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Written in 1935 by a highly regarded Harvard biologist who had never before published on history, this book is nominally a "biography" of Typhus Fever throughout history.
What the book actually contains is a wildly eclectic and off-topic mix of philosophy, sociology, history of science, art, religion, and politics, written with a wry sense of self-deprecating humor that transcends most non-fiction. I've never had a footnote cause me to burst out laughing before. Something like 1/3 each of [a:Yuval Noah Harari|395812|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1546235045p2/395812.jpg], [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg], and [a:Hunter S. Thompson|5237|Hunter S. Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206560814p2/5237.jpg]. This book will delight and inform you.
From the preface:
What the book actually contains is a wildly eclectic and off-topic mix of philosophy, sociology, history of science, art, religion, and politics, written with a wry sense of self-deprecating humor that transcends most non-fiction. I've never had a footnote cause me to burst out laughing before. Something like 1/3 each of [a:Yuval Noah Harari|395812|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1546235045p2/395812.jpg], [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg], and [a:Hunter S. Thompson|5237|Hunter S. Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206560814p2/5237.jpg]. This book will delight and inform you.
From the preface:
This book is a protest against the American attitude which tends to insist that a specialist should have no interests beyond his chosen field -- unless it be golf, fishing, or contract bridge. A specialist-- in our national view-- should stick to his job like "a louse on a pig's back." We risk-- because of this performance-- being thought less of as a bacteriologist. It is worth the risk. But the day has twenty-four hours; one can work but ten and sleep but eight.
We hold that one type of intelligent occupation should, in all but exceptional cases, increase the capacity for comprehension in general; that it is an error to segregate the minds of men into rigid guild classifications; and that art and sciences have much in common and both may profit by mutual appraisal. The Europeans have long appreciated this. That our book has contributed in this respect we have not the temerity to assert. At any rate, we have written along as it has suited our fancy, and have been amused and rested in so doing.