bethsmath's review against another edition
4.0
While there is some repetition to the story, it was helpful for me as I was listening to it.
krigjer's review against another edition
4.0
A very informative account of the 1918 Spanish Flu (so given its name because the Spanish were the first willing to admit to the beginnings of a pandemic, despite the virus being traced to a farm in Kansas).
Lots of info-dumping. The first three sections give a crash course on the evolution of medical and scientific progress, particularly in the Americas- I was very excited to learn as much as I did.
Section four and onward details the illness itself- its spread, the death toll and economic repercussions, as well as the effect the virus had on the waging war and vice versa. A lot of background into the politics at the time.
There are a great many names, locations, and dates thrown at you, thus it reads like a textbook and at times is difficult to keep up with.
There's a lot of repetition of information, much going backwards and forwards in time to cover different people in different parts of the world. The level of annoyance at this is subjective to the reader.
I have an (unhealthy?) interest in contagious illnesses to begin with, but the Covid-19 outbreak spurred the 1918 flu to the forefront of my mind, and seeing people outright deny science is a little heartbreaking...
But as they say, if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.
The chapters detailing the spread of the virus, death toll, preventative measures and search for a cure should be required reading in the modern pandemic we face now.
The afterword, added in 2018, is amusing to read given current events.
Lots of info-dumping. The first three sections give a crash course on the evolution of medical and scientific progress, particularly in the Americas- I was very excited to learn as much as I did.
Section four and onward details the illness itself- its spread, the death toll and economic repercussions, as well as the effect the virus had on the waging war and vice versa. A lot of background into the politics at the time.
There are a great many names, locations, and dates thrown at you, thus it reads like a textbook and at times is difficult to keep up with.
There's a lot of repetition of information, much going backwards and forwards in time to cover different people in different parts of the world. The level of annoyance at this is subjective to the reader.
I have an (unhealthy?) interest in contagious illnesses to begin with, but the Covid-19 outbreak spurred the 1918 flu to the forefront of my mind, and seeing people outright deny science is a little heartbreaking...
But as they say, if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.
The chapters detailing the spread of the virus, death toll, preventative measures and search for a cure should be required reading in the modern pandemic we face now.
The afterword, added in 2018, is amusing to read given current events.
beckykeister's review against another edition
3.0
This was incredibly interesting at places. It focused on the rise of medical science in the US and then it's response to the Spanish ( ... probably actually American ...) flu. The sections about the findings of various important people in US medical history were not as dry as I anticipated though I often got lost ( ... disinterested ... ) in the long stretches that talked about the biology itself. I'm sure those sections would be quite riveting for someone with more of a science background/interest.
starrycake's review against another edition
4.0
Comprehensive and informative. I learned a lot and just blew through it. There's a lot of information here but it's very readable. It's a little repetitive but I think that can be forgiven because there's so much here.
mishasbooknook's review against another edition
2.0
Had to read this one for a history of pandemics and medicine graduate class, and I have to say that it falls into the same traps that many other popular history books fall into in that there are no in text citations, no footnotes, no analysis, and the drama is played up in a narrative fashion to keep people engaged and reading. I can see why it would become popular during the time of COVID-19, but frankly I don't find this book to be a very good source for actual analysis of the event itself, though it does provide interesting insight into how the disease behaved and for that it had my attention.
This book is for middle aged fathers who fancy themselves history buffs but don't want to actually read much other scholarship. An airplane read, if you will.
Also, the omission of Kolata's Flu (considering it was published before this book) in the bibliography is a choice that I certainly would not have made when writing a book on this subject.
This book is for middle aged fathers who fancy themselves history buffs but don't want to actually read much other scholarship. An airplane read, if you will.
Also, the omission of Kolata's Flu (considering it was published before this book) in the bibliography is a choice that I certainly would not have made when writing a book on this subject.
bpirana's review against another edition
5.0
Normally I’d get bored reading history in such detail. The book hasn’t a steady timeline and many times I got confused from the many scientists mentioned. But when the book you’re reading talks about a pandemic, and you’re actually living through one, every detail in the book gives you a chilling resemblance of facts, be it politians’ ignorance, the terror and anxiety a pandemic creates over the society, or else. The book was a page-turner for me. While reading the events and the decisions taken at that time, I never wondered “what could go wrong?”, because we’ve got ourselves a very good example of what can go wrong and not based on the policies and measurements that the governments and the institutions took.
Long live science.
Long live science.