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The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by Steven Johnson

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36086.The_Ghost_Map_The_Story_of_London_s_Most_Terrifying_Epidemic_and_How_It_Changed_Science_Cities_and_the_Modern_World?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168694070m/36086.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36086.The_Ghost_Map_The_Story_of_London_s_Most_Terrifying_Epidemic_and_How_It_Changed_Science_Cities_and_the_Modern_World?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1563.Steven_Johnson">Steven Johnson</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3593451?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars If you can get past Johnson's rather nauseatingly detailed descriptions of choleric outbreak and his many accounts of the smells and cesspits of nineteenth century london, The Ghost Map ends up being a very interesting look at how local information and the painstaking research of a few visionaries changed dominant theories about disease and contagation.
 
 Johnson's main focus is the shift in the mid to late nineteenth century from the prejudicial understanding of disease spread through filth and miasma to a research oriented and scientifically grounded understanding of disease transmission. His main subject is the work of John Snow in the middle of the nineteenth century. Snow was a physician and a pioneering anethesiologist working in London during Cholera outbreaks that proved more devastating than the plague. Unsatisfied with the prevailing view that Cholera was transmitted through "miasma" (literally a cloud of filth) and was mainly a disease of the poor and the dregs of society, Snow used statistical research and local accounts to map the source of the disease to a contaminated water pump on London's Broad street. His findings, in spite of being well documented and soundly researched, went ignored for decades as outbreaks continued through the century. This was a period of time before v. Cholerae would have been readily visible with the available technologies. Snow relied on his understanding of the way Cholera attacked the body and his own on-the-ground research, tracing the footpaths of Cholera's victims to the broad street pump, to create a map of Cholera's spread, eventually convincing hard won authorities to close the pump down and take a look at the way Londonders handled their sewage and drinking water.
 
 Johnson's book is an account about how the use and transmission of information - from the lives of Cholera's victims to the creation of Snow's map - can change deep set and prevailing understandings. It's also an account of incredible shortsightedness and prejudice on the part of many otherwise highly intelligent men.
 
 Not exactly for the weak-stomached, but definitely enlightening.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/225094?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Max's review
rating:

bookshelves: science-maps-mathematics, to-read
recommended for: information theory buffs
status: Read in August, 2007

If you can get past Johnson's rather nauseatingly detailed descriptions of choleric outbreak and his many accounts of the smells and cesspits of nineteenth century london, The Ghost Map ends up being a very interesting look at how local information and the painstaking research of a few visionaries changed dominant theories about disease and contagation.

Johnson's main focus is the shift in the mid to late nineteenth century from the prejudicial understanding of disease spread through filth and miasma to a research oriented and scientifically grounded understanding of disease transmission. His main subject is the work of John Snow in the middle of the nineteenth century. Snow was a physician and a pioneering anethesiologist working in London during Cholera outbreaks that proved more devastating than the plague. Unsatisfied with the prevailing view that Cholera was transmitted through "miasma" (literally a cloud of filth) and was mainly a disease of the poor and the dregs...more If you can get past Johnson's rather nauseatingly detailed descriptions of choleric outbreak and his many accounts of the smells and cesspits of nineteenth century london, The Ghost Map ends up being a very interesting look at how local information and the painstaking research of a few visionaries changed dominant theories about disease and contagation.

Johnson's main focus is the shift in the mid to late nineteenth century from the prejudicial understanding of disease spread through filth and miasma to a research oriented and scientifically grounded understanding of disease transmission. His main subject is the work of John Snow in the middle of the nineteenth century. Snow was a physician and a pioneering anethesiologist working in London during Cholera outbreaks that proved more devastating than the plague. Unsatisfied with the prevailing view that Cholera was transmitted through "miasma" (literally a cloud of filth) and was mainly a disease of the poor and the dregs of society, Snow used statistical research and local accounts to map the source of the disease to a contaminated water pump on London's Broad street. His findings, in spite of being well documented and soundly researched, went ignored for decades as outbreaks continued through the century. This was a period of time before v. Cholerae would have been readily visible with the available technologies. Snow relied on his understanding of the way Cholera attacked the body and his own on-the-ground research, tracing the footpaths of Cholera's victims to the broad street pump, to create a map of Cholera's spread, eventually convincing hard won authorities to close the pump down and take a look at the way Londonders handled their sewage and drinking water.

Johnson's book is an account about how the use and transmission of information - from the lives of Cholera's victims to the creation of Snow's map - can change deep set and prevailing understandings. It's also an account of incredible shortsightedness and prejudice on the part of many otherwise highly intelligent men.

Not exactly for the weak-stomached, but definitely enlightening....less

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