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The Hot Zone

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 33,071 ratings · 1,770 reviews

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising accou...more

ebook, 290 pages

Published March 14th 2012 by Anchor (first published 1989)

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Feb 01, 2008 Charissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who don't need to sleep well at night

Recommended to Charissa by: Satan

Shelves: non-fic, apocalypse, dystopia, crack, all-time-faves

Holy fuck. This book will make you want to wash your hands... a lot. Also, you may feel compelled to go out and purchase your own HAZMAT suit. Try not to read this book before bed. It may cause some unsettling dreams. Like... dreams about your internal organs liquifying and bleeding out of your eyeballs. I don't know, I found that kind of unsettling. This book has singlehandedly accomplished my vow to never visit Africa. Mostly because Africa is a giant continent filled with monkey pox and malar...more

74 likes · like · see review

Aug 17, 2007 Oddmix rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Terror at the personal level.

Very personal for me...

I read this book while on night watch in the Army. I was eating cheap red licorice at a frenzied pace while I read from sheer nerves. The idea of bleeding out through every bodily opening was terrifying.

The next morning I went to the bathroom and discovered that cheep red licorice passes nearly untouched through the human digestive system. It goes in red and comes out red - blood red. I very nearly screamed before I realized what I was seeing....more

63 likes · like · see review

Jul 09, 2012 Tiffany rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, geekiness, survival, favorites, nonfiction

Oh, my. What a terrifying book.

The Hot Zone documents the journey of filoviruses in the human race. Specifically, this book documents the time when Ebola snuck its way into Washington DC. Ebola is a highly contagious virus that slowly turns your body to mush. First you have a headache. Then your face freezes into a mask. You bleed from every pore. Essentially, Ebola liquefies people.

Let me be the first one to say that this book scares me in the most fascinating way. I was like, wait. How can a...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jan 31, 2010 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, science-and-nature, thrills-and-chills, death-and-dying

The positive: Friggin' scary. Not just the descriptions of people bleeding out of their pores, or the bit about the melting organs -- it all started with an imperceptible bug bite, or maybe sex, or perhaps just breathing the air in a certain place. Then you get a headache and red eyes*. Then you slowly start to melt from the inside out**. It's a sort of sick pleasure, though, to read it. It's as well-written as most medical thrillers, and nicely paced.

The negative: I mean, of course it's going t...more

12 likes · like · see review

Sep 17, 2007 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Hypochondriacs.

Shelves: science, history

At first it feels no different from a flu. Quickly, the back pains start, followed by uncontrollable fever and blistering. Your insides begin to liquify, and in a matter of a few days, you're dead, your internal organs have literally melted. Reader, meet Ebola. Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone explores Ebola from its first appearances in the rain forests of Africa to its one outbreak in the United States, at a monkeyhouse in Reston, Virginia, a short drive from Washington, D.C. He focuses on the h...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Maria Nes-Li rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who is into virology

Recommended to Maria Nes-Li by: Dr. Daniel Sanchez

Shelves: science, geekery

This book was highly recommended by my immunology/virology professor. And with THE Stephen King mentioned that the book gave him the creeps, it really stirred my curiosity.

The book is about the reality of discovering viruses (Cue Big Bang Theory theme: Australopithecus would really have been sick of us Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses). This tells the story of how scientist was able to discover three of the deadliest viruses that ravaged mankind during the 90...more

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Jun 27, 2007 Tortla rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people eating on planes next to sick people

Shelves: schooly

Read this while you are eating on a plane next to a sick person.

26 likes · like · see review

Oct 07, 2007 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: advisory-07-08

The Hot Zone is about a family of viruses in which relates to each other and how they caused a full alert to the U.S. Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease. In the group of viruses, Marburg, Ebola Zaire, and Ebola Reston are the three viruses that are mainly discussed. As the book progresses, the Marburg virus mutates and emerges into the Ebola Zaire and then to Ebola Reston. While I was reading this book, I thought that it was difficult to follow along since there are many scientific...more

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Feb 10, 2008 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Scientists, Sleuths, Hypochondriacs

Shelves: read-non-fiction

I could say that this book changed my life. I could say that, although it's not quite true as I haven't passed my MCATs yet. But the study of disease and populations and epidemics was brought to a head the first time I read this book around 2003 (I think). Now with the H5N1 poised to jump species and AIDS still an ongoing problem and globalization, environmental and water shortages are present-day issues I think that it would be crazy to think that viruses vs. people is over. However I don't thi...more

7 likes · like · see review

Dec 25, 2012 Ericka rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is utterly terrifying. You'll find yourself questioning every sniffle or headache after putting it down. A phrase that comes up often in the book is "shit scared." I think that's the best way to describe this read.

