Pale Ride by Laura Spinney

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read a few books about the 1918 flu this year, and this was an excellent overview ofthe history, science, and changing culture of the time. It was entertaining, well-written, and not overly dark considering the topic.

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The Rules of Contagion by Adam Kucharski

The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread--And Why They Stop by Adam Kucharski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like a lot of people said, this both about viruses spreading and about information/misinformation/disinformation spreading. It's sort of the perfect book for our time in that both of those things are a danger right now. But the organization was really poor and there were only a few new things covered.

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 “We received a new dataset each day. Because it took time for new cases to be reported, there were fewer recent cases in each of these datasets: if someone fell ill on a Monday, they generally wouldn’t show up in the data until Wednesday or Thursday. The epidemic was still going, but these delays made it look like it was almost over.” 

 “R = Duration × Opportunities × Transmission probability × Susceptibility” 

“Epidemiology is, in fact, a mathematical subject,’ he wrote in 1911, ‘and fewer absurd mistakes would be made regarding it (for example, those regarding malaria) if more attention were given to the mathematical study of it.’” 

 “Tackling harmful content will have a direct effect – preventing a person from seeing it – as well as an indirect effect, preventing them [from] spreading it to others. This means well-designed measures may prove disproportionately effective. A small drop in the reproduction number can lead to a big reduction in the size of an outbreak.”

The Great Influenza by John M. Barry

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book would have been great if it had had serious editing. The first 13 chapters are background on a number of scientists who fail to capture the imagination -- probably because he simply covers too many of them. In chapter 14, Barry finally starts to write about the pandemic, and by the time you're halfway through the book, the information is basically over. The rest is just a rehash of what you've read. However, the second quarter of the book was very interesting.

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The Vagina Bible by Jennifer Gunter

The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina—Separating the Myth from the Medicine by Jennifer Gunter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a reference book, not an interesting nonfiction book after the first third or so. It's a good reference book but I'm a little annoyed I read the whole thing.

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Very, Very, Very Dreadful by Albert Marrin

Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 by Albert Marrin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maybe 3.5? The main text about the 1918 flu pandemic left a lot to be desired. Notable though is how the political narratives about whether to protect lives or positively spin things for continued economic activity have been repeated in 2020. It's remarkable how very similar a lot of actions have been even as they've differed with more stay-at-home orders. Of the 1918 flu, Marrin wrote, "Throughout the pandemic, the nation lacked a uniform policy about gathering places, and there was no central authority with the power to make and enforce rules that everyone had to obey. Each community acted on its own, doing as its elected officials thought best." Um, yeah.

The last 20% of the book dealt with subsequent research regarding viruses and was really interesting, by which I mean completely terrifying.

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The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There was very little in here that was new to me as I regularly read science books but it was a very entertaining and therefore a quick read. I think it would be good for young adults (post sex-ed).

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More Deadly Than War by Kenneth C. Davis

More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War by Kenneth C. Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was good and remarkable in its parallels to our current situation. However, it left me with some questions about about the 1918 and didn’t seem all-encompassing is general. It had a very strong afterword and I strongly recommend that you do not skip that as it provides an important conclusion.

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Black Death at the Golden Gate by David K. Randall

Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David K. Randall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Startling how similar the reaction of the Governor of California was over 100 years ago to that of our President today. Just cover up the Bubonic Plague! Don't make a big deal of it and it will go away. Microbes don't care about positive thinking or panic or anything other than actual protective measures and treatment.

All the descriptions of this book say it's the story of Rupert Blue, but can we take a minute for Joseph James Kinyoun? He was the first hero. I have a lot of sympathy for him. It's terrible to live in a world where people won't listen to science and require being constantly charmed to accept reality. The bad guys create a fictional world and force us all to live in it.

Fun fact: You can still get Bubonic Plague from fleas, though early detection and treatment with antibiotics should cure you.

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Bitten by Kris Newby

Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons by Kris Newby
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

There’s a lot of interesting Lyme Disease information here but there’s also a lot of speculation and drama that makes it tough to mentally compartmentalize what I accept as fact or likely.

