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ringwraith66's review against another edition
5.0
Awesome historical account. Has the right balance of scientific explanation without too much detail on viruses
mgoorchenko's review
4.0
Firstly, I agree with the reviewers who have said that the writing style deteriorates in the second half of the book. It becomes repetitive and overdone. A better edit would’ve been a good plan.
Secondly, I would have appreciated the afterward at the beginning of the book so that I would have a better understanding of what his goals were.
Despite all that, I enjoyed the perspectives proffered by the author and the glimpse of this time in history. Of course, the parallels between then and now are extremely unfortunate. It makes me wonder if we can ever truly learn from history.
Secondly, I would have appreciated the afterward at the beginning of the book so that I would have a better understanding of what his goals were.
Despite all that, I enjoyed the perspectives proffered by the author and the glimpse of this time in history. Of course, the parallels between then and now are extremely unfortunate. It makes me wonder if we can ever truly learn from history.
tlcollier1's review
5.0
I've read a few negative reviews of this book and now that I've finished...I can't find anything to support those reviews, at least for me.
The author beautifully sets up the medical community or lack there of at the time, a very important baseline fit what was to come.
If you don't care for nonfiction, you might still like this solve the stories of real people are interesting and engaging. If you don't like stories of horrific symptoms, you might want to pass by this one or at least be willing to skim over those occasional spots. But if you want to know what happened, why, and what we can do to prevent it from happening again, read this book.
Written years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the author's research and assessments area fully supported by current events. This is an important book.
The author beautifully sets up the medical community or lack there of at the time, a very important baseline fit what was to come.
If you don't care for nonfiction, you might still like this solve the stories of real people are interesting and engaging. If you don't like stories of horrific symptoms, you might want to pass by this one or at least be willing to skim over those occasional spots. But if you want to know what happened, why, and what we can do to prevent it from happening again, read this book.
Written years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the author's research and assessments area fully supported by current events. This is an important book.
ksejane's review
4.0
“To be a scientist requires not only intelligence and curiosity, but passion, patience, creativity, self-sufficiency, and courage… It is the courage to accept — indeed embrace — uncertainty.”
Probably wouldn’t have picked it up if we weren’t going through a pandemic currently, but it helped me connect with the book. I’ve learned so much about the history and advancement of medicine. It's interesting to see how history repeats.
Probably wouldn’t have picked it up if we weren’t going through a pandemic currently, but it helped me connect with the book. I’ve learned so much about the history and advancement of medicine. It's interesting to see how history repeats.
lizzer's review
5.0
Maybe a weird pick to read during an actual pandemic, maybe not. Either way, moments of disbelief, of anger, and of despair as listening just convinced me that we are always doomed to repeat the failures of our predecessors. May our children and our children's children be better, do better, than we have been and done.
myreaderacct's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.75
Reading a 20-year old book post COVID was an almost eerie experience. Barry does a good job of explaining the 1918 pandemic and the politics around it, but the book could have done with a tighter editor as Barry tends to go off on semi-relevant tangents (the book doesn't even really begin to cover the pandemic until a third of the way in). The audiobook narrator was incredibly flat--I suggest reading it over listening if possible.