It's a true story about Ebola and the scariest part is that it's still active to this day. I finished reading the book and then a news report came on the BBC about the latest outbreak. And there's nothing you can do about it.

From start to finish, you'll have a hard time teari...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 08, 2009 Andrea Katoo added it · review of another edition

ew. this book has the most descriptive gorey stuff u can find. warning: will puke!

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Nov 10, 2007 Neesha rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-nonfiction

The first time I read (well, started reading) this book I was in junior high...and I read the first chapter and was terrified...so I stopped. When I read it again a couple of years ago, I got through it but was still a little freaked out. Ebola and the hemorrhagic fevers scare me and intrigue me at the same time. It;s the kind of book that is eerie to read late at night when you're alone. Definitely entertaining, but the disclaimer to this one is that the historical situation it is based on is o...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Josi added it · review of another edition

The Hot Zone is an action packed page turner that leaves you feeling that you actually learned a fairly decent chunk of biology (and you did!). It can be understood from a layman's perspective, which is a beautiful effort in itself given how complex some of the information is. I am giving this book a high rating because of this and how well written it is. However, there are a few small points that I'm not overly fond of. It is written in a fairly confusing style I wanted at first to liken it to...more

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Aug 08, 2011 John Mcconahey added it · review of another edition

In 2009, the United States experienced an outbreak of swine influenza whose viral origin is in pigs, but in rare instances, can be passed to humans. This current unknown strain also can be passed from human to human, but the mortality rate is less than 10%. Still, people are wary – sometimes even panicky. 2009 was not the best year to read Hot Zone. I’m not fond of terror or horror tales. The thing that makes this book frightening is that it is non-fiction.

The book begins in Kitum Cave, Kenya, w...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this “thriller” work of nonfiction, Preston traces the history of perhaps the deadliest virus ever known to humans – the Ebola virus. Ebola has several strains including Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, Ebola Zaire (the deadliest with a death rate of nine out of ten), and finally, the sister to the Ebola virus, Marbury. Ebola first gained international attention when a local man named Charles Monet had gone for a camping trip during which he trekked through a set of caves in Zaire. Exactly how he c...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Maureen Hodgens rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Hot Zone clearly deserves to be a #1 New York Times Bestseller for being such a terrifying true story. This book is a riveting and engrossing page-turner written by Richard Preston who is a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Preston had won many awards including the McDermott Award in the Arts from MIT and the AAS-Westinghouse Award. The author recollects upon a real-life tale where he combines scientific data with a fascinating human story. The purpose of this book is to inform the pub...more The Hot Zone clearly deserves to be a #1 New York Times Bestseller for being such a terrifying true story. This book is a riveting and engrossing page-turner written by Richard Preston who is a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Preston had won many awards including the McDermott Award in the Arts from MIT and the AAS-Westinghouse Award. The author recollects upon a real-life tale where he combines scientific data with a fascinating human story. The purpose of this book is to inform the public on lethal viruses and their effect on the human race. I thoroughly enjoyed The Hot Zone because it truly shows that sometimes the truth really is scarier than fiction.

What could be scarier than a made up story? Preston proves through The Hot Zone that a true story is. A highly contagious (and deadly) Ebola virus suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. from the central African rain forest. There isn’t a cure for it, and within a few days of contracting the virus, 90% of its victims die. In order to stop the outbreak of this “hot” virus, a secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a spine-tingling account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their “crashes” into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone is definitely a book that I couldn’t put down. It will make readers wonder just what else is lurking among us.

In my opinion, this book was a great read. For me, I am a curious person and I love science, so this book was perfect for me. The Hot Zone got a little confusing at some points because of the amount of scientific language and all of the different characters, but other than that it was relatively easy to follow because of the chronological order it was written in. The book was definitely entertaining, and Preston supports his story with hard core evidence. If anyone thinks that biology or science is boring, they probably have not read The Hot Zone yet. The Hot Zone’s strengths are that it was a real page-turner, it had a glossary for new scientific terms the average person may not be very familiar with, and it is a book that is like no other. I would recommend this book to mature teenagers and adults who are prepared to read an extremely graphic true story that is utterly bone-chilling, yet completely fascinating.
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Feb 14, 2013 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Let me be clear about one thing before I get into my full review. The writing in this book is absolutely atrocious. Ideas and paragraphs seem to fly out of nowhere while sentences seem disconnected. The ebook version of this book has numerous grammar and spelling mistakes and punctuation seems to have been an afterthought. With all that in mind, The Hot Zone is one of the most compelling, interesting, and fascinating non-fiction books around. It is absolutely worth reading and considering, espec...more Let me be clear about one thing before I get into my full review. The writing in this book is absolutely atrocious. Ideas and paragraphs seem to fly out of nowhere while sentences seem disconnected. The ebook version of this book has numerous grammar and spelling mistakes and punctuation seems to have been an afterthought. With all that in mind, The Hot Zone is one of the most compelling, interesting, and fascinating non-fiction books around. It is absolutely worth reading and considering, especially in light of recent outbreaks of diseases like the swine flu.

