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dragnfly18's review against another edition
5.0
A great update to The Hot Zone! This book is written in the same exciting tone and language as its predecessor. I thoroughly enjoyed it and very much appreciate the updated science and medicine. A must read for anyone that enjoyed The Hot Zone!
pimmy001's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Crisis in the Red Zone is a riveting and heartbreaking account of the 2013-2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and the heroic efforts of the doctors and scientists who fought to contain it. The author delivers a masterful narrative that combines medical thriller, historical drama, and scientific exploration.
He vividly portrays the human stories behind the outbreak, from the two-year-old child who was the first victim, to the brave health workers who risked their lives to treat the infected, to the researchers who raced to develop drugs and vaccines. Preston also warns of the future threats of emerging viruses, and the need for global preparedness and cooperation.
I was deeply moved by the courage and sacrifice of the people who faced this deadly disease, and by the tragedy and loss that it inflicted. I was especially touched by the stories of the staff at Kenema Government Hospital, who worked tirelessly and selflessly to combat Ebola, even as many of them succumbed to the virus. Preston's writing is clear, compelling, and informative, and he does a remarkable job of explaining the complex science and history of Ebola.
He vividly portrays the human stories behind the outbreak, from the two-year-old child who was the first victim, to the brave health workers who risked their lives to treat the infected, to the researchers who raced to develop drugs and vaccines. Preston also warns of the future threats of emerging viruses, and the need for global preparedness and cooperation.
I was deeply moved by the courage and sacrifice of the people who faced this deadly disease, and by the tragedy and loss that it inflicted. I was especially touched by the stories of the staff at Kenema Government Hospital, who worked tirelessly and selflessly to combat Ebola, even as many of them succumbed to the virus. Preston's writing is clear, compelling, and informative, and he does a remarkable job of explaining the complex science and history of Ebola.
holly_117's review against another edition
5.0
The fact that this was published just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic began makes it even scarier. It is an excellent read, and we should all spend some time reflecting on it BEFORE the next pandemic.
madi_mairee's review against another edition
I received an uncorrected proof of this book thanks to NetGalley.
Crisis in the Red Zone focuses on the deadliest Ebola epidemic (2013-2014) as well as the Ebola outbreak in 1976. The reader is given some history of the Ebola Virus and the ongoing fight to find a cure or vaccine. But, this is so much more than just a book about a virus. Richard Preston really focuses on human nature and the compassion of the people who were fighting this virus and the many who died. This is about the physical, emotional and ethical conflicts that were taking place across continents.
Due to there being two timelines of Ebola outbreaks, I naturally found myself more interested in one than the other. I worked for a medical company during this epidemic in 2014, so that was the one I found myself far more invested in. I'm more familiar with it and it's one of the biggest reasons I picked this book up. So the numerous sections about the 1976 outbreak I found myself losing interest slightly. They needed to be there and they were written about very well, but it's a lot of information and characters to keep track of and I definitely didn't pay as close attention to those parts.
I wish there had been more about the mass panic the media was able to stir up surrounding this crisis. Overall, though, I thought Preston did a great job portraying the difficult decisions that needed to be made in the midst of this devastating and chaotic epidemic where people have very little information. Those human moments are what make this book so well done!
Emerging diseases are only going to become more prevalent. With the current Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and WHO announcing this as an international concern, I can’t think of a book more important right now.
Crisis in the Red Zone focuses on the deadliest Ebola epidemic (2013-2014) as well as the Ebola outbreak in 1976. The reader is given some history of the Ebola Virus and the ongoing fight to find a cure or vaccine. But, this is so much more than just a book about a virus. Richard Preston really focuses on human nature and the compassion of the people who were fighting this virus and the many who died. This is about the physical, emotional and ethical conflicts that were taking place across continents.
Due to there being two timelines of Ebola outbreaks, I naturally found myself more interested in one than the other. I worked for a medical company during this epidemic in 2014, so that was the one I found myself far more invested in. I'm more familiar with it and it's one of the biggest reasons I picked this book up. So the numerous sections about the 1976 outbreak I found myself losing interest slightly. They needed to be there and they were written about very well, but it's a lot of information and characters to keep track of and I definitely didn't pay as close attention to those parts.
I wish there had been more about the mass panic the media was able to stir up surrounding this crisis. Overall, though, I thought Preston did a great job portraying the difficult decisions that needed to be made in the midst of this devastating and chaotic epidemic where people have very little information. Those human moments are what make this book so well done!
Emerging diseases are only going to become more prevalent. With the current Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and WHO announcing this as an international concern, I can’t think of a book more important right now.
hopebrasfield's review against another edition
4.0
Reading experience similar to the feeling I had watching Outbreak back when I was a kid, before I knew how any of this worked. If you prefer nonfic that reads like a novel, this fits.
To be honest I know so little about ebola that everything this man writes could be a lie and I'd be well set up to believe it anyway. Keeping this caveat in mind, I do feel like I learned a lot.
The ending is sad--he has so much hope for us, and look at us now. I did, however, feel validated by one of his interviewees who essentially turned herself into a prepper after ebola. Not that I've ever gotten around to all that, but I sure do think about it a lot.
To be honest I know so little about ebola that everything this man writes could be a lie and I'd be well set up to believe it anyway. Keeping this caveat in mind, I do feel like I learned a lot.
