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A review by anntharai
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Terminal illness