In The Hot Zone, Richard Preston introduces his readers to the history and horrors (and history of horrors) of Ebola; its variants Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan; and its cousin, Marburg Virus. He relates in vivid, engaging detail the means by which Ebola decimates the human body. Squeamish readers had best skip these chapters because they are absolutely graphic. Ebola is a killer (Ebola Zaire kills about 90% of its victims) and it attacks the human body in such as way that its victims are essentially left as hot bags of rotten blood. It makes for one of the most gruesome and horrifying deaths imaginable. And for those who keep reading these portions of the book, the real terror sets in: Preston's descriptions are not from the fevered mind of a horror writer, but are of actual outbreaks of the virus and its cousins in Africa and Europe.

Preston spends most of the work focused on the outbreak of Ebola Reston in Washington, DC. He details the efforts of the Army response team and how they worked to contain its spread to a small monkey import business. Suffice it to say that animal lovers will mourn the hundreds of monkeys that wind up dead, but everyone should be glad to hear that the virus did not jump harmfully to the human population. Instead, while Ebola Reston infect humans, it proved to be harmful only to monkeys.

With regard to the other, more deadly strains of Ebola, the human race has been protected by the fact that it is not nearly as infectious as diseases like influenza or the common cold. However, Preston leaves his readers with some chilling facts. Ebola Reston is closely related to Ebola Zaire, but unlike its sister virus it found a way to spread itself through the air. This means there is potentially some mutation Ebola could undergo that would make it both airborne and deadly.

Preston's work is absolutely enthralling. Its descriptions are graphic and the writing is a tad convoluted, but it reads like a thriller novel. I highly recommend it to just about anybody but the overly sensitive (also, it might be best to avoid reading the book right before bed). As graphic as the book is, it is highly pertinent in a day when humanity faces the prospect of dangerous infections diseases rising from the jungle and striking ruthlessly. Wash your hands.(less)

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Jan 25, 2013 Clint Cypert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, thriller

The Hot Zone is a non-fiction book that reads like a Stephen King horror novel. When a biology teacher at my school recommended that I read this book about viruses, I was skeptical to say the least. I didn't think the book would be that interesting. I couldn't have been more wrong. The Hot Zone is an engrossing book that gives the reader a great insight into the potential dangers of viruses, focusing primarily on the four known strains of Ebola virus. The first part of the book begins by describ...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Elijah added it · review of another edition

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is a dramatization of real events that happened during the 20th century.
The book opens with a scene of a man exploring a cave in South America. He gets some bat feces on himself, and washes it off, thinking 'no harm done'. Not so, as it turns out. The feces contained an extremely toxic bacteria, lethal to humans. After the man returns to his house, he infects another person. In a very short period of time, a whole village is infected, and American bacteriologists...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Dave Nagaji rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Review On The Hot Zone
From the very first page you can tell by the mysterious writing style that something bad is about to happen. Like a horror movie, Charles Monet's hike into the jungle starts off almost peaceful, but quickly turns sour. Kitum Cave's dark description, from the bats, to the crystals, to the pit full of dead baby elephants gives a foreshadowing of what lurks inside. It is like taking a peek into hell, a habitat that reflect its inhabitants. However, this monster is not the k...more A Review On The Hot Zone
From the very first page you can tell by the mysterious writing style that something bad is about to happen. Like a horror movie, Charles Monet's hike into the jungle starts off almost peaceful, but quickly turns sour. Kitum Cave's dark description, from the bats, to the crystals, to the pit full of dead baby elephants gives a foreshadowing of what lurks inside. It is like taking a peek into hell, a habitat that reflect its inhabitants. However, this monster is not the kind that can be seen. As is shown in Charles Monet's sudden decline in health, crash and subsequent death, Richard Preston is truly a master of horror writing. As I read about the black vomit, the blood that refused to clot, and the liquefying of the human body, I understood that humans are not the top of the food chain of this planet, and that our predator is just sitting back and bidding its time.
Preston's writing skills lie not only in his ability to terrify, but also in his ability to help us relate to people. If we watched the military's operation in the monkey house on a news report, we'd see a group of nameless, faceless soldiers exterminating hundreds of animals. In this book we see that they are in fact men and women with families, and they hate their assignment but understand that only they can get the job done. Preston's writing helps us to identify with victims and their families, such as Peter Cardinal who becomes brain dead and dies of Marburg in a hospital as his family watches. One very touching moment is when Nancy Jaax is unable see her father before he dies because she is busy saving Washington D.C. from a potential viral outbreak.
Despite the gory details of Ebola and Marburgs symptoms , they are not the most disturbing thing found in this book. Truly, what is most disturbing is how people react in these emergencies. When an African city is threatened by Marburg, the mayor sees an opportunity to make money and make the Americans buy transportation vehicles. When two military scientists identify a virus as Ebola, they must slowly pass it up the chain of command. Even the general, the man at the top, was more concerned with protecting his career than protecting a city. When Nancy Jaax comes into a dangerous encounter with the Ebola virus, Preston made me feel her thoughts and understand the panic of someone who may have become exposed.
This book is more real and terrifying than any other novel or movie available today.(less)

