Viruses, Plagues, and History
Past, Present, and Future
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Viruses, Plagues, and History
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Narrated by:
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L.J. Ganser
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Written by:
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Michael B. A. Oldstone
About this listen
The story of viruses and humanity is a story of fear and ignorance, of grief and heartbreak, and of great bravery and sacrifice. Michael Oldstone tells all these stories as he illuminates the history of the devastating diseases that have tormented humanity, focusing mostly on the most famous viruses.
Oldstone begins with smallpox, polio, and measles. Nearly 300 million people were killed by smallpox in this century alone and the author presents a vivid account of the long campaign to eradicate this lethal killer. Oldstone then describes the fascinating viruses that have captured headlines in more recent years: Ebola, Hantavirus, mad cow disease (a frightening illness made worse by government mishandling and secrecy), and, of course, AIDS. And he tells us of the many scientists watching and waiting even now for the next great plague, monitoring influenza strains to see whether the deadly variant from 1918 - a viral strain that killed over 20 million people in 1918-1919 - will make a comeback. For this revised edition, Oldstone includes discussions of new viruses like SARS, bird flu, virally caused cancers, chronic wasting disease, and West Nile.
Viruses, Plagues, and History paints a sweeping portrait of humanity's long-standing conflict with our unseen viral enemies. Oldstone's book is a vivid history of a fascinating field, and a highly reliable dispatch from an eminent researcher on the front line of this ongoing campaign.
©2010 Michael B. A. Oldstone (P)2018 TantorWhat listeners say about Viruses, Plagues, and History
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Galadriel
- 2020-06-10
Masterpiece
Comprehensive history of the major classes of viruses that infect human beings. The historical narrative about each class of virus includes history of human infection (epidemic and pandemics), isolation, and treatment. I think the content is challenging for a person without a scientific background, but it is not impossible to read and follow. The book is excellent for the scientist and physician interested in better understanding viruses, both their stories, how they infect humans, and how we humans have learned to fight them.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Trailbender
- 2020-12-25
Infectious!
The included stories about the history of viruses left me thirsting for more information. I found myself listening to the book a second time, pausing the book often to research the stories further on the internet.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Theresa Parker
- 2024-07-12
Fascinating!
The introduction is a little tough to get through as a layman in epidemiology, but the entire rest of the book was so fascinating and very easy to understand.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Megan S
- 2020-11-24
Only about the USA
It's an alright book for a person who's more interested in US history and colonialism in the context of epidemics than in learning about the diseases themselves. The book discuses very little about the history of these viruses before they affected European colonists and specifically America. Even for very ancient diseases like smallpox or viruses that had virtually no direct impact on America like Ebola, the author only explains how they affected the US and does not mention at all how much they have devistated and influenced other countries and ancient civilizations. There's A LOT of history that is left out of this book.
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2 people found this helpful