A review by kieranhealy
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

5.0

I read this last year and it sure seems relevant now. Johnson tracks the heroics of two men, one a Doctor and the other a Reverend, while they try to figure out what is killing residents in London. It follows no real geographic bounds, class, age or gender. It kills horribly and indiscriminately. What is it, and how is it killing all these people?

This is a fantastic read. It is almost like a crime thriller where the killer is Cholera, and it’s a great introduction to basic epidemiology; how contact tracing works and is vital; public health outreach; etc. How we discover and contain diseases effectively can be partially traced to this moment in time, and it’s worth reading just for that alone. It is also just riveting.

Johnson does end it with some weird extrapolations and conclusions that haven’t born out well in reality, but up to that point the book is stellar.