Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues
Jonathan Kennedy
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues
Jonathan Kennedy
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
[A] gripping premise.
Three years after the outbreak of a devastating infectious disease with a staggering death toll, spending time with a book that vividly details the microbial richness of human history might not rank high on most people’s must-do lists. But those with enough of an epidemiological appetite to pick up Kennedy’s new book will be gratifyingly—if not necessarily cheerfully—rewarded with the knowledge that their read was at least well timed.
His quick history of the world from the Paleolithic to the present day offers a different lens to view many of the big events of the past. Some of Kennedy’s conclusions are mere speculation.
Fascinating.
Pathogenesis is superbly written. Kennedy seamlessly weaves together scientific and historical research.
Pathogenesis suggests that the course of history has less to do with our own volition and more to do with the ways in which different diseases fared in different climates.
Kennedy explains the complex interplay of humans, germs and animals, and the consequences of those interactions.
Kennedy’s book is in some ways redundant, but it is well grounded scientifically and draws on recent literature.
A virtuoso analysis of the fallout from encounters between deadly viral and bacterial pathogens and human populations that lacked immunity.