|
I've been reading a lot about diseases and epidemics, lately. Because apparently nonfiction is fun as long as it's terrifying. They're listed from what I enjoyed most to what I enjoyed least. Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby is my favorite so far. It deals with Sleeping Sickness (a type of encephalitis) and the fact that we're...still not really sure what happened there. The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett is really long, but deals with a ton of post-antibiotics epidemics. It also goes into the way that public health, politics, and the environment intersect when dealing with epidemics. It's the perfect book if you want to spend a few weeks telling anyone who will listen to you things that they were probably more comfortable not knowing. The Dancing Plague by John Waller deals with the religious/cultural/political issues that have surrounded dancing epidemics, particularly the one in 1518. It was very readable and very informative at the same time, particularly in the last chapter where it deals with other bizarre outbreaks like that. Richard Preston's The Hot Zone was a very good look at the history of Ebola and Marburg, with a focus on the Reston, Virginia outbreak. While the book itself did a good job of being readable and explaining things, Preston's writing style gets a little distracting at times. Sometimes, he seems to think that he is writing a Lovecraft story, and ends up dipping into some overdramatic purple prose. Rabid by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy was...okay. I learned a lot about rabies and its history, but would have liked a heavier dose of science and a lighter dose of rabies as a root of horror stories. That said, I was able to finish it in just a few days, so still worth the read.
|
#
¿
Sep 10, 2015 12:02
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 06:45 |
|