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Jan 06, 2013 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Hot Zone is a thrilling book about a lethal virus called Ebola. This "hot agent" is a Level 4 Biohazard that causes primates (humans and monkeys) to bleed out and crash. Ebola destroys all the tissue in one's body and makes one bleed out of every orfice until death. It starts with a man named Charles Monet who visits Kitum Cave of Mount Elgon on the border of Uganda and Kenya and contracts this unknown virus. He only gets infected with Marburg, a less deadly sister of Ebola. Many Africans di...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Alex Collins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Hot Zone is a non fiction, true story, bio thriller. It discusses how several "hot viruses" came into contact with humans. Hot viruses are "Level 4" viruses, which means that they have no cure, and are most certainly fatal. Ebola is a type of Level 4 Hot Virus. The book also talks about the history of the virus. Who they infected, how they got infected, what happened once they got infected, and how they spread the virus. One virus his Washington D.C. in 1984. The way the book is written make...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Kat Dellinger rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers-keep-me-awake-at-night, favorites

This book scared the HELL out of me!!
I read this book for the first time in 1997, when I was 14, and to this very day thinking about this book gives me the creeps.

The book documents how the virus, Ebola, started in Africa and worked it's way into Washington D.C. and how the CDC and other Government and Health Orgs. dealt with it. It also goes into terrifying detail of how this microscopic organism finds and kills it's victims: It liquefies your insides and makes you Hemmhorage out of every pore...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’ve had a copy of The Hot Zone by Richard Preston sitting on my bookshelf for the past 8-9 years. I picked it up at a thrift store, knowing I’d read it, knowing I was interested in the topic but somehow, just never managed to make my way to it. One of the occupational hazards of a library worker is a to-read list of daunting length. As many times as I’ve weeded through my book collection, moving, organizing etc, I always held onto it, meaning to get around to it sooner or later. Tuesday I decid...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Nick Ungefug rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You don't need to be an expert in biology for this book to scare you! Richard Preston's
"The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story", is a book all too deserving of its title. The first thing you should know before choosing to read this story is that it is more a scientific analysis than a narrative, however Preston includes several narrative elements, which when retelling the infection of patient zero Charles Monet, and so on, fully engross the reader into the frightening realism of the world behin...more
You don't need to be an expert in biology for this book to scare you! Richard Preston's
"The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story", is a book all too deserving of its title. The first thing you should know before choosing to read this story is that it is more a scientific analysis than a narrative, however Preston includes several narrative elements, which when retelling the infection of patient zero Charles Monet, and so on, fully engross the reader into the frightening realism of the world behind the cover of "The Hot Zone". Preston descriptions are absolutely stunning and the scientific detail that was woven into the book are expertly done and add that extra level of immersion the entire story. The unfortunate flip-side (or added bonus for some readers)is that the gore described in the story possess a eerie level of realism that gives the full effect of the gruesome nature of Filoviruses.

For those who don't know, a Filovirus is a rare form of viral infection that results in hemorrhagic fevers, or in other words excessive bleeding from all orifices of the body, eyes mouth nose etc, and eventually leads to the death of the victim due to bleeding out. The story begins with the most recent out break of the filovirus Ebola. Preston's use of emotional attachment to the man Charles Monet makes the decline of his health both mentally and physically all the more horrifying as it allows the reader to associate Monet with a friend or family member.

