The Hot Zone question

. I read The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus because there was an Ebola outbreak at the time. The film, "Mission Impossible II" was just released, and I have been interested in all sorts of WMD's for some time. The real eye opener for me, though, was The Dead Hand by David Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman looks at all sorts of WMD's and their legacy from WWI through today,with a focus on the Russian "Dead Hand" doomsday device, basically an insurance policy to deter first strikes against Russia. Very similar to the doomsday scenario popularized in Stanley Kubrick's movie "Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned How to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb!" The Dead Hand ,however, was not a comical fiction. It was real and would have rendered all life on earth either extinct or very nearly so. Definitely sobering and revealing about security on many "old school" WMD stockpiles are shams at best, widely swinging open doors at worst. Not at all a book for the faint of heart!

How did I end up reading it? Curled up in the fetal position while sucking my thumb.

It was a reading assignment for my virology course in college. Another assignment was to watch the movie Outbreak and pick out as many inaccuracies as possible. It was pretty fun comparing the two!

I actually saw it while walking through the discount section in BN look like someone put it down in the wrong section. I read the first chapter and the gory stuff made me want to keep reading. and the of course the reality that something like this could happen. and probably has unknown to us.

I read it way before it was a movie. It was definitely a page turner.

It was on our shelf of books at home when I was in middle school. Right away I was completely interested and terrified.

I read this book when it first came out. I was on a non-fiction, scientific reading kick and also happened to be fascinated with viruses, so...great fit.

I read it my senior year of high school. It was assigned reading for a science and ethics class. It got me hooked on virology. 15 years later, it's still one of my favorites.

Read it because I was in human public health at the time. Later, when I was doing bioterrorism work, I found pathogens that were much more interesting.

years back i heard ridley scott was going to film it so i sought it out to read. was a great book but unfortunately the movie never came as Outbreak beat it to the post. Outbreak was good, but The Hot Zone would have been a lot better

I read it a few days ago on the recommendation of a friend and since I live outside Dallas, Texas and the 1st USA contracted Ebola cases. Even though it's a terrible and unforgiving virus, it is not an absolute death sentence if people are smart and abide by the "rules" set in place for isolation. Scary, but not overwhelming!

Goriest and scariest book ever. Read the first few pages in Barnes and Noble and had to buy it. Harrowing.

Good book... but i terrified about Ebola virus.Seems the virus haunted us and could show up anytime...

During the late nineties I lived in Nashville and wanted a book to listen to during the drive to Pensacola and back. This book fit the bill perfectly. Filled with suspense and mystery, it made our trip down and back entertaining. One of the best non-fiction books I've ever read.

One of my friends was so enthused about the book and recommended it to me.

I read it because it was in the small library at the American Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. There wasn't much else to read, although I did enjoy it.

I knew about Richard Preston from Michael Crichton's very last novel, Micro. Preston co-authored the book, and before I decided to read Micro, I thought of checking out some of Preston's work. The first Richard Preston book I read was The Cobra Event, which then led me to The Hot Zone.

I read it because it was required for my high school biology class. I could not put it down. It was definitely a scary read.

I read this book because I watched Outbreak when I was a kid and got completely hooked on virus study for years. This was the first book that I read of my virus genre, and I actually had to re-buy it, because I read it so much that I broke the binding in half. For a long time, all I wanted to be was a virologist, and I think the only reason why I didn't was that I live in Canada, and didn't want to move to the States for school or a job in the field.

I was given a copy by my brother-in-law. I had read a lot of books by this point but this was the first book i really couldn't put down. I had to know what was coming next. There haven't been to many like it since. I intend to re-read it, as soon as i find another copy.

I saw it at the bookstore and picked it up because I liked the cover. Pretty much how I buy most books =)~

Oh yeah I also picked up The Cobra Event a couple months later which I have yet to read.

This book was given to me by a friend to read and it's scary especially since it is a true story...... but so awesome.

I read it during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and the amount of fear and utter stupidity that was going on surrounding it, complete with a lot of misinformation. One rumor I heard locally (from someone who is clearly not an expert in virology), was that it was the "Reston" strain, and therefore "not dangerous" - which is why they had people with Ebola "quarantined" in their apartment without isolation from other units. I read it to get some real information about how Ebola was found, transmitted, and its strain varieties.

