The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Feb 17, 2014 Donna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

I love a multi-disciplinary exploration of a topic. In this book Johnson focuses on the cholera epidemic in London and looks at it through the lens of biology, epidemiology, urban studies, geography, sociology, and theology. John Snow, a doctor, and Henry Whitehead, a curate, each investigate the cause of deaths in Broad Street in August/September 1854. The government's version of the cause -- miasma, if it smells it's poisonous -- keeps the Public Health officials from seeing the real cause -- ...more

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Sep 23, 2014 Elizabeth rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, adult, audio, e-book, nonfiction-adult, more-than-32-pages, overdrive, not-in-system-format

Poorly written, as the author felt the need to repeat each thought at least three times.

Foul odors do not cause illness. Illness is not caused by foul odors. People believed that foul odors caused illness, but they were wrong. Cholera results from drinking contaminated water. Drinking contaminated water causes cholera. Cholera is a water-borne pathogen. Cholera is not caused by foul odors. Foul odors do not cause cholera. Water contaminated with cholera, when ingested, causes cholera.

There, tha ...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Alison rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, z-md-elibrary-audio, z2014_reread

This is a book that I think I would have gotten more out of had I read it instead of listened to it. However, I think quite a bit of it is due to the fact that I listened to much of it while on a cross-country plane trip, and dozed off a few times. The author tells the story of a cholera epidemic in London, and talks about how the scientists and physicians of the time dealt with it, and ultimately figured out that it was the water from a particular public pump that was the problem. At the end th ...more

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Jun 20, 2015 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: she-blinded-me-with-science, chemistry

Very good narrative science account of the birth of modern infectious disease outbreak investigation during the London cholera outbreak in 1854 (that of the famous "John Snow removes the Broad Street Pump Handle" episode, which is partly apocryphal).

It needs the epilogue chopped out, though. Johnson tries to make the case for watchfulness in urban density with disease or disaster (particularly with the megacities of 20million or more) but he overreaches. ...more

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