Saturday, June 13, 2009

The Ghost Map - Steven Johnson



This was one of the best non-fiction reads I have had in a while. Pretty much this is a story about the cholera epidemic in London in 1854 and how some really intelligent (and very different) people discovered how cholera infected the public and how that discovery changed living in cities forever. It was a really interesting read and I never found it boring. I had read some really good reviews about this book and picked it up even though it is not something I would usually read.

I liked that the scientific aspects were intertwined with stories about the people who were affected by cholera. It made it enjoyable to read. I learned so much about epidemics and how epidemics can break out at anytime if we are not careful. It was interesting reading this book after the "swine flu" scare that has been going around recently. Steven Johnson talks about the "avian flu" and how that has affected people around the world. I see how everyone around the world has been worried about "swine flu".

Somewhere I read a review that said, "If you like a good story and infectious diseases then you are going to love this book!". I think that says it all.

Rating - 4

2 comments:

Bybee said...

I put this on my wishlist last year after reading the review in Time magazine.

myza said...

I think you would really like it!!