Popular Literature as an Educational Aid for History of Anesthesia.

INTRODUCTION: History of anesthesia can be learned through formal didactic lectures, discussions, tours, audiovisual media, general anesthesia textbooks, anesthesia history texts, and by popular literature.

METHODS: We studied thirteen books that describe events and advances related to the discovery and development of modern anesthesia. Deliberately omitted were books that might be considered by some to be textbooks, because our aim was to explore the genre of popular literature.

RESULTS: The books span the spectrum from introductory historical narratives to comprehensive summaries, biographies, and scholarly works.

CONCLUSIONS: These books provide a varied perspective on various aspects of the discovery of anesthesia, ranging from a quick read to scholarly work. If only one book were to be recommended for the novice, we suggest Julie Fenster's historical narrative, Ether Day.