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A review by allaboutfrodo
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry
3.0
So. This book is well researched, EXHAUSTIVELY researched, to the point of sheer and utter boredom. This text is more about the scientists involved in researching the 1918 flu than about the flu itself. For example:
"[A] certain mystery clung to Welch. ...Younger colleagues gave him a nickname, a nickname that spread from Hopkins to younger scientists everywhere. They called him, never to his face, 'Popsy.'...The students had a chant: 'Nobody knows where Popsy eats / Nobody knows where Popsy sleeps / Nobody knows whom Popsy keeps / But Popsy.'" (p. 63)
I'm sure the author was THRILLED when he came across this odd little nugget, but I DO NOT CARE WHERE POPSY SLEEPS. Or even that William Welch was nicknamed Popsy (and how does the author know that no one ever called Welch Popsy to his face?). I did not find the scientists that interesting.
The author also has a very melodramatic sense about him. For example, he likes to end his chapters on cliffhangers. "It remained violent enough to do one more thing." (p. 377) "All this added kindling to the tinderbox. Still more kindling would come." (p. 143) "For the virus had not disappeared. It had only gone underground, like a forest fire left burning in the roots, swarming and mutating, adapting, honing itself, watching and waiting, waiting to burst into flame." (p. 175) Dun dun dunnn!! He also likes to repeat phrases in a dramatic way: "This was influenza, only influenza." (p. 231 but also over and over throughout the book).
It was all too much for me. While I'm sure it is a well researched and well written book in many ways, it was a three star read for me.
Really, there was just way too much information in this book for my liking. It's also repetitive, with some facts being mentioned multiple times. I'd like to read the 100 page abridged version focused just on the influenza. The main thing I learned from this book is that the U.S. was governed by incompetent leadership in 1918 as well.
"[A] certain mystery clung to Welch. ...Younger colleagues gave him a nickname, a nickname that spread from Hopkins to younger scientists everywhere. They called him, never to his face, 'Popsy.'...The students had a chant: 'Nobody knows where Popsy eats / Nobody knows where Popsy sleeps / Nobody knows whom Popsy keeps / But Popsy.'" (p. 63)
I'm sure the author was THRILLED when he came across this odd little nugget, but I DO NOT CARE WHERE POPSY SLEEPS. Or even that William Welch was nicknamed Popsy (and how does the author know that no one ever called Welch Popsy to his face?). I did not find the scientists that interesting.
The author also has a very melodramatic sense about him. For example, he likes to end his chapters on cliffhangers. "It remained violent enough to do one more thing." (p. 377) "All this added kindling to the tinderbox. Still more kindling would come." (p. 143) "For the virus had not disappeared. It had only gone underground, like a forest fire left burning in the roots, swarming and mutating, adapting, honing itself, watching and waiting, waiting to burst into flame." (p. 175) Dun dun dunnn!! He also likes to repeat phrases in a dramatic way: "This was influenza, only influenza." (p. 231 but also over and over throughout the book).
It was all too much for me. While I'm sure it is a well researched and well written book in many ways, it was a three star read for me.
Really, there was just way too much information in this book for my liking. It's also repetitive, with some facts being mentioned multiple times. I'd like to read the 100 page abridged version focused just on the influenza. The main thing I learned from this book is that the U.S. was governed by incompetent leadership in 1918 as well.