Book Title: Imagining Imaging, 1st edition

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: November 2021

Listen to the Radiology Review Podcast Interview with author Dr. Jackson by clicking here.

I read most of Imagining Imaging while on vacation, surrounded by ocean views, pools, and some needed relaxation.  Admittedly, this book is not light reading. Yet I found Dr. Jackson’s distinct approach to describing the content of the book to be sufficiently unique and interesting that it did not feel like I was reading a radiology book while on vacation, but rather an interesting book about radiology and art that allowed a mental break.  

Previously, I considered the history of radiology as comprising scientific and technical achievements. After reading this book, I now appreciate that the history of medical imaging is also intertwined with the arts. An artist depicting the human body makes conscious decisions regarding how to best portray the human form. From ancient cave art onwards, these conscious decisions have created a tradition of artistic representation of the human form that continues to influence medical imaging.  In more recent times, even movies and video games borrow from old techniques and pioneer new ways to visually portray humans.  Since the discovery of x-rays, medical imagers have shared the challenge of how best to visually depict the human form.  Indeed, artists and medical imagers face similar questions when deciding how to depict anatomic truth.  Beyond human anatomy, artists conveying human intention or emotion in addition to the human form is perhaps akin to medical imaging depicting physiology in addition to anatomy.  In broader terms, both art and science seek to expand our understanding of the human condition.

Imagining Imaging provided me a new perspective on the history of medical imaging and my current part in the story as a radiologist in 2022. This new perspective arises from the unique opportunity to delve into the arts through the lens of radiology. 

The reader of this book may sometimes be challenged as the focus of the book alternates between historical perspectives on art and medical imaging, and the author’s own perspectives on the current and future states of medical imaging.  Beyond the central theme of the book, the author presents perspectives on many other topics such as the medically appropriate and environmentally responsible use of medical imaging as well as the potential for artificial intelligence to revolutionize medical diagnostics.  While some of these concepts can feel tangential to the books over-arching theme, many of these sections contain extremely thought-provoking content.  While sometimes taking the reader in unanticipated directions, this book makes one think in new ways about the art and science of medical imaging.

Imagining Imaging may be most specifically suited for practicing radiologists as well as radiology or nuclear medicine trainees, imaging technologists, researchers, and imaging physicists. However, this book will also interest readers outside of medical imaging as long as they enjoy exploring the intersection of art and science.  Dr. Jackson skillfully explains complicated medical imaging concepts in a concise manner that allows a broad range of readers to engage with the content.

In closing, here are two representative quotes from different chapters of Imagining Imaging, that provide a flavor of the content and style of the book for the potential reader:

“Regardless of the framework within which they work, radiologists must reconcile the universal and the particular, ensuring that nuances of individual variability and evolving patterns of disease are neither lost in translation nor muddled in metaphor.  To do so not only requires a grasp of anatomy, pathology, and imaging modalities of the day but also ongoing receptivity to new methods of visualizing and describing the body—a willingness to tune into new radio stations as well as the tried-and-tested ones”. 

“Medical images, despite some of the associated difficulties I have highlighted, do genuinely save many, many lives.  Seen in this light, they can claim to be among the most powerful images ever produced by humanity.  Yet their power also resides in belonging within the broader tradition of representing the body…Indeed, medicine has long been characterized as an art as well as a science, and medical imaging certainly has a foot planted firmly in both camps”. 

Interested in this book? Read below for more information about this book, including how you can get your own copy to enjoy. Listen to the Radiology Review Podcast interview with Dr. Jackson discussing this book by clicking here.

Book Description from the Publisher: “From Roentgen to Rembrandt, Hounsfield to Hollywood and Vesalius to videogames, Imagining Imaging explores the deeply entwined relationship between art and medical imaging.”

About the author: Dr. Michael R Jackson who is a consultant pediatric radiologist at the Royal Hospital for children and Young People in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Dr. Jackson’s many accomplishments include being the Trustee of the British Society for the History of Radiology and Archivist to the Scottish Radiological Society.  Dr. Jackson is on Twitter @ii_art_book.

Note: Dr. Covington received a complementary review copy of this book from the publisher but did not receive compensation for providing this book review or associated podcast interview. 

To purchase this book: Should you choose to purchase a copy of this book from the publisher, you can do so by clicking this link. A discount code for 25% that is active at the time of this upload is II25 (note those are I’s and not 11).  The Radiology Review does not receive any commissions should you purchase this book from the publisher. Note that the discount code is subject to expiration, per the author and publisher.

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