rhi_'s review

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informative fast-paced

3.0


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jetpackdracula's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0


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musicalpopcorn's review

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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. 

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ambaright's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5


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elizafiedler's review

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

4.0

Very gross, but really fascinating and informative. Skip this one if you're sensitive to bodily fluids and descriptions of medical problems or trauma. 

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the_true_monroe's review

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0


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cj13's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

4.5


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anntharai's review

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dark informative medium-paced

3.5

An interesting history of cholera and London, and the majority of the book is quite good. 

Honestly, I’d suggest avoiding the last section. It takes on an intensely nihilistic tone and literally everything will be bad 😂 oh and he states that cities only have themselves to blame if they’re targeted by terrorists because who could resist such a juicy target and that’s a yikes from me. 

The final section has been undone through no fault of its own - time passed and the predictions were not correct.


 For example the author says that a flu like pandemic is extremely slim, but If the researchers who think it possible believe that such a thing  “could easily rival the 1918 pandemic”, he also overestimates the intelligence of people actually listening to scientists in such a situation. 

So overall it’s good, just skip the last chapter which is primarily anxiety inducing rants. 

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kalebdluca's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0


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doitninetimes's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0


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