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4.42 AVERAGE
4.42 AVERAGE
Fascinating read. The writing style feels like a series of detective stories as Quammen follows the diseases as research on them develops.
Scary at times, deeply existential at times.
Scary at times, deeply existential at times.
Fascinating topic. Full of interesting tidbits and information. Quamman is adept at explaining scientific topics in ways that are accessible to the lay person. Unfortunately he is also adept at going on and on about irrelevant fluff such as what people look like, their history, lists of things to take on travel. He even included his own novella on the first HIV carrier. Perhaps Quammen and his publisher thought this would humanize the subject. It bored me and made me question why I kept reading. He also has the irritating tendency to stroke the ego of the reader: "Having absorbed this simple paragraph, you understand more about influenza than 99.9 percent of people on Earth. Pat yourself on the back and get a flu shot in November." Despite that, I'm glad I read it. I'd recommend skipping paragraphs and sections without fear. This would have been a much better book at half the length.
Well-written with a different perspective than the other pandemic books I've read -- a specific focus on crossover of diseases between animals and humans (though plenty of other details), original reporting and storytelling that actually helps advance that story, and some different diseases than the well-known ones, especially with a non-US focus. Much longer than I needed though, both in the number of sections and the length of each one.
Three things I learned:
1. 25%+ of all mammals are bats, part of why so many zoonotic diseases can be traced back to bats
2. Based on genetic differences between the first two identifiable cases and the known rate of mutation, HIV likely crossed over to humans around the beginning of the 20th century, though it did not become an outbreak until much later
3. Among major diseases, rabies has the highest case fatality rate (Ebola is second)
Three things I learned:
1. 25%+ of all mammals are bats, part of why so many zoonotic diseases can be traced back to bats
2. Based on genetic differences between the first two identifiable cases and the known rate of mutation, HIV likely crossed over to humans around the beginning of the 20th century, though it did not become an outbreak until much later
3. Among major diseases, rabies has the highest case fatality rate (Ebola is second)
Illuminating. Frightening. (But also, entertaining.)
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
I didn’t finish this. I gave up near the end of the chapter about Ebola. The part where he actually writes about the viruses are good, but he goes on these meandering side stories which bored me.
Best book I've read this year thus for. It was very interesting and it covered a lot of information. Quammen has a unique way investigating this topic. He wrote a nonfiction in a way that was very story like. I never once felt bored reading this. I felt he covered each area well and evenly in relation to the disease/impact. His stories and "what if" scenarios were awesome. I would read any book he came out with and plan on reading the ones he previously published.
informative
medium-paced
Libro interessantissimo e, ahimè, profetico. Contro il covid si poteva fare di più, all'inizio, per evitare la pandemia. Non è stato fatto, ma le linee guida c'erano e non sono state rispettate. Ci saranno altre epidemie e pandemie in futuro, si spera che abbiamo imparato la lezione una volta per tutte
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Had to return book and could not renew