The ending is sad--he has so much hope for us, and look at us now. I did, however, feel validated by one of his interviewees who essentially turned herself into a prepper after ebola. Not that I've ever gotten around to all that, but I sure do think about it a lot.
benrees's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.25
evan_streeby's review against another edition
5.0
Boy can Preston write a non-fiction thriller/horror. He managed to toe the line between storytelling and scientific exposition that made this one of the most engaging non-fiction books I’ve read. Preston did an excellent job of showing the dignity of the sierra-leonian population and all those who gave their lives fighting this monster virus
Disclaimer for tirade not explicitly related to the book, with brief statistics pulled from pubmed and elsewhere:
Ebola is terrifying, but in this text, and with COVID, we learn that the white-centric conceit of “the poor uneducated Africans just don’t know how to handle a virus” is not only wildly racist and untrue, but completely backwards. African nations were able to stamp out ebola (r0 of 1.51-2.53*, meaning that each person who contracts the disease infects about 2 more people) within a couple months, limiting the disease to 50,000 cases or so by the end of the pandemic.
The US primarily, along with Western European countries (pop. ~800,000,000”), the “bastions of reason and science” failed to do so with Covid (r0 a comparable 1.4-2.4**). Instead they let conspiracy, disinformation, arrogance, and superstition lead to over 300 million cases cumulative death toll of 3.7 million (case fatality rate ~1.2) in Europe and the US since Feb. 2020^ and a whopping 1.6 million in the US alone (more on this below).
Meanwhile, Africa (pop. ~1,250,000,000) had a COVID death toll of a mere 258,000 out of 12 million cases (case fatality rate ~2.15)^^
There are many factors that play a role in COVID’s transmission, but it’s extremely unlikely anything other than better pandemic management and a society more responsive to biological crisis can account for a continent with more than 1.5x the population having 25x (!) fewer cases than the “progressive” “enlightened” other.
As an aside, it’s worth diving a bit deeper into the US here, as we were the worst offenders in the world. The US contains about 4% of the world’s population but a whopping 16.7% of the total COVID deaths. With these numbers we can do some quick math
US expected proportion of deaths (considering all humans had an equal risk of infection/death) = 4%
Actual proportion of deaths = 16.67%
Deviation = Actual - Expected = 0.1667 - 0.04 = 0.1267
Percentage deviation relative to the expected proportion = (Deviation / Expected) × 100 = (0.1267 / 0.04) × 100 ≈ 316.75%. A terrifying number that shows how ill prepared the US is for any pandemic, keeping in mind that COVID only had a biosafety level of 3, when Ebola and others like it are level 4.
*-Khan, A., Naveed, M., Dur-e-Ahmad, M. et al. Estimating the basic reproductive ratio for the Ebola outbreak in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Infect Dis Poverty 4, 13 (2015).
**- Achaiah NC, Subbarajasetty SB, Shetty RM. R0 and Re of COVID-19: Can We Predict When the Pandemic Outbreak will be Contained? Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(11):1125–1127
^-https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102288/coronavirus-deaths-development-europe/
^^- https://www.statista.com/statistics/1170463/coronavirus-cases-in-africa/
Disclaimer for tirade not explicitly related to the book, with brief statistics pulled from pubmed and elsewhere:
Ebola is terrifying, but in this text, and with COVID, we learn that the white-centric conceit of “the poor uneducated Africans just don’t know how to handle a virus” is not only wildly racist and untrue, but completely backwards. African nations were able to stamp out ebola (r0 of 1.51-2.53*, meaning that each person who contracts the disease infects about 2 more people) within a couple months, limiting the disease to 50,000 cases or so by the end of the pandemic.
The US primarily, along with Western European countries (pop. ~800,000,000”), the “bastions of reason and science” failed to do so with Covid (r0 a comparable 1.4-2.4**). Instead they let conspiracy, disinformation, arrogance, and superstition lead to over 300 million cases cumulative death toll of 3.7 million (case fatality rate ~1.2) in Europe and the US since Feb. 2020^ and a whopping 1.6 million in the US alone (more on this below).
Meanwhile, Africa (pop. ~1,250,000,000) had a COVID death toll of a mere 258,000 out of 12 million cases (case fatality rate ~2.15)^^
There are many factors that play a role in COVID’s transmission, but it’s extremely unlikely anything other than better pandemic management and a society more responsive to biological crisis can account for a continent with more than 1.5x the population having 25x (!) fewer cases than the “progressive” “enlightened” other.
As an aside, it’s worth diving a bit deeper into the US here, as we were the worst offenders in the world. The US contains about 4% of the world’s population but a whopping 16.7% of the total COVID deaths. With these numbers we can do some quick math
US expected proportion of deaths (considering all humans had an equal risk of infection/death) = 4%
Actual proportion of deaths = 16.67%
Deviation = Actual - Expected = 0.1667 - 0.04 = 0.1267
Percentage deviation relative to the expected proportion = (Deviation / Expected) × 100 = (0.1267 / 0.04) × 100 ≈ 316.75%. A terrifying number that shows how ill prepared the US is for any pandemic, keeping in mind that COVID only had a biosafety level of 3, when Ebola and others like it are level 4.
*-Khan, A., Naveed, M., Dur-e-Ahmad, M. et al. Estimating the basic reproductive ratio for the Ebola outbreak in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Infect Dis Poverty 4, 13 (2015).
**- Achaiah NC, Subbarajasetty SB, Shetty RM. R0 and Re of COVID-19: Can We Predict When the Pandemic Outbreak will be Contained? Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(11):1125–1127
^-https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102288/coronavirus-deaths-development-europe/
^^- https://www.statista.com/statistics/1170463/coronavirus-cases-in-africa/
marshaskrypuch's review against another edition
5.0
This well-written and scary book about the 2013-2014 Ebola outbreak that jumped continents and infected 30,000 people worldwide may or may not be your idea of go-to reading during our current pandemic. Preston has a lot of prescient warnings about the nature of new viruses, considering this was published just months before Covid-19. A carefully researched page-turner.