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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
So. Turns out we didn’t learn anything from that flu pandemic
An exhaustively informative account of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its political/scientific context which detailed events/experiences which were hauntingly similar to our lived experience of Covid
(v interesting subject matter but the structuring/writing choices brought it down to a 3.5)
as a whole i enjoyed it, but the narrative struggled from going too in depth on tangents, re-emphasized points it had already made multiple times (there were NOT enough nurses to go around), and in general just kind of jumping around from point to point (one moment talking about a researchers background, then abruptly going to how the disease spread or something) - as a whole I think more couldve been done to focus the content and how it flowed
also this dude LOVED dropping these ~dramatic~ single line contradictions in his writing i s2g there was at least one like this every other page:
“I am making a statement about something. Maybe its that the army needs to listen to the scientists. Its imporant they listen to scientists because they know best about disease. Listening to the scientists would probably reduce deaths from disease. I just spent an entire paragraph emphasizing this single point that did not need this much text to explain.
But the Army didnt listen.”
(v interesting subject matter but the structuring/writing choices brought it down to a 3.5)
as a whole i enjoyed it, but the narrative struggled from going too in depth on tangents, re-emphasized points it had already made multiple times (there were NOT enough nurses to go around), and in general just kind of jumping around from point to point (one moment talking about a researchers background, then abruptly going to how the disease spread or something) - as a whole I think more couldve been done to focus the content and how it flowed
also this dude LOVED dropping these ~dramatic~ single line contradictions in his writing i s2g there was at least one like this every other page:
“I am making a statement about something. Maybe its that the army needs to listen to the scientists. Its imporant they listen to scientists because they know best about disease. Listening to the scientists would probably reduce deaths from disease. I just spent an entire paragraph emphasizing this single point that did not need this much text to explain.
But the Army didnt listen.”
This book got 4 stars, not because it was well written, or well constructed, but because the information in it was so important. It was so detail heavy in the front, giving a history of medicine in the US, as well as the biographies of the important players. It can be a slog at times. However, I learned so much about this time in history and its relation to what is going on now. For that reason, I think it is an extremely important read.
I'm giving this review 1 star because I can't give it a half a star.
It gets points for being exhaustively researched, but it's not a good book. The organization is bad and weird and as other reviewers have noted, it feels like the author tried to cobble together a couple of different books.
It should not take over 150 pages to set the scene.
This is a fascinating subject to me. Unlike most flu epidemics, this one hit the young and the strong. It killed my great grandmother. Her death changed the course of my grandmother's life in a huge way. It changed millions of lives. It also killed millions of them--approximately 50 to 100 million of them.
Typically victims died horribly and died within a few days. They died so fast and in such numbers that communities ran out of coffins. The troops of World War I helped spread the disease as they were shipped off to fight or off to various camps for training. Papers were under censorship because of the war, not that it might have mattered. No one seemed to know what to do about the disease anyhow. Bodies were left rotting in homes because there was no one to collect them. Cities run by political machines had unqualified stooges working in leadership roles in health departments. They were completely unprepared for the Pandemic. The disease ravaged across social class, race, ethnicity. It made no distinction about who you were. And again, estimates are that it killed between 5-10 percent of the world population.
It takes a special author to make those facts, details, and stories dense and unreadable.
It gets points for being exhaustively researched, but it's not a good book. The organization is bad and weird and as other reviewers have noted, it feels like the author tried to cobble together a couple of different books.
It should not take over 150 pages to set the scene.
This is a fascinating subject to me. Unlike most flu epidemics, this one hit the young and the strong. It killed my great grandmother. Her death changed the course of my grandmother's life in a huge way. It changed millions of lives. It also killed millions of them--approximately 50 to 100 million of them.
Typically victims died horribly and died within a few days. They died so fast and in such numbers that communities ran out of coffins. The troops of World War I helped spread the disease as they were shipped off to fight or off to various camps for training. Papers were under censorship because of the war, not that it might have mattered. No one seemed to know what to do about the disease anyhow. Bodies were left rotting in homes because there was no one to collect them. Cities run by political machines had unqualified stooges working in leadership roles in health departments. They were completely unprepared for the Pandemic. The disease ravaged across social class, race, ethnicity. It made no distinction about who you were. And again, estimates are that it killed between 5-10 percent of the world population.
It takes a special author to make those facts, details, and stories dense and unreadable.
Fascinating story of the 1918 flu epidemic. The book starts a bit slow, but Barry finds his rhythm once he begins to describe the epidemic itself. The history of medicine in the U.S. is interesting, but he introduces far too many of the leading medical men of the day. The details of life as the disease spread were gripping. Definitely worth the time; you just need a bit of patience to get to the good stuff.
A page-turner, at times frightening, outraging, and tragic. A well-written, if slightly melodramatic history of how the Spanish flu affected the world and changed medicine.
Felt like a perfectly fine primer on a rather overlooked aspect of somewhat recent history- didn’t know that W. Wilson caught it and that it potentially messed him up, mentally, more than he already was. Others found it disorganized, I see, but for me it just kinda cast a wide net and hit on the key points of matters related to the influenza concern. It worked in audiobook form, at least.
A great deal of information to process. This is much more than an account of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. The book covers medical research, politics, personalities - in short it is all over the place.
During these times of COVID-19, this is the perfect read.
The two stars are for the depth of the information the author found through research. Unfortunately really badly packaged and poorly edited, with frequently long run on sentences for drama, ominous short sentences to end the chapters like a television show....
Very disappointed. The first third of the book was the evolution of medical education in the us and could have been its own book. The second third was probably the best, really getting into the exist political and cultural issues and HOW they impacted flu response. Last third just goes off on tangent and I was surprised how little of the flu was involved. Much extraneous information about scientists like Paul Lewis given that felt like it wasn’t needed to finish the story.
Very disappointed. The first third of the book was the evolution of medical education in the us and could have been its own book. The second third was probably the best, really getting into the exist political and cultural issues and HOW they impacted flu response. Last third just goes off on tangent and I was surprised how little of the flu was involved. Much extraneous information about scientists like Paul Lewis given that felt like it wasn’t needed to finish the story.