Call number
614.5
Collection
Genres
Publication
Random House (1750)
Description
A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this virus. The book tells this dramatic story, giving an account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race.
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member bragan
This is the bestselling non-fiction account of the mysterious history of the Ebola virus and of an outbreak of what appeared to be an airborne variant among monkeys in a facility outside Washington DC, which scared the pants off pretty much everybody when it was first published back in the early
Well, I can report that it's still really freaking scary. It is, in fact, terrifying and horrific and deeply fascinating, and so gripping that I truly had difficulty putting it down to go to bed (and not just because I was mildly worried that it might give me nightmares). And now I don't think I'm ever going to be able to look at any of those plague-wipes-out-humanity post-apocalyptic science fiction stories the same way again. That scenario is way, way more plausible than I really want to think about.
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90s. Everybody but me, that is, because for some reason it took me this long to finally get around to reading the thing. Well, I can report that it's still really freaking scary. It is, in fact, terrifying and horrific and deeply fascinating, and so gripping that I truly had difficulty putting it down to go to bed (and not just because I was mildly worried that it might give me nightmares). And now I don't think I'm ever going to be able to look at any of those plague-wipes-out-humanity post-apocalyptic science fiction stories the same way again. That scenario is way, way more plausible than I really want to think about.
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LibraryThing member modioperandi
Richard Preston's The Hot Zone is the first book I remember reading out of my own choice as an adolescent. It read like fiction to me at the time and it was horrifying. What became increasingly scary was the fact that it was all true all of it was real and had already happened in the world. For a
This book hooked me on reading. It got me interested in what things could be true and made me very curious about the fictional worlds I knew from movies and tv but made me curious to read them in books. I have lots of love for this terrifying little book - it scared my pants off and opened me up to a whole universe of ideas and words.
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not-too-bright 11 year old The Hot Zone was bone a bone chilling page turner. The writing was accessible and easily understood and the parts that were complicated and went over my head were at least written in such a way that I just kept blowing through the thing to get to the next unbelievably scary fact. This book hooked me on reading. It got me interested in what things could be true and made me very curious about the fictional worlds I knew from movies and tv but made me curious to read them in books. I have lots of love for this terrifying little book - it scared my pants off and opened me up to a whole universe of ideas and words.
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LibraryThing member BrianDewey
Richard Preston. The Hot Zone. Anchor, New York, 1995. A little too much melodrama at times, but overall a well-told tale. I never knew how close I was to dying a horrible death! That's the most amazing thing... a major biocontainment episode in my back yard and I knew nothing about it.
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
WOW - Ebola and other killer viruses and the scientists who study them. Did you know there was an outbreak of Ebola virus among monkeys kept in a suburban Washington DC laboratory? Neither did I, until I read this book. Nonfiction that reads like the best medical thriller.
LibraryThing member kazzablanca
Richard Preston has taken a technically difficult subject and made it accessible to the masses.
LibraryThing member benjamin.duffy
The opening chapters of this book are utterly revolting. In a good way. Seriously. After about page 40, I set the book down and went and washed my hands nine times in a vat of boiling Purell. Afterwards, I returned to the book, only to find it settling into the groove of a pretty standard, maybe
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better than average, "true medical thriller." Still a good, creepy read, though. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
Non-fiction about emerging virus' from Africa and an out break at a primate facility in Reston, Virginia in 1989. Well written and preachy at the end but I was enlightened about an event that didn't make it onto the radar.
LibraryThing member heinous-eli
The best dramatization of true events that I have ever read, period.
LibraryThing member Sturgeon
Stephen King said it best: "The first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I've ever read in my whole life..."
LibraryThing member manyalibrarian
Riveting and terrifying book about the spread of fatal infectious diseases, such as ebola. Ebola kills 9 out of 10 victims and might be spread through the air. If it is, we could be looking at another world-wide epidemic.
LibraryThing member gretchenlg
The first non-fiction book I read that wasn't assigned by a professor. Scared the daylights out of me. The movie stunk.
