The professor of secrets : mystery, medicine, and alchemy in Renaissance Italy / William Eamon.

Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, [2010], ©2010.

368 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. 324-359) and index.

Prologue: Experience and memory -- Mia dolce patria -- The empire of disease -- Medical Bologna -- Leonardo and the anatomists -- The education of a surgeon -- The road of experience -- The carnival doctor -- The new Asclepius -- The marvelous virtues of Precipitato -- Charlatan or wonder worker? -- An ingenious surgery -- The marvels of Naples -- An academy of magi -- The university of war -- The cardinal's house -- A surgeon in Rome -- A road not taken -- Venetian curiosities -- The lure of the charlatan -- A writer for the age -- Venice's scientific underworld -- Mathematical magic -- The search for the philosopher's stone -- A star is born -- The medical entrepreneur -- Ambition and glory -- A conspiracy of doctors -- Leonardo the chameleon -- Life and art -- In the court of the Catholic king -- Masters of fire -- The charlatan's trial -- "Il mio sacco è vuoto" -- The judgment of history -- Epilogue: Traces.