I was reading another book, in which the virus was used as a terrorist threat. In the book it spoke about Ebola Mayinga and I got curious.

I got this as a freebie download for my Kindle, but I was already familiar w/the author.

I saw it at the bookstore and find it interesting and fascinating.

I first read The Hot Zone around when it was first published. Mostly because of the buzz around it. Although I've heard criticisms that the book is sensationalized, I think in retrospect it was pretty accurate about the dangers of Ebola transmission. And it was really well written in explaining bio-safety levels and the whole process of trying to figure out these nasty pathogens.

Came across it at Barnes and Noble in January 2014. It looked interesting so I bought it.

The ebola virus has always fascinated and horrified me. Growing up in the Washington, DC metro area, and actually living about 10 miles from the site in Reston at the time of the incident, this became a MUST READ for me. As the book notes, we were completely unaware of the incident when it took place. I have this on my Audible account and I have listened to it countless times - it always captivates me. In the 1990s I worked at a building that is just 1/4 mile down the road from the daycare that was built on the site. I recommend this book highly.

I friend of mine had to read it for school, and my sister decided to read it for fun after hearing about it. I read it on her recommendation. I enjoyed it a lot, and it actually resulted in my considering a career in virology!

I read it to give me some back ground on the Ebola virus. One of my duties is to serve as an Ebola team member for a public agency (not as exciting as it sounds) and I needed to gain some incites to the epidemic. Great book, but a bit dated.

I'm simply a curious person, I was taking my first college biology course and a did a web search based on one of the lectures, I ran across this author. It was also just after someone in the Pentagon had been infected with Anthrax. I actually read both The Hot Zone and Demon in the Freezer, one after the other, based on publish date. I liked Demon in the Freezer more just based on the horror and fear factor, though I enjoyed both.

Interested in virology. Read it years ago. Also read Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Epidemic in 1918, or whatever the subtitle was. Also interesting.

I read this book about a year after it came out because I was interested in it as a good read, not a lot more. It was a damned good read.

I re-read it last year because of Ebola. It hadn't even reached America's shores yet. I don't think I need to read it again, though.

I read this book years ago, not sure when exactly. Nor am I sure why, I think i just picked it up in a used bookstore because it looked interesting.

I reread it this year due to the Ebola outbreak.

Bargain bin in San Francisco....

Back in 2000, at the library, THE HOT ZONE was one of the books that caught my eye.

By choice. I think I stumbled upon it here on goodreads. I read the synopsis/description and thought it sounded very interesting. I put the book on my Christmas wishlist, got it as a gift from my sister and read it in January of 2012. I'm glad I read it!

Our daughter was assigned the book before reporting to school. When she finished it, I read it. Since, I have traveled in some countries where one can contract some of these great diseases. It made me more careful and fearful. For further distress, watch the movie 'Contagion'.

It was a requirement for my high school science class. I absolutely loved it, ate the whole thing up long before the class was even half way, and still go back and reread it every once in a while.

I had really liked The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett, so after discussing that book with my 9th grade biology teacher she recommended The Hot Zone. I really enjoyed his book and ended up reading several other books by him, including The Cobra Event (which I read in two days while on vacation in NYC....let's just say I got very little sleep). Everything that I have read by Richard Preston has been fantastic!

Read it for work. It was fascinating. If you liked this, I recommend The Great Mortality.

I read this after reading the non-fiction book EBOLA. I liked both but actually like EBOLA more. Was going through a strange childhood fad loving diseases and wanting to work for the CDC someday.

I had to read it for an anthropology class.

technically, this doesn't answer yr question since i never read it, but have you heard about SPILLOVER; Animal Infections, etc.,(?)

Great read. I find that non-fiction can be very enjoyable to read, especially well-written (even academic) histories.

I've always been interested in viruses and Ebola being one of the most deadly I thought reading more about and similer virses would be interesting.

I'm a veterinarian by profession, and my virology/immunology professor actually encouraged us to read this book. Fortunately for me, my classmates weren't interested to read the book, so I grabbed that opportunity and read the book in our college library.

I just happened across a second hand copy on tape, and we listen to a lot of books during the summer.