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A review by xkrow
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
3.5
This was less of a narrative-nf than I was led to believe given his references to it in Enemy of All Mankind, but its still a pretty engaging and thought provoking book on disease, cities, and humanity.
You get copious details on the various ways London was a scavenger town; a town so full of shit that various professions popped up to deal with bits and pieces of in a mimicry of nature's evolutionary niches. We also spend a lot of time (in my opinion a little bit too much) on the air-borne theories of disease that was wide-spread in this period of history. It makes sense given its central tale of Jon Snow (yes, that was his name) and Henry Whitehead developing and testing the waterborne theory of cholera, but it did start to feel pretty repetitive as he hit on the same point again and again.
Johnson's writing style was again very easy to understand and follow, and while he had a tendency to wander, it did all wrap together at the end. I was surprised by the final chapter's deep focus on the nature of cities as a concept and where we might go in the future. It was a nice ending to the various themes that come up throughout the book, ones of disease mapping and human settlements.
Overall, would recommend to anyone interested in learning about London's festering nature and the development of medicine, but not to someone more interested in a historical story.
You get copious details on the various ways London was a scavenger town; a town so full of shit that various professions popped up to deal with bits and pieces of in a mimicry of nature's evolutionary niches. We also spend a lot of time (in my opinion a little bit too much) on the air-borne theories of disease that was wide-spread in this period of history. It makes sense given its central tale of Jon Snow (yes, that was his name) and Henry Whitehead developing and testing the waterborne theory of cholera, but it did start to feel pretty repetitive as he hit on the same point again and again.
Johnson's writing style was again very easy to understand and follow, and while he had a tendency to wander, it did all wrap together at the end. I was surprised by the final chapter's deep focus on the nature of cities as a concept and where we might go in the future. It was a nice ending to the various themes that come up throughout the book, ones of disease mapping and human settlements.
Overall, would recommend to anyone interested in learning about London's festering nature and the development of medicine, but not to someone more interested in a historical story.