Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It
by Gina Kolata
book data
289 ratings, 3.73 average rating, 58 reviews
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published
November 19th 1999
by Farrar Straus Giroux
binding
Hardcover, 256 pages
isbn
0374157065
(isbn13: 9780374157067)
description
Feeling tired, achy, and congested? You'll hope not after reading science writer Gina Kolata's engrossing Flu, a fascinating look at the 1918 ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 398)
I love a good disease book. And I think the 1918 flu is just about as fascinating as you can get. But this book talks more about theories and old-timey labs than it does about the human side of this epidemic. Which, let's face it, is what's really interesting. Imagine all of a sudden having a common illness sweep through your community and kill young healthy people so fast that you don't even have time to bury them right. That's some serious shit. This book just didn't do it justice. I wo...more
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Read in October, 2008
recommended to Xysea by:
merecommends it for: history buffs, those with science and microbiology and investigative interests
Right now, I'm thoroughly enjoying this read by NYT reporter Gina Kolata - it does seem odd that with the impact of the 1918 flu we haven't heard more about it or how it changed American life as we know it.
I had no idea Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider dealt with this topic, nor Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel, so I am going to now read these two books after this one with a different context and knowledge base - which I hope will give me a deeper appreciation for both.
...more
I had no idea Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider dealt with this topic, nor Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel, so I am going to now read these two books after this one with a different context and knowledge base - which I hope will give me a deeper appreciation for both.
...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone interested in the Spanish Flu, virology, or pandemics
I really enjoyed this book. The book covers a range of time from the beginning of the 1918-19 flu right up to still lingering questions about what made that particular flu strain so deadly and why it affected the young and healthy as much as the elderly and very young.
I really learned a lot about the Flu and about the fight to determine its origins and genetic composition. Some of the things in this book mirrored [Book:The Great Influenza:The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History],...more
I really learned a lot about the Flu and about the fight to determine its origins and genetic composition. Some of the things in this book mirrored [Book:The Great Influenza:The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History],...more
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Go on a scientific expedition you won't forget, from a research lab to an eskimo gravesite in Alaska in search of a mysterious deadly virus which preys on the healthiest segment of a human population causing a worldwide pandemic. I use this book to teach my advanced biology students about viruses, scientific method & ethics. This book was also the "common read" selection for washington state university 2007 fall semester.
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Viruses are incredible creations. The flu of 1918 wiped out more people than we can even begin to grasp. I am so impressed by the way viruses have shown they can adapt repeatedly to best suit their environments.
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Read in February, 2008
Inspired by the novel, "The Last Town on Earth," I decided to learn more about the 1918 flu epidemic which killed as many as 100 million people around the world. This book, while interesting, is not really about the 1918 pandemic. It's about the efforts to find out what actually caused the flu, so it follows researchers for 80 years. As of the conclusion of this book in 1998, scientists were still not quite sure what caused that incredibly deadly strain. The most interesting section is...more
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Read in December, 2005
recommends it for:
science-enthusiasts
Kolata writes for the Times, so her name might look familiar to you. You should know, this book is pretty technical in terms of explaining the science related to influenza. This book is an interesting complement to a social history of the flu for those interested in learning about the 1918 pandemic. Let it be known that this book reported that the 1918 flu was most likely an avian flu about 10 years before this knowledge was reported to the general public. At the time of this book, comput...more
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Read in March, 2008
A fascinating story about the quest to find and decode the 1918 influenza virus. It's a bit outdated now, thanks to advances in science, but still a good and informative read. I only had two complaints: I wished for footnotes, rather than the endnotes that weren't easy to reference without superscript numbers, and I wished Kolata's telling was more of a timeline rather than individual's stories. The first is rather minor, but the second would have made it easier to keep track of the narrative an...more
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A page-turning secret history of the flu pandemic of 1919, leads into some later chapters about flu today. For me, the meat of the book is in those early chapters. Very readable and sort of shocking and facinating. I had never even heard of the flu pandemic in school. Such a wierd and common educational lacunae. When I teach a class on the elegy, and we read the poems about loss around the time of WWI, bringing this book into the conversation changes things pretty dramatically.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
adults/wannabe scientists
This look at the 1918 flu pandemic and flu research that has occurred since then is an interesting mix of science and politics. The number of people who died is staggering, yet this event is scarcely mentioned in history books.
