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matthewabush's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book not knowing quite what to expect. I don't know how scientific it was, but it did have some good conversations about immunizations. I appreciate her insight and mostly agree with what she said.
I do believe that it is a shame that some parents choose not to get their kids vaccinated. The fact that parents are leaving their kid's open to diseases that are so easily prevented is almost sad.
I was unaware before I read this book of "herd immunity." Mass vaccination becomes far more effective than individual vaccination. A vaccinated person living in a largely unvaccinated community has a higher chance of catching a disease than a unvaccinated person living in a largely vaccinated community. So, if you make the decision to skip your kid's vaccination you are riding on the coat tails of those who did vaccinate and are contributing to an environment that puts everybody at greater risk.
I do believe that it is a shame that some parents choose not to get their kids vaccinated. The fact that parents are leaving their kid's open to diseases that are so easily prevented is almost sad.
I was unaware before I read this book of "herd immunity." Mass vaccination becomes far more effective than individual vaccination. A vaccinated person living in a largely unvaccinated community has a higher chance of catching a disease than a unvaccinated person living in a largely vaccinated community. So, if you make the decision to skip your kid's vaccination you are riding on the coat tails of those who did vaccinate and are contributing to an environment that puts everybody at greater risk.
themorsecode's review against another edition
5.0
Written in the wake of the H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic just over a decade ago, this is obviously still extremely pertinent and relevant today - particularly with the Covid-19 vaccine currently being rolled out. Biss writes extremely clearly and intelligently, acknowledging her own ignorance and privilege, whilst bringing in her own concerns about vaccines as a mother to a young child in order to dismantle the arguments of anti-vaxxers.
jesscinco's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting read for anybody interested in the vaccine issue. Biss pulls from a variety of sources, both historic and philosophical, to create a relatively short history of humanity's relationship with vaccination.
yara_aly's review against another edition
5.0
Because of this book, I am profoundly interested in reading further into illnesses and immunisation. Such a brilliant book.
szachary's review against another edition
5.0
When Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Seth Godin tell you to read the same book in their blogs....you read the book.
What impressed me most about this book was it's clarity of thought. Given the topic at hand you could easily be tempted to write 600 pages. Instead Eula delivers a charged topic, in a manner so concise, so easy to read that she covers the same 600 pages of material in a paltry 160.
This is a book for anyone in that, it approaches a topic dear to so many of us. It provides intelligible analysis and thought provoking philosophical aphorisms.
What impressed me most about this book was it's clarity of thought. Given the topic at hand you could easily be tempted to write 600 pages. Instead Eula delivers a charged topic, in a manner so concise, so easy to read that she covers the same 600 pages of material in a paltry 160.
This is a book for anyone in that, it approaches a topic dear to so many of us. It provides intelligible analysis and thought provoking philosophical aphorisms.
tumblehawk's review against another edition
5.0
The other day a friend visited and he had just gotten this book—On Immunity by Eula Biss—from the library. While he wasn’t paying attention, I stole it. I knew from the Maggie Nelson and Sarah Manguso blurbs that I had to read it. And I have zero regrets! A really incredible, deeply researched book composed of short, short essays on the themes of immunity, inoculation, and vaccination. Biss reaches into history, biology, sociology, race, class, and more in exploring this terrain but it’s all bound up with deft stitching in the form of her own relation to vaccination as a) the daughter of a doctor and b) the mother of a son. She shares her own vaccine skepticism as a new mother and digs into the protective and often irrational emotions behind that skepticism—while also really embracing nuance. She dismisses the alarmist calls of the anti-vaxxers but has great compassion for where they’re coming from, and her explorations of racism and classism in the history of vaccination give brilliant background to it all. In the end she falls firmly in the vaccination camp, seeing us each not as simply individual bodies all our own but as bodies part of a larger body. Killer book. And one more time for the people in the back: Vaccinate Your Kids!
One design complaint, however: there are very interesting and informative footnotes with further commentary from the author at the end of the book, however these are not indicated in anyway whatsoever in the main text. They exist at the back of the book labeled by page number and italicized sentence to which they were for, and I’m not sure why it was stylized that way.
One design complaint, however: there are very interesting and informative footnotes with further commentary from the author at the end of the book, however these are not indicated in anyway whatsoever in the main text. They exist at the back of the book labeled by page number and italicized sentence to which they were for, and I’m not sure why it was stylized that way.
justjoel's review against another edition
2.0
Following the onset of COVID-19 and the hullabaloo regarding its vaccines, I added this book to my shelf, just to try to get the perspective of someone who was afraid to vaccinate their child. This book predates the most recent pandemic, but does provide fairly thorough research into past ones and how the concept and practice of vaccination came into being.
Honestly, I wish there had been more of the process of gradual understanding from the author's perspective as she did her research, but if you missed third grade science when the scientific method was explained, this will suffice as a decent reminder.
One phrase that stuck with me (I listened to the audiobook and this was relayed while going down the freeway at 70 MPH, so my verbiage will not be exact) was along the lines of illness and suspicion of illness being used as a fear of the "other," or an "us vs. them" scenario. The author relayed past pandemics which were given racist names by people in adjoining (and sometimes overseas) countries, and she said something like "the higher the level of fear experienced, the narrower one's point of view becomes," and all I could see was Trump insisting on saying, "The China virus...." like the fucking small-minded moron he is.
Overall, I don't think this book will change anyone's mind on the safety or efficacy of vaccines. If you believe that reading a Salon article and watching 2 YouTube videos by non-medical professionals makes you an expert, you're probably not going to have enough sense to check out this author's listed sources. If, however, you are on the fence and would like some historical context as well as fairly current information, then you might find this useful.
This was just okay for me, as I would have liked to have heard more about how the author's views changed and were shaped over time.
2 out of 5 stars.
Honestly, I wish there had been more of the process of gradual understanding from the author's perspective as she did her research, but if you missed third grade science when the scientific method was explained, this will suffice as a decent reminder.
One phrase that stuck with me (I listened to the audiobook and this was relayed while going down the freeway at 70 MPH, so my verbiage will not be exact) was along the lines of illness and suspicion of illness being used as a fear of the "other," or an "us vs. them" scenario. The author relayed past pandemics which were given racist names by people in adjoining (and sometimes overseas) countries, and she said something like "the higher the level of fear experienced, the narrower one's point of view becomes," and all I could see was Trump insisting on saying, "The China virus...." like the fucking small-minded moron he is.
Overall, I don't think this book will change anyone's mind on the safety or efficacy of vaccines. If you believe that reading a Salon article and watching 2 YouTube videos by non-medical professionals makes you an expert, you're probably not going to have enough sense to check out this author's listed sources. If, however, you are on the fence and would like some historical context as well as fairly current information, then you might find this useful.
This was just okay for me, as I would have liked to have heard more about how the author's views changed and were shaped over time.
2 out of 5 stars.
sami_testa's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the voice she used throughout, it truly felt like a conversation.