Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
Ratings30
Average rating4.4
Interesting for the science part, but too long. Too many stories about how the author visited each scientist, which might work well in a newspaper article but get tedious in a 500-page book.
An enlightening look at the grim realities of viruses which surround out daily lives.
I don't know if there is a more prescient book for this particular moment in time. This is not a shock doctrine book. It's a thoroughly researched, extremely readable look at zoonotic (transmissible from animal to human) diseases. AIDS and Lyme are covered as well as Influenza, SARS, and of course, Coronavirus. This book was written in 2012.
It was chilling to read passages about Chinese wet markets where black market pangolin meat was sold. The markets were outlawed in the wake of SARS but reappeared soon after and the implication and understanding was there (even in 2012) that it was not a matter of if but when another zoonotic virus would jump from creature to human being.
The chapters on the historical study of AIDS were fascinating. Not in the same vein as “And the Band Played On” but more of an archaeological reconstruction of the strains of HIV themselves.
There are also some viruses I'd never heard of with really remarkable chapters. The passages on the Nipah virus were crazy. Same for Hendra.
I'd recommend this if you want context on the why of the Covid-19 pandemic or if you are interested in epidemiology in general.
I would not recommend this if you are a friend of bats. I never want to get near a bat again.
Excellent books for folks interested in viruses, pandemics, or anyone looking to push themselves into reading more nonfiction about science. Highly readable (even through the science-y parts!) and an enjoyable look into how animal viruses cause illness and disease in humans. Not as much of a downer as you might think! Towards the end, though, reading about the Next Big One had a bit of a sense of doom, but ends on a note that we can trust scientists are on the case. Great read!