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The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett

The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is a lot of amazing information in this huge tome, and it took me three weeks to get through, but it was worth it. It could have used a firmer editing hand though. Both the chronology of infectious diseases and the diseases themselves were divided into chapters in ways I failed to understand. Additionally, given the large amount of extremely useful information provided by this book, it would have moved the book along to edit down every individual thought every patient and every doctor ever had, every description of every little leaf in the jungle the disease emerged. I could basically write an entire book review about any chapter, it's so overwhelming.

There was a lot of information about AIDS provided in the second half of the book.

Some of the themes of the book are sleuthing the origins of novel pathogen outbreaks, scientific hubris, and illness containment fails.

I recently watched an interview with Dr. Ian Crozier, an ebola survivor, and I was amazed at how much I understood that I'd only just learned from the information in this book.

I read this for some insight into the novel virus outbreaks like our cures coronavirus outbreak but I definitely gained a great deal more from reading this. And what a great ending!

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The Viral Storm by Nathan Wolfe

The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age by Nathan Wolfe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's a bit disorganized for me, and considering how interested (read: worried) I am in this topic, I found it a bit dull. However, the tidbits I learned here and there about pandemic viruses in general and specific viruses in particular, I think it was well worth my time to read. The book had some particularly interesting facts regarding the AIDS virus and the Nipah virus (from bats to pigs to people). The connection between pandemics and eating meat, in general, is interesting. I've read before about Toxoplasma Gondii, but it's so crazy, it never disappoints, and I was interested in the new hypothesis about cat hoarders potentially being infected- why is that so hard to find out for sure though? I've read before about helpful bacteria, particularly gut bacteria, but this is the first I've heard of potentially helpful viruses. Finally, I thought it was interesting that Nathan Wolfe's data collection dreams (for preventing pandemics) are precisely Edward Snowden's nightmares. There seem to be many sides to the data debate, not just two.

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When by Daniel H. Pink

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A short book about how timing affects both our personal decisions and business plans. There is definitely some repeat information that most people are aware of already, but the book is so short that it's worth reading to get a sense of the overall psychological impact of timing decisions correctly.

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How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick by Letty Cottin Pogrebin

How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick by Letty Cottin Pogrebin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These are important issues to consider and I'm really glad someone wrote this book. I would have appreciated better organization and more science about what actually makes people feel better.

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The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book was going to be one of those nonfiction self-help books stuffed with filler but it was not. The process of developing a solution, studying the results, and the aviation and medical examples were all fascinating.

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Follow Your Gut by Rob Knight and Brendan Buhler

Follow Your Gut: How the Ecosystem in Your Gut Determines Your Health, Mood, and More by Rob Knight and Brendan Buhler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great little book about bacteria. The stuff everyone should get in an owner's manual to your own body.

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Pandemic by Sonia Shah

Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by Sonia Shah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the more interesting science books I've read in a long time, and one of the most important. I strongly recommend it to everyone. I'm also going to try some of the books recommended below.

The author does spend too much time on cholera history in the middle of the book- interesting but not the only focus of the book so it feels belabored. Power through it, it's worth it.

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If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? by Alan Alda

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating by Alan Alda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good book about the importance of good communication and how to improve at communicating with others. I’m familiar with some of the research that Alda referenced from other books. Alda seems to over-emphasize his own ideas and under-emphasize more researched strategies such as reading literary fiction (though he does mention it). He spends too much time making fun of “shakras” and not enough time explaining the research on the effectiveness of meditation and a simple explanation of say, breathe meditation. Still, it is definitely useful to read, and the more people that read it the better.

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An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Everyone read this book!! It's about the medical and pharmaceutical industries, and it was written by a doctor. It's not a liberal or conservative book. It's the most educational and relevant book I've read all year.

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Wheat Belly by William Davis

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book starts out simply but becomes more medically complex as you read on. I almost gave up after the first few chapters because I felt that I got it, don't eat wheat. Later chapters filled in the numerous diseases and conditions that Davis believes are related to wheat consumption and discusses his evidence for that relationship. It's persuasive even if I'm not convinced by the science aspect of it- probably because there are still insufficient studies on many of the connections he cites.

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Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In many ways this book is more interesting than The Black Swan, and I agree with a lot of what Taleb writes about in the book. I especially enjoyed and agreed with his thoughts on diet. (Really!) But there are also more things in this book that can be picked apart, either because he is wrong or flippantly unclear about them. Maybe that just makes the book more interesting to discuss in a book club or seminar.

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