Belarius's review
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by Steven Johnson
Belarius's review
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
Belarius's review
rating:
bookshelves:
nonfiction-finished,
reviewed
recommended for: All People With Immune Systems
The Ghost Map is among the most engaging pieces of nonfiction I've ever read: a real-life detective story in Victorian London with frighteningly high stakes. During the infancy of modern science, a brilliant doctor and a down-to-earth pastor would join forces and uncover the source of one of the 19th centuries most acute outbreaks of cholera. In doing so, they would effectively create the modern discipline of epidemiology and pioneer modern germ theory.
Author Steven Johnson approaches the task of selling this engaging narrative in much the same way Richard Preston did in The Hot Zone a dozen years earlier: introduce us to a few key figures (including, in this case, the character of Cholera) and present the context necessary to understand their brilliance and flaws. Then, draw lines between protagonists and antagonists and let the story unfold piece by piece, like a good thriller.
Johnson focuses keenly on the conflicts of the story (man vs. germ, poor vs. rich, tradition vs. ...more
Author Steven Johnson approaches the task of selling this engaging narrative in much the same way Richard Preston did in The Hot Zone a dozen years earlier: introduce us to a few key figures (including, in this case, the character of Cholera) and present the context necessary to understand their brilliance and flaws. Then, draw lines between protagonists and antagonists and let the story unfold piece by piece, like a good thriller.
Johnson focuses keenly on the conflicts of the story (man vs. germ, poor vs. rich, tradition vs. ...more