The book presents an interesting take on how government policy is made. The book is too long, and repeats itself in places, however, it provides a good background for thinking about what threats to our security get attention, and why.
The book presents an interesting take on how government policy is made. The book is too long, and repeats itself in places, however, it provides a good background for thinking about what threats to our security get attention, and why.
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
non-scientists, people who forget things easily
she is so damn repetitive and rambling i can't stand it! she also tries to hard to mention names of specific scientific methods, then doesn't explain them, which is aggravating (i would assume) for those who don't know what they are.
the story has so many dead endings, im sure she could have found some better stuff to write on, or else write a book about something else.
anyway, i didn't like it. but somehow i did finish it, so thats why it got two stars.
the story has so many dead endings, im sure she could have found some better stuff to write on, or else write a book about something else.
anyway, i didn't like it. but somehow i did finish it, so thats why it got two stars.
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2 comments
recommends it for:
Those in science, pharma or health care
I used to work for a company that tracked influenza, and the 1918 pandemic was a regular topic of lunchtime conversation. Read this as soon as it came out, and loved it, but could see where the uninvested reader might lose heart. Reviews both the epidemiology and some of the public-health reasons it was able to spread so fast.
It's going to happen again, so it's good information to have under your belt.
It's going to happen again, so it's good information to have under your belt.
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Read in November, 2008
recommended to Adarsh by:
Leo Laporterecommends it for: every medical student
I appreciate Gina Kolata's excellent story telling skills that helped turn what might otherwise have been a boring historical account of scientific discoveries in to a compelling page turner.
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Read in January, 2008
Gina Kolata is a very good writer. She takes you into the time of the flu pandemic, adds a great deal of scientific information while maintaining the accessibility of that information. The story of the attempts to find and culture the actual virus is fascinating and rich with detail.
The book clarifies the reason for concern about bird flu and its potential to become another pandemic.
The book clarifies the reason for concern about bird flu and its potential to become another pandemic.
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Read in May, 2008
The author does a wonderful job of translating scientific jargon into layman's terms. A fascinating look at the 1918 epidemic that wiped out around 40 million people in less than a year and afflicted more than one of every four Americans. This tragedy, just on the heels of World War I and far more deadly, so traumatized the survivors that few would talk about it afterward.
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Read in September, 2008
Very interesting. I knew absolutely nothing about the flu pandemic of 1918. This book delves into the pandemic that wiped out millions of people in a single year, including research done, incorporates chilling facts, and heartfelt stories. Also, theories of what started the flu, why it is not talked about, and likelihood that it will reoccur.
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Turns out my great grandmother traveled from Oklahoma to Kentucky to nurse one of my great uncles who was in an army base there during this epidemic.
My grandfather, 12th of 13 and the 13th died, was conscripted into WWI and at 18 years of age was 'on the gangplank' when Armistice was declared. Seems long ago, but no Papa Joyce, no me.
My grandfather, 12th of 13 and the 13th died, was conscripted into WWI and at 18 years of age was 'on the gangplank' when Armistice was declared. Seems long ago, but no Papa Joyce, no me.
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Read in February, 2008
Oh my goodness- a must read for anyone in the bio field. Kolata writes in such a narative style that it makes this non-fiction book read like fiction. I was shocked to read about the influenza of 1918- how did we not learn about this in school? Her book addresses a time in our history that really shouldn't be forgotten.
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Kolata weaves history, global politics and forensic epidemiology together into a gripping and informative narrative. Unlike many single-topic books, it does not secretly wish it were a New Yorker article. There is enough information and drama easily to sustain a reader for several hundred pages.
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Very interesting book! I thought it would be more about the actual events in 1918. Instead, it focused more on the search for the virus over the last 80 years. Even though the book discussed a lot of the medical/scientific aspects of the virus, it was still very readable and easy to understand.
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