A review by eyegee
Flu: The Story Of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Kolata

3.0

Gina Kolata is a great writer, however I'm surprised that she undertook this book and gave it this title since its central question -- why was the 1918 flu virus SO deadly? -- has not yet been solved. She does a great job of setting the stage, describing the impact of the epidemic, and introducing the work of scientists who have tried to solve the mystery. But as the book closes the work has not yet revealed an answer. This was a real anticlimax. Given the advances in biology and gene technology, I expect that an answer will be known within 5 years. As author, I would have been tempted to sit on my research until that day.