This book explores the colourful past, present and future of an instrument that is, quite literally, close to our hearts. The stethoscope has become the symbol of medicine itself, but how did this come to be? What makes the stethoscope such a familiar and yet charismatic object? Drawing from a range of fields including history, anthropology, science, technology and sound studies, the book illustrates the variety of roles the stethoscope has played over time. It shows that the stethoscope is not, and has never been, a single entity. It is used to a variety of ends, serves a number of purposes and is open to many interpretations. This is the key to the stethoscope's enduring presence in the medical and popular imagination.

About the Author
Anna Harris is an Associate Professor of the Social Study of Medicine in the Department of Society Studies at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Her previous books include A Sensory Education (2021). Tom Rice is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Exeter, specializing in sound and auditory culture. He is the author of Hearing and the Hospital: Sound, Listening, Knowledge and Experience (2013).


Book Information
ISBN 9781789146332
Author Anna Harris
Format Hardback
Page Count 224
Imprint Reaktion Books
Publisher Reaktion Books