This is a great book! This is a fascinating story and the book is very, very interesting and captivating. It not only tells the detaialed story of this incredible pandemic, it provides a great story about the history of mdeicine in the world and the U.S. I highly recommend it!

this is a great book, even if the tone borders on melodrama occasionally. but hey, if the death of 5% of the earth’s human population within 3 years isn’t dramatic, what is?

the first of ten sections is a brief history of the revolution in the scientific research & practice of western medicine that took place barely a hundred years ago. even if you only read this section of the book, it’s fascinating. the second section is a concise introduction to germs, bacteria, viruses, and the influenza virus in particular. the rest of the book tells the story of the epidemic and the scientists who sought to identify and fight the disease.

this book is entirely relevant today. reading it makes it much easier to interpret news reports about “bird flu”, and understand what things are cause for concern and what things are bunk. but most of all it’s just amazing history and a well-told science nonfiction story.