Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

26 reviews

dreamofbookspines's review

medium-paced

3.5

Gross enough that I probably won't read it again, but it was super interesting. My search history looks like hell after looking up a lot of the viral crises and areas Preston talks about. I read this initially around 1999 and remember as a kid (I was 13 or 14 that year) being terrified of ebola. Re-reading this certainly clarified why! I don't remember knowing it was nonfiction as a kid though...🤔

I was frustrated that Preston exaggerated what ebola does to the human body though. It does not liquify your insides. Yes, it has awful symptoms, but not that. Why go so nuts with a very real and terrifying disease? Also he used enough passive voice that I thought it worth noting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical content, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Vomit

Moderate: Excrement and Gore

lisettemarie's review

challenging informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Animal death, Blood, and Medical content

mmadill227's review against another edition

informative tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Excrement and Medical content

paulken's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

westcoast_pizzaghost's review against another edition

dark informative tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Gore

caro6408's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Medical trauma, Death, and Excrement

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.5

I have a longer review writing itself in my brain but for now what I have to say is this: as an epidemiologist, this book felt much more sensational and trying to use ebola to generate attention via scare tactics. Preston is a very sensationalist and exaggerated writer, plus his viewpoints, word choices, and assumptions of character feel pretty Old-Ass White Man even for the early 90s

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, Death, Animal cruelty, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexism, Child death, Excrement, and Misogyny

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

allisonfigs's review against another edition

informative tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Chronic illness

ekcd_'s review against another edition

informative tense fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Blood, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Vomit

buer's review

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

Hot Zone is not always easy to read but it is a fascinating, detailed, and graphic history of the Ebola virus. 

Preston traces the virus in specific people, which are surprisingly gory, as well as its eventual discovery at a facility that houses monkeys that are sold for medical purposes. 

This book is a fast read due to Preston’s charismatic prose, but is also a book I had to put down multiple times due to the gore of an Ebola case and the violence enacted against the monkeys infected with the virus. 

Very informative for those who are curious about the spread of viruses and the protocols surrounding emerging viruses. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, and Medical content