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A review by musicalpopcorn
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
challenging
informative
medium-paced
3.0
Chronicles the outbreak of cholera in 19th century London that ultimately led to a new scientific way of seeing disease.
The first two thirds of the book were very interesting. Learning about the cholera outbreak and how Snow traced it to the well, as well as the other facts was fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the brief description of the history of anesthetic.
The epilogue kind of threw me off a bit. It felt almost rambly, and I was struggling to connect all the talk about terrorism and nuclear attacks to cholera and Snow. It was interesting to listen to it post-Covid, given that the book was written well before the pandemic, but it was still very strange.
The first two thirds of the book were very interesting. Learning about the cholera outbreak and how Snow traced it to the well, as well as the other facts was fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the brief description of the history of anesthetic.
The epilogue kind of threw me off a bit. It felt almost rambly, and I was struggling to connect all the talk about terrorism and nuclear attacks to cholera and Snow. It was interesting to listen to it post-Covid, given that the book was written well before the pandemic, but it was still very strange.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Medical content, Terminal illness, Death, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, and Excrement