"One of the most horrifying things I've ever read" -Stephen King

Although I am not a fan of horror stories I found this to be an interesting read, at least from a scientific standpoint. I would not recommend this book to everyone, but I can't deny or fail to appreciate the level of excellence that went into writing this book. I give it a 4/5 and would recommend this to any horror junkie or anyone who's interested in learning more about epidemic viruses. I warn you though, I found myself to be a hypochondriac for weeks after completing this novel, and as Stephen King said it is a truly horrifying novel. Enjoy!(less)

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May 30, 2012 Roberto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I rated this book 4 stars because while it was entertaining and fact filled i thought it was a bit dry at times. A brief summary of the plot for those who might plan on reading this book is as follows..
A deadly strain of Ebola is caught near this majestic mountain in Africa named Mt. Elgnon. It is passed through the near by hospital infecting many villages. Along with the transport of very uninspected monkeys the virus is transfered to the U.S. Then even in the U.S. and all the safety percaution...more I rated this book 4 stars because while it was entertaining and fact filled i thought it was a bit dry at times. A brief summary of the plot for those who might plan on reading this book is as follows..
A deadly strain of Ebola is caught near this majestic mountain in Africa named Mt. Elgnon. It is passed through the near by hospital infecting many villages. Along with the transport of very uninspected monkeys the virus is transfered to the U.S. Then even in the U.S. and all the safety percautions the virus ends up becoming airborne in this reaserch facility and Nancy ends up getting monkey blood all over her hand. This book is quite interesting and at times it is very difficult to put down. The characters in this book vary a great deal at times. From what we hear of "Mr. Jones" who is one of the monkey inspecters in Africa who remains anonymous to the Johnsons where we learn a great deal of their day to day lifestyles. The author does a good job of creating imagery though by portraying different details or withholding details causing a presence of mystery. This story takes place in a couple places including parts of Africa, Yambuku, Zaire, Sudan, Nairobi, Maryland, and quick flashes to Germany. "The Hot Zone" really captures the scientific view of this virus outbreak with a twist of human reality. It incorperates the differents views into a smooth context but when the author becomes really descriptive at time such as going in depth about the red dotted puke lined with black substance it almost makes you take a moment to turn and re-evaluate reading on. I believe a person geared toward learning about the way viruses work and jump around would really be interested in this book and want to learn more, but I myself wasn't really hit that way. I would definately recommend this book to eather teenage students or older more scientificly geared people. 4 Stars is what i awarded this book as I stated right away, but it was just based soley on the fact that it was lenghty in unneccessary parts and maybe shorter on others. Hope this helped peak your interests!(less)

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May 29, 2012 Quarterkneez rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Have you ever been deathly afraid of contracting a disease? After reading The Hot Zone, I am officially afraid of getting Marburg or Ebola. With such vivid descriptions as to what occurs when one has the virus, there is no doubt that fear will be instilled in the reader. The fact that Marburg and Ebola Zaire (the deadliest of the 2 strains) have a 90% kill rate was absolutely astonishing. Reading this book has most definitely changed my opinion on traveling to certain parts of Africa, but yet ha...more

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May 08, 2012 Taylor Yardley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh God this book scared me. In fact, it may single-handedly be the reason I am a partial hypochondriac these days. When I was growing up I was fascinated with medical things. ER was my favorite show, I took furious notes when it was on. When this book somehow made it into my hands, I devoured it like a starving animal. I was probably too young for the content, but boy was I intrigued. Since then I have consistently held my breath for about 5-10 seconds after someone sneezes in my vicinity.

The H...more

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May 03, 2012 Courtney Cuzick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I think about this book the first word that comes to mind is insane, because that is truly what it was. It is the story of Ebola around the world, and it's close encounters in the United States. I would not recommend this book to any one that cannot handle graphic descriptions. Just a disclaimer, you get a detailed description of the viruses horrifying effects, and they are not for the light stomached. As they dig deeper into the virus we get to see the extreme precautions necessary to deal...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Flor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Hot Zone is about many different types of viruses that are all in the same family, some more dangerous than the others. The setting takes place in some parts in Africa, which supposedly where the virus originated from. Reading The HOT Zone for the first time made me a bit nervous. I had no idea what to expect from it. Never in my life did I think that some things that were being described in the book would be real life events. I know the title says based on a true story but with descriptions...more

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About Richard Preston

Richard Preston is a journalist and nonfiction writer.

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Books by Richard Preston

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The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2007

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Quotes from The Hot Zone

“In biology, nothing is clear, everything is too complicated, everything is a mess, and just when you think you understand something, you peel off a layer and find deeper complications beneath. Nature is anything but simple.” — 40 people liked it

“When people asked him why he didn't work with those viruses, he replied, I don't particularly feel like dying.” — 8 people liked it

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