not seem like the best time to criticize the medical profession. Yet a dose of healthy skepticism may be the healthiest attitude when information seems contradictory, whether it’s about a decades-long practice or newer, faddish procedures.
Blind Spots will help you learn several critical and surprising things about what to ask and what to avoid, and it’ll encourage you to choose doctors whose treatments are based on evidence rather than hearsay.
Quick, compelling, and something all clinicians will want to read.
A passionate, well-argued and thought-provoking read.
[Makary’s] critical eye is well suited to this clinically sound report . . . An eye-opening look at how the American medical industry’s rigidity has stunted its reliability.
This book serves as a wake-up call… an essential read for anyone looking to understand the pitfalls of modern medicine and the path to a more effective and compassionate approach to healthcare.
Timely and highly readable, Blind Spots gives us a much-needed diagnosis of what ails so much of our medical establishment and what can be done about it. Aided by an acute understanding of human nature, Dr. Makary both walks us through a disturbing number of major public health blunders-experts told us for decades that opioids were not addictive, for instance-and how we can instead get refocused on pursuing and following through on sound scientific studies and not fall into the trap of wrongheaded groupthink.
Smart, motivated people are prone to developing blind spots. It’s true in business, politics, and science, but there’s a remedy Dr. Makary argues. Blind Spots is a deep dive into our human tendency to resist new ideas, and a guide to impeccable objectivity. Along the way, you’ll learn about powerful medical research that is challenging conventional medical thinking and revolutionizing our understanding of health.
A renowned medical expert and leading voice in the medical community, Dr. Makary takes a fresh look at health, delving into research that is raising questions about big assumptions in the culture of medicine. Blind Spots is a call to action with lessons for every American about the art and science of being open-minded-a critical skill in science and life in general. As we enter a new era in medicine and society at large, everyone should have this book on their shelves.
Dr. Makary has out-done himself-Blind Spots is his best book yet!
A amazing biography of modern medicine and a practical education about health.
Marty Makary is one of the great thought leaders in medicine . . . [He] brilliantly lifts the veil on the state of modern medicine and the new ideas that are disrupting it.
Marty Makary is a great storyteller, making accessible the business of medicine and the new ideas disrupting it without losing the important details.
An amazing, life-changing book.
Blind Spots is guaranteed to do at least one thing: Change your life.
- Title: Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health
- Author: Marty Makary
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 288
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781639735327, 9781639735310, 1639735313, 1639735321
- Resource ID: LLS:9781639735327
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-06-20T07:40:07Z
Marty Makary, MD is a Johns Hopkins professor and member of the National Academy of Medicine. He is the author of two New York Times bestselling books, Unaccountable and The Price We Pay, winner of the 2020 Business Book of the Year Award. Dr. Makary has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, and he has published more than 250 scientific research articles. He served in leadership at the W.H.O. and has been a visiting professor at 25 medical schools. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.