A vivid account of the horror of epidemics and the breakthroughs that can bring them under control.
A history of the contest between contagion and medical research.
Schama, a professor of history and art history at Columbia, has won numerous awards for his many books and TV documentaries. At first glance, a book dealing with diseases would not seem to be a good match for the author, but his methods work well with the subject. Schama focuses on the 18th and 19th centuries, chronicling the smallpox outbreak in London, the cholera epidemic in Paris, and the bubonic plague that swept through India. Smallpox killed tens of thousands, and there seemed to be no answer to it. Eventually, however, it was discovered that deliberately infecting people with a diluted dose could give them immunity against the virus. This seemed counterintuitive, and the medical establishment was solidly opposed to it (a recurring theme of the book). Nonetheless, the concept gradually took hold and became a founding principle of immunology. Cholera, being bacterial in nature, required a different approach, and Schama examines the various theories put forward on the way to the solutions of better sanitation and water filtration. Bubonic plague had been around for centuries, but its reemergence in the late 19th century caught researchers by surprise. Schama notes that a key figure in fighting it in India was the “saintly scientist” Waldemar Haffkine, a gifted microbiologist who developed many of the testing protocols that would eventually underpin the field. He was also instrumental in organizing a large-scale vaccination effort, saving an untold number of lives. This is a broad canvas, but Schama, a diligent and experienced historian, keeps the narrative on track, and he has a good eye for illustrative anecdotes. It adds up to a strong story that, in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, speaks to us all.
A vivid account of the horror of epidemics and the breakthroughs that can bring them under control.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781328974839
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quirky wonder of a book.
A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.
Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.
A quirky wonder of a book.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A straightforward, carefully detailed presentation of how ``fruit comes from flowers,'' from winter's snow-covered buds through pollination and growth to ripening and harvest. Like the text, the illustrations are admirably clear and attractive, including the larger-than-life depiction of the parts of the flower at different stages. An excellent contribution to the solidly useful ``Let's-Read-and-Find-Out-Science'' series. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 4-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-06-020055-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
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