Zac'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
How did you come across this book?
It was a christmas gift from my boss.
Zac'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
Zac's review
rating:
recommended for: polymaths, urban planners
The book as a whole is a quick, interesting read. It covers the discovery and acceptance of the theory that cholera is waterbourne and seeks to link that to infrastructure changes in London in the mid-19th century, specifically the development of a sewer system.
Johnson's problems are three-fold. Stylistically, he's repetitive. Whole paragraphs could have easily been condensed into single sentences and certain portions of the book paraphrase earlier sections. He also spends too much time telling you what he's writing about rather than just writing about it. And his thesis is either unclear or extremely tenuous. He seems to want to argue that the development of London's sewers was due to the waterbourne theory of cholera. But the case he makes is more one of coincidence than cause, particularly as he himself narrates how the sewer system was largely in place before most people came around to the waterbourne theory.
In sum, fascinating, but not quite what it claims to be...more
Johnson's problems are three-fold. Stylistically, he's repetitive. Whole paragraphs could have easily been condensed into single sentences and certain portions of the book paraphrase earlier sections. He also spends too much time telling you what he's writing about rather than just writing about it. And his thesis is either unclear or extremely tenuous. He seems to want to argue that the development of London's sewers was due to the waterbourne theory of cholera. But the case he makes is more one of coincidence than cause, particularly as he himself narrates how the sewer system was largely in place before most people came around to the waterbourne theory.
In sum, fascinating, but not quite what it claims to be...more
How did you come across this book?
It was a christmas gift from my boss.
