A review by hannahelaine
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

It would have been higher but the conclusion and epilogue were a combined quarter of the book (2 of 8 hours of the audiobook). Not only were those interminably long, but also full of conjecture about the future of cities, written in 2006. Some of that is cute (he loves cities so much, it’s really heartwarming). A lot isn’t (geo-tagging is a “near future”, and is even depressingly optimistic about how things were going to be in 2024.  But mostly, it was just… not that much about the history?? Like. The book is history. It’s about Dr. John Snow figuring out that the Broad Street Pump was causing the cholera epidemic. But an ENTIRE QUARTER of the book isn’t about that at all. It’s him theorizing about a bunch of stuff that honestly, isn’t linked together particularly well.
Mostly good 3/4ths of the book, last quarter sucked. Also! Uh oh! 94% he’s starting to talk about global pandemics! Welp lol. Oh no. That wasn’t good. This guy is uh, VERY 2006-progressive-and-“could-never-see-how-trump-could-have-happened”-when-hes-playing-his-part-in-it-too. Very high and mighty. 

The line abt Rev. Whitestone’s superpower as an amateur is him “being a local”? Loved that. We love community.