Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Virago Press (1995), Unknown Binding
Description
Unpurified drinking water, improper use of antibiotics, local warfare, massive refugee migration have contributed to changing social and environmental conditions around the world. These have fostered the spread of new and potentially devastating viruses and diseases : HIV, Lassa, Ebola, and others. The author takes the reader on a fifty year journey through the world's battles with microbes and examines the worldwide conditions that have culminated in recurrent outbreaks of newly discovered diseases, epidemics of diseases migrating to new areas, and mutated old diseases that are no longer curable.
Media reviews
It might seem churlish to complain about a book's thoroughness (especially a 750-page tome that was composed in longhand because the author, as she tells us in her acknowledgments, suffers from an occupational injury that prevents the use of a keyboard). Still, "The Coming Plague" covers an awful
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lot of ground, way too much for the casual reader. The obsession with detail -- dozens of bugs, hundreds of scientists and, by my count, 1,348 footnotes -- is as huge as Ms. Garrett's energy and enterprise. Her journalistic instincts are excellent. She cites the key articles, talks to the right researchers, focuses on the crucial scientific issues. Unfortunately, the book's flaws are huge, too. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member jtlauderdale
Wondering about all the doomsday scenarios portrayed in the news? Laurie Garrett was among the first to elucidate what is now considered general accepted fact. If you have ever wondered if it's really so bad to alter our environment in ways that cannot be undone, you may want to spend an evening
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with this book. In measured and reasonable terms, Ms. Garrett explains why it is a bad idea to mess with Mother Nature. Show Less
LibraryThing member lovesbooksandcats
This is one of the best books that I have read about emerging diseases. Great read.
LibraryThing member BruceCoulson
Details the current state of affairs in mankind's endless war against disease. Notable not only for the heroes (the 'disease cowboys' who go out and get the necessary details when a strange new disease appears) but the numerous failures of health organizations in reacting to potential threats.
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Definitely explains the difference between doctors (who are front-line soldiers in this war) and health professionals (who are the strategists and logistics people). A frighteningly informative read. Show Less
LibraryThing member ffortsa
I've been working on this doorstopper for the better part of a year, I think. But totally worth the ride.
In successive chapters, Garrett describes in sometimes novelistic detail the various fights humans and microbes have been fighting, mainly in the second half of the 20th century. Starting with
But more than just report on this destruction, she tracks origins, causes, how our own hand works against our own survival. As we travel more, destroy more, warm our planet more, build antibiotic resistance more, mix genetic material more either deliberately or accidentally, the microscopic enemies of our lives get smarter, stronger, almost more knowing, and get under our defenses again and again.
I love reading about medicine, but after the heroic tales petered out and the science of mutations became the story, this book made me extremely uneasy. Talk of vectors and reservoirs doesn't disguise the fact that the world is getting ever more dangerous as we change it.
The 'trade paperback' clocks in at 622 pages before the index and the 100 pages of footnotes and references. Fascinating, scary, and now 20 years old - and still happening.
In successive chapters, Garrett describes in sometimes novelistic detail the various fights humans and microbes have been fighting, mainly in the second half of the 20th century. Starting with
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an outbreak of hemorragic fever in Bolivia in 1962, tracking our struggles through Marburg virus, yellow fever, meningitis, Legionaire's disease, Lassa fever and then Ebola - in 1976! - (and that only gets us to page 100), she meticulously details the personalities, difficulties, and outcomes of wave after wave of new or newly virulent disease in our time. Inevitably, the story gets out of Africa and South America and the Third world in general, and leads back to North America, hanta virus and AIDS.But more than just report on this destruction, she tracks origins, causes, how our own hand works against our own survival. As we travel more, destroy more, warm our planet more, build antibiotic resistance more, mix genetic material more either deliberately or accidentally, the microscopic enemies of our lives get smarter, stronger, almost more knowing, and get under our defenses again and again.
I love reading about medicine, but after the heroic tales petered out and the science of mutations became the story, this book made me extremely uneasy. Talk of vectors and reservoirs doesn't disguise the fact that the world is getting ever more dangerous as we change it.
The 'trade paperback' clocks in at 622 pages before the index and the 100 pages of footnotes and references. Fascinating, scary, and now 20 years old - and still happening.
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LibraryThing member jcvogan1
An excellent introduction to how infectious diseases are emerging as human behaviors and society change.
