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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
informative
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Miscarriage
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
I'd heard a lot about how hyperbolic and outdated this book was, but it seemed like a good starting point to understand this horrendous disease that is sweeping parts of West Africa. Unfortunately, it reads more like the novelization of a Hollywood summer "blockbuster" (one that didn't perform as expected at the box office). If you want to feel shivers and get whipped into a frenzy along with the fear mongers at Fox News, go right ahead. But the disease is scary enough without tales of liquifying organs or people bleeding out from their tear ducts. If you want a more rational and up-to-date account of the disease and its history, try David Quammen's Ebola: The Natural History of a Deadly Virus, excerpted and updated from his earlier book Spillover.
I really enjoyed this book, I love books that weave together horror and real science.
The descriptions of patients that were suffering from the symptoms caused by the replicating virus inside them were bone chilling!
My only critique of this book is that there was too much explanation of the ‘space suits’ and the ‘Decon’ methods when dealing with a Level 4 hot agent. This is the same critique I had for The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, which is actually referenced a few times in this book.
I think these details are repeated to emphasize the danger of the hot agent, but I often find them repetitive and dull.
But I would recommend this book to people that enjoy Michael Crichton books and medical thrillers!
The descriptions of patients that were suffering from the symptoms caused by the replicating virus inside them were bone chilling!
My only critique of this book is that there was too much explanation of the ‘space suits’ and the ‘Decon’ methods when dealing with a Level 4 hot agent. This is the same critique I had for The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, which is actually referenced a few times in this book.
I think these details are repeated to emphasize the danger of the hot agent, but I often find them repetitive and dull.
But I would recommend this book to people that enjoy Michael Crichton books and medical thrillers!
Not a comforting read. The less time I have to think about blood coming out of eyeballs the better. However, a stark reminder of how close we are to complete and utter destruction as a species and how truly horrifying some jobs are.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
This is possibly the most terrifying thing I've ever read. Not due to the charmingly melodramatic way Preston frames every description of the disease. Or the downright silly "Gaia's" revenge thesis presented at the end.
No, it's because every time I've seen a fictional disease outbreak scenario, once the military deploys, they always seem to able to quickly isolate and control the outbreak, albeit in a heavy handed manner. And then inevitably hubris, or malice, or some other venial human failing results in a series of event resulting in containment being breached. But that's just to drive the drama, the message conveyed is always "do things by the book and we'll be able to handle this".
But this real world example shows that to be a bald faced lie. Hopefully procedures have been reevaluated and technologies have improved, because Washington DC at least, is lucky to still be around.
Why do the spacesuits keep tearing? Why? Why aren't they made of tougher fabric? Why are people allowed to transport horrific viruses on the trunks of their Corrolas in plastic garbage bags without consequences? Why does the CDC have to measure dicks with the Army at the dawn of a potential epidemic? Why are the most valuable personnel literally sniffing unknown virus samples? Why are people allowed to conceal possible exposure out of fear of being quarantined? Why are the most knowledgeable personnel being needlessly exposed to the most risk? Why are careers and media deception prioritized over safety? Why risk stabbing the monkeys 3 times to execute them humanely rather than just gassing the whole fucking building or something? Why, more than anything else, does the military wait for the lawyers to give the okay before starting its operating?
I'd like to think there are reasons for these things (and more) and that people who think about these scenarios for a living have so thought, and this is the best they have come up with, for reasons I'm simply ignorant about... but that seems like a big stretch. All I know is, if the military ever shows up at a building in my town, and won't show the news crews what they're doing, but assure them everything is fine, I'm fleeing town.
Which sucks for the rest of the country, because of Reston is any guide, by then I'll have already been infected.
No, it's because every time I've seen a fictional disease outbreak scenario, once the military deploys, they always seem to able to quickly isolate and control the outbreak, albeit in a heavy handed manner. And then inevitably hubris, or malice, or some other venial human failing results in a series of event resulting in containment being breached. But that's just to drive the drama, the message conveyed is always "do things by the book and we'll be able to handle this".
But this real world example shows that to be a bald faced lie. Hopefully procedures have been reevaluated and technologies have improved, because Washington DC at least, is lucky to still be around.
Why do the spacesuits keep tearing? Why? Why aren't they made of tougher fabric? Why are people allowed to transport horrific viruses on the trunks of their Corrolas in plastic garbage bags without consequences? Why does the CDC have to measure dicks with the Army at the dawn of a potential epidemic? Why are the most valuable personnel literally sniffing unknown virus samples? Why are people allowed to conceal possible exposure out of fear of being quarantined? Why are the most knowledgeable personnel being needlessly exposed to the most risk? Why are careers and media deception prioritized over safety? Why risk stabbing the monkeys 3 times to execute them humanely rather than just gassing the whole fucking building or something? Why, more than anything else, does the military wait for the lawyers to give the okay before starting its operating?
I'd like to think there are reasons for these things (and more) and that people who think about these scenarios for a living have so thought, and this is the best they have come up with, for reasons I'm simply ignorant about... but that seems like a big stretch. All I know is, if the military ever shows up at a building in my town, and won't show the news crews what they're doing, but assure them everything is fine, I'm fleeing town.
Which sucks for the rest of the country, because of Reston is any guide, by then I'll have already been infected.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced