benrogerswpg's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing book.
Intense read. Details lots of information on infections and also more-or-less predicted COVID-19.
Solid research. Highly recommended.
4.8/5
Intense read. Details lots of information on infections and also more-or-less predicted COVID-19.
Solid research. Highly recommended.
4.8/5
almartin's review against another edition
4.0
1: david quammen is a very, very talented writer.
2: you could teach pretty much any random slice of 15 pages of spillover as a exemplar text for a narrative non-fiction writing class. quammen reads widely and deeply, and has the confidence to grapple with uncertainty and complex causal explanations that few other science writers would touch. we've all read who-knows-how-many articles about HIV; do you know what T-cells are? do you know why they are called "T"-cells? do you know what the H and the N in H1N1 influenza stand for? if quammen has anything to say about it, you damn well will.
3: the ecology of viruses is super interesting stuff. the mystery-virus-detective-stories in here were riveting reading. great hard reporting on ebola.
4: there is a lot of on-the-ground reporting in this book, and evidence of a lot of hours logged in the reading room of your university library filled with titles like Journal of Applied Virology. hopefully the world of buzzfeed-funded journalism has a home for this kind of thing.
5: is this book worth your time? parts of it definitely are, and therein lies the problem. did anything get cut from this book? do we need to know about all twenty-odd types of simian immunodeficiency virus? does david quammen even have an editor? can I please talk to him? spillover has deep insight on big questions like, why are RNA viruses so much more likely to produce pandemics than DNA viruses? what farming and city planning practices make humans vulnerable to pandemics? why do bats have so many goddamn types of nasty viruses that infect humans? but there's seemingly never a detail too minor for quammen along the way. spillover has a little bit of moby dick in it - epic in scope, reaching pretty amazing heights along the way, but hold on to your butts, because there's pages and pages of whale biology thrown in for good measure.
2: you could teach pretty much any random slice of 15 pages of spillover as a exemplar text for a narrative non-fiction writing class. quammen reads widely and deeply, and has the confidence to grapple with uncertainty and complex causal explanations that few other science writers would touch. we've all read who-knows-how-many articles about HIV; do you know what T-cells are? do you know why they are called "T"-cells? do you know what the H and the N in H1N1 influenza stand for? if quammen has anything to say about it, you damn well will.
3: the ecology of viruses is super interesting stuff. the mystery-virus-detective-stories in here were riveting reading. great hard reporting on ebola.
4: there is a lot of on-the-ground reporting in this book, and evidence of a lot of hours logged in the reading room of your university library filled with titles like Journal of Applied Virology. hopefully the world of buzzfeed-funded journalism has a home for this kind of thing.
5: is this book worth your time? parts of it definitely are, and therein lies the problem. did anything get cut from this book? do we need to know about all twenty-odd types of simian immunodeficiency virus? does david quammen even have an editor? can I please talk to him? spillover has deep insight on big questions like, why are RNA viruses so much more likely to produce pandemics than DNA viruses? what farming and city planning practices make humans vulnerable to pandemics? why do bats have so many goddamn types of nasty viruses that infect humans? but there's seemingly never a detail too minor for quammen along the way. spillover has a little bit of moby dick in it - epic in scope, reaching pretty amazing heights along the way, but hold on to your butts, because there's pages and pages of whale biology thrown in for good measure.
mysticalgoalpaca's review against another edition
Tried reading it twice, put it down because work stress prevented me from being able to properly read something like this. I got farther through it the second time, and it was interesting, but I was struggling in many ways and couldn't give this book the amount of mental energy it deserved. Will likely pick it up again some time.
jbaltsar's review against another edition
5.0
Ein hervorragendes Beispiel für guten Wissenschaftsjournalismus! Umfassend in der Recherche, präzise aber sehr gut verständlich geschrieben. Und mit dem Maß an trockenem Humor, der einen unweigerlich für das Buch einnimmt, und der leider in deutschen Autoren und Wissenschaftlern so selten ist.
Das Buch ist von 2012 und der Autor spekuliert verschiedentlich über "The Next Big One". Ein guter Kandidat: ein Coronavirus! Und nun sitze ich zu Hause, praktiziere social distancing und draußen passiert genau dieser "Big One". Spooky!
Das Buch ist von 2012 und der Autor spekuliert verschiedentlich über "The Next Big One". Ein guter Kandidat: ein Coronavirus! Und nun sitze ich zu Hause, praktiziere social distancing und draußen passiert genau dieser "Big One". Spooky!
thetrickyfox's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
The book that originally inspired me to become a vet and work with zoonotic diseases. Holds up just as well nearly 10 years later.
jpierso2's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Writing 4/5
Premise 4.5/5
Exceptional book really. As dry as I thought it would be it was fascinating and really well written. The globe spanning journey was incredibly informative and terrifying.
Premise 4.5/5
Exceptional book really. As dry as I thought it would be it was fascinating and really well written. The globe spanning journey was incredibly informative and terrifying.
charlibirb's review against another edition
4.0
Starts off really slow with all the intro stuff: definitions etc, but then it gets really good when it gets to the stories. It's easier for me to digest all that info when it's included in a story.
It's a long one!
Yikes. Semi-regret reading this, but overall, glad I did. (Too much info...)
He basically predicted the Covid-19 pandemic...
It's a long one!
Yikes. Semi-regret reading this, but overall, glad I did. (Too much info...)
He basically predicted the Covid-19 pandemic...
kateormerod's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Love his writing style. Super interesting. Just hard to follow sometimes because timelines jump around. The first half especially was hard to read because of the bad choices that people are making.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Terminal illness, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Colonisation