Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced
In retrospect, I don't know if reading this in December 2019 was good for my pandemic anxiety or come or absolutely terrible.
Very interesting, although I found the first half especially was a little sensationalist. We’ve clearly learned a lot about Ebola in the 20+ years since the book was written. Despite the subtitle, the book also doesn’t really talk about the origin of Ebola, since it’s still not really known.
This book was a gateway drug to the world of virology for me and thus is very close to my heart. As a fourteen year old, it gave me both nightmares for a month and a vocabulary for what I wanted to be when I grew up. That being said, it's one of the weaker pieces of science writing I've seen since I've revisited it many years later. It's both stylistically weak and heavily sensationalized to the point of being flat out inaccurate at times. Additionally, the scientific information is woefully out of date and no revised version has been published as far as I know. It's an excellent introduction to the topic, particularly regarding the history of the first outbreak, but it's not to be trusted as a reliable source of information. It's also not a book for the squeamish, but I think that goes without saying.
This book is a factual account describing the discovery of the Ebola virus and it's near-sisters in the viral genetic world; as well as an account of the outbreak near Washington in a monkey facility in late 1989. It was written in 1994.
I greatly disliked the style of writing of this book -- very newpaper reporter-ish (can I invent that as a word?) with extremely short sentences and a sterile style of writing.
However, the book is excellently researched and terrifying in it's topic. I found the end of the book, in which the author describes his own journeys and research, to be much more pleasurable to read. It was a nice finale to his book.
I greatly disliked the style of writing of this book -- very newpaper reporter-ish (can I invent that as a word?) with extremely short sentences and a sterile style of writing.
However, the book is excellently researched and terrifying in it's topic. I found the end of the book, in which the author describes his own journeys and research, to be much more pleasurable to read. It was a nice finale to his book.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
I'm a public health fiend and intensely interested in virus research and infectious disease, but this was embarrassingly breathless. I found it readable but often cringeworthy, and I also felt the last section was ham-handed and completely unnecessary. On the positive side, I thought the author was respectful and humbled by the people he interviewed.
Thought this was an interesting read in how they provided the true sense of how terrifyingly fast Ebola spreads through Africa. Though the heavy-handed hysteria was a little too much.
The true story of ebola, it reads like a Stephen King novel.