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Extremely interesting but if you don't go into this one with some knowledge of medicine or virology you'll either skip the 'big words' and lose the meaning or you'll be bored to tears pretty quickly.I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone who doesn't already have a background knowledge of the subject matter.I find it fascinating - a fast and interesting read...so far.Pages 137-139 should be required reading for every parent who has ever had a child troubled with a recurrent ear infection.Oh, and...
I'm teaching a microbiology class in January, and decided I wanted to read up on this field. It's been a while since I read Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague. I have the textbook for this class which I'm reading now, but I enjoy input like Drexler's because they usually have interesting facts to share with my students at the same time. Drexler wrote this book in 2002, shortly after the anthrax terroristic occurence that happened here in the U.S. Because this was written before they figured out
I only reccomend this to non OCD people who can resist the urge to scrub their hands till their skin comes off. This is an easy read with lucid language that will scare the crap out of you!
Fascinating. But I must admit to having just completed my microbiology coursework, with epidemiology on the brain...Warning: You will never want to eat at a buffet again, if you read this.
We live in tandem with bacteria and viruses (and other organisms) that both help us and make us deathly sick at times. Humans have evolved along with these organisms, but we understand so little about them. Scientists who research them are woefully underfunded even though every single one of us is affected. There are many folks who shortsightedly are angered when 1% of the countries budget is used to help immunization and infectious disease programs abroad. Other than a humanitarian thing to do,...
More epidemiology than microbiology; very interesting subject but not fond of the writing. The narrative wavered from textbook-like, general explanations to case studies to histories to policy. The author makes many open-ending statements without further elaboration, uses cliches in lieu of explanation, and favors pursuing sensationalism in her narrative to illustrating scientific concepts. Reads like an expanded news article with much scientific jargon, the meaning of which is often not expande...
I liked this book, especially the chapters on anti-microbial resistance and bio-terrorism, but it was published in 2002 much of the material is out of date. It would be great if Drexler could update her work and include more recent info.
Fascinating book about the scourge of various types of common maladies, including West Nile Virus, and what the latest research tell us about them. Author is a former science writer for The Boston Globe.
one thing is clear, you cannot hide or escape forever ......
It contains interesting information but written more scholarly and less flowing and stimulating .
Fabulous and scary accounts of emerging infectious diseases.This is one of my favorite topics, so if you have any recently published works to recommend, please shout!
This is well-written, but in a bio-thriller style with "clever" viruses lurking in the shadows waiting to attack humanity. This is disappointing because the book starts off with a great quote from Zinsser about how epidemics happen when you have big social disturbances like war. But then the author abandons this viewpoint for a narrow germs-only focus, which, as noted in the book, fails to explain stuff like why the 1918 flu pandemic was so severe.
Even though this book is over 20 years old, its message holds. Emerging infections can take us all out.In this book Drexler reviews the state-of-the-art science on food poisoning, superbugs, pandemics, and bioterror. At the time of this writing AIDS was still a huge threat worldwide. Treatments have since changed that trajectory for the better. Anthrax was on everyone's mind right after 9/11, and it still should be.Drexler ends with a concern about the lack of funding and interest in public heal...
Well worth reading. Though published in 2002, the issues are still current and, in fact, probably worse now. Most of the topics I already knew about, but I learned many more fascinating details.I am now eager to read her book "Emerging Epidemics" which was published in 2009 and should be a bit more up to date.
