I'm doing a bit of research on what the medical profiles of a person might have been roughly a thousand years ago. I figured I'd get a broad view of the history of medicine first and then start narrowing things down. There's apparently a lot of books regarding the history of medicine and I'm a bit overwhelmed. Can someone point me somewhere to start?
What exactly are you working on? What period? One thousand years ago is rather vague; we'd be looking at the height of Arab medicine (Canon of Medicine was 11th century). The medical school at Padua had not yet been founded in Europe. I have some book recommendations depending on the period, though I'm much more knowledgeable about the early modern period. FWIW, I also host a podcast on medical history if you like podcasts.
EDIT: If you truly want a good, short overview, A Very Short History of Medicine is a (as advertised) short and readable compendium by the director of the Wellcome Library.