LibraryThing member ddelmoni
Hands-down, THE most frightening non-fiction I've ever read. An absolute thilling, page-turner. I still have no clue where they got the story for that horrible movie based on this book!
LibraryThing member develynlibrary
Very intresting about viruses in cluding Ebola and the outbreak near Washington D.C.
Great book. Reads like a thriller.
Reads as fiction. Scary because it isn't fiction.
Very very good read. Totally awesome.
Nerve-wraking. Great read.
Scarier than most fiction, horror books because of detail and fact
Amazing. Easy read and very informative.
Fantastic! Easy to read because it seems like fiction- but it's NOT!
Great book. Reads like a thriller.
Reads as fiction. Scary because it isn't fiction.
Very very good read. Totally awesome.
Nerve-wraking. Great read.
Scarier than most fiction, horror books because of detail and fact
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that it all actually happened. Very exciting.Amazing. Easy read and very informative.
Fantastic! Easy to read because it seems like fiction- but it's NOT!
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LibraryThing member kraaivrouw
Excellent suspenseful book that will make you eye nondescript buildings in nondescript office parks very warily.
LibraryThing member Matsar
Terrifying, disgusting, unsettling...and completely fascinating. Not for the squeamish or those who are not interested in this type of subject. Written in a very entertaining style that reads like fiction without any dry, scientific information that would put the non-scientist to sleep.
LibraryThing member elkeursin
Wow, what an experience it was reading this piece of non-fiction. My field is in environmental health and this really is like the type of thing that epidemiologists prepare for yet hope never happens. It's frightening and real and a very good read.
LibraryThing member placo75
Pretty much a waste of time.
LibraryThing member MarkBeronte
A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic
appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.
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"hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of theappearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.
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LibraryThing member damcg63
Scared the heck out of me.
LibraryThing member Sandydog1
A terrific book right at the start, when Preston provides a graphic description of a guy "crashing" while on an airplane flight. It gets better from there, and is full of bureaucracy, bravery and biology.
LibraryThing member ehines
As seems to be the usual with these books, a bit on the alarmist side. BUT lots and lots of great stories of outbreaks, near outbreaks, scientific triumphs and scientific infighting from all over the world.
LibraryThing member seldombites
This was an interesting book. It was a little disconcerting jumping around between events, but the reasoning was clear and the flow relatively seamless. The descriptions of the virus were fascinating, though a little scary. I sure would not want to ba around if the human strain becomes airborne!
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This is a little dry at times but very interesting and well worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member stipe168
Totally interesting, very gripping, great writer, great language, held
me close all the way through..until it got to a point where it was more of a rescue operation rather than the virus. at that point it kinda died.
me close all the way through..until it got to a point where it was more of a rescue operation rather than the virus. at that point it kinda died.
LibraryThing member eenee
I'm not sure when exactly I read this..5th 6th grade? All I remember is loving it. For years afterward I wanted to work at the CDC. Liquefied organs, bleeding out your eyes; I read snippets out loud to friends. Needless to say, I was a morbid child. A thrilling and super grotesque portrait of a
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virus that is more terrifying than you can imagine. Show Less
LibraryThing member Shirezu
We're doomed. This book truly is scary. I had heard of Ebola many times but this really brought to home just how horrifying and deadly it really is. The day that virus mutates into an airborne pathogen is the day the human race faces extinction.
And if you thought descriptions of the Black Plague
We have close many times and it's getting more likely that we will soon face a serious pandemic. Let's just hope it's not something with a mortality rate like Ebola Zaire.
And if you thought descriptions of the Black Plague
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were bad you ain't seen nothing yet. Death by filovirus would have to be one of the worst ways to go. Your body literally liquifies while you are still alive. Blood pours from every orifice. Every organ fails and half of them pass out of your body before you're gone. You end up a mess of slime and bone.We have close many times and it's getting more likely that we will soon face a serious pandemic. Let's just hope it's not something with a mortality rate like Ebola Zaire.
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Awards
Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Nominee — 1998)
Garden State Teen Book Award (Winner — Nonfiction — 1998)
Evergreen Teen Book Award (Nominee — 1998)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1996)