LibraryThing member BrianDewey
Garrett, Laurie. The Coming Plague. Penguin Books, New York, 1994. Great book, broad scope. However, in the second half of the book, I felt like I was hit with a sledgehammer of statistics. If Laurie learned how to use a few graphs, she could have cut the length of this book by half and made it
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much more readable. Citing a string of statistics is a way to sound convincing without really being convincing, and ironically enough I found myself more sceptical of her position because of all of the number she was able to throw at me. In spite of my complaint, her knowledge of the subject is immense, the stories of ``disease cowboys'' fascinating, and I think she does make a useful political point. Show Less
LibraryThing member lashru
A compelling, phenomenal book that explains the history and evolution of infectious diseases and mankind's attempts to adapt and defeat them. Garrett explains disease mechanisms in a frightening yet lucid way, in layman's language. The ordinary reader - one with no background in epidemiology -
It will terrify you, if you have a lick of sense ... and it will make you want to start taking action, start writing your politicians, start asking your doctor questions. You may not fear contracting Mad Cow disease from your food, but you certainly will want to ensure all your vaccinations are up-to-date.
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walks away understanding how viruses and bacteria spread, how the immune system fights them, how various drug therapies work, and how viruses and bacteria evolve to beat both immune systems and drug treatments. Garrett explains the urgency of a truly world-wide public health policy, and backs every single statement up with the clearest distillation of facts and research.It will terrify you, if you have a lick of sense ... and it will make you want to start taking action, start writing your politicians, start asking your doctor questions. You may not fear contracting Mad Cow disease from your food, but you certainly will want to ensure all your vaccinations are up-to-date.
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LibraryThing member ladycato
This is one of those books that is daunting and fascinating all at once. THE COMING PLAGUE contains over 600 pages of fine-print material about the major diseases that emerged in the 20th century, how they were investigated, and what worked to resolve the issue (if anything). The level of detail
The sections that intrigued me the most were machupo (which I hadn't even heard of before), ebola, and hantavirus. The book also contains several hundreds pages on HIV/AIDS and the "Thirdworldization" issues of the 1980s and early '90s. It was interesting to see this book, published in 1994, cite how dangerous it was for cows and other farm animals to be given excessive hormones and antibiotic treatments, and lo and behold in the past few years those issues are finally being addressed. The slowness of medical responses is what really appalled me. In many ways, the United States was more ready in the 1950s due to Cold War vigilance and the use of "cowboy" epidemiologists who were willing to muck through the jungles in Africa or Central America to search for scat. As THE COMING PLAGUE points out in the end, the World Health Organization didn't recognize the threat of AIDS until it had already spread to four continents. That's just plain scary.
It all made for a fascinating read, but I am quite thankful to be done with this book!
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Garrett employed is quite exhausting; the notes section is about 100 pages, and the books totals 750-pages in all. I read this for novel research, and it took me a month to do it as I read other books at the same time. Yes, I skimmed, but it was a slow skim as I jotted notes on sticky tabs throughout.The sections that intrigued me the most were machupo (which I hadn't even heard of before), ebola, and hantavirus. The book also contains several hundreds pages on HIV/AIDS and the "Thirdworldization" issues of the 1980s and early '90s. It was interesting to see this book, published in 1994, cite how dangerous it was for cows and other farm animals to be given excessive hormones and antibiotic treatments, and lo and behold in the past few years those issues are finally being addressed. The slowness of medical responses is what really appalled me. In many ways, the United States was more ready in the 1950s due to Cold War vigilance and the use of "cowboy" epidemiologists who were willing to muck through the jungles in Africa or Central America to search for scat. As THE COMING PLAGUE points out in the end, the World Health Organization didn't recognize the threat of AIDS until it had already spread to four continents. That's just plain scary.
It all made for a fascinating read, but I am quite thankful to be done with this book!
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LibraryThing member oldman
Discusses the onset of emerging diseases in teh global stage today.
LibraryThing member kutsuwamushi
Despite the scaremongering title, this is an interesting and level take on emerging epidemics, primarily focused on past epidemics and their history/epidemiology.
LibraryThing member widdersyns
It took me seven months but I finally finished this book.
I read it off and on, so the speed at which I finished it is not indicative of any particular difficulty or even density. But the reason I read it off and on is because it's pretty boring. A lot of the time it felt like it was trying to do
I read it off and on, so the speed at which I finished it is not indicative of any particular difficulty or even density. But the reason I read it off and on is because it's pretty boring. A lot of the time it felt like it was trying to do
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narrative nonfiction, which is a very difficult style/genre to do well. It did not succeed at all in that, but is don't feel that the subject matter was well suited for that style to begin with. I would rather have read the facts of the diseases, with the narratives of their histories told in a simplistic style rather than peppered with unrealistic dialogue and details clearly added for flavor. It didn't need flavor. There were long, meandering portions that seemed to contain no factual information when the author should have focused on delivering the information efficiently. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dreesie
I finished! Started in April, finished in December.
This book is from 1993 so there is no SARS, MERS, or Covid-