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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
This book was interesting but logically inconsistent. It has the usual white dude problem of minimizing the experiences of other people (including claiming racism didn't matter in 1918, a chapter after talking about horrific racism resulting in deaths). And the scientists he talks about at the end aren't the ones he extensively profiled in the beginning. I get the sense the book got away from him a little. Additionally, his framing device of the 1918 pandemic as a race of man vs nature falls through when he's finally forced to disclose that nature won, and man lost the race. He never really explicitly says what it is we know about the 1918 virus now. So - a good book, but kind of incomplete and inconsistent in places.
Such a relevant comparison for the 2020 pandemic experience; the Afterword is chillingly and/or reassuringly clear that we should have seen this coming even though it was written 15 years ago. We need to learn our lesson properly from history going forward.
Solid book. Deep into the science which lost me at a few times. Interesting insights into the people (primarily men) who pursued cures for the disease and treatments for it.
Definite lessons for us in how we handle pandemics, and eerie to see how we’ve repeated mistakes from 100 years ago today.
Definite lessons for us in how we handle pandemics, and eerie to see how we’ve repeated mistakes from 100 years ago today.
I would be so interested to read this before I head heard the word "coronavirus" because obviously reading it in 2021, it is so much through the lens of comparing and contrasting it to our very much still current pandemic, when even as a book is trying to do more than that. Something I think to consider if you're looking for a history of what happened in 1918-20 is that the book dedicates *a lot* of time to the development of modern medicine and specific historical figures at the time in addition to telling the story of influenza. It's important and interesting at times but also not really why I wanted to read it in the first place. Also would have been curious for more than a cursory perspective on the situation in the rest of the world, though as the author acknowledges, finding anything from that far back proved to be more difficult than he anticipated.
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
Narrator was harsh. Also, book was too science-focused. I was hoping the book would be mostly about historical stories about ppl with influenza. I was hoping for 1/3 science and 2/3 stories. But it was 9/10 science and 1/10 history.
3.25 out of 5
There was a lot of good information on the history and science of the 1918 flu pandemic, but I generally didn't enjoy the organization or writing style.
There was a lot of good information on the history and science of the 1918 flu pandemic, but I generally didn't enjoy the organization or writing style.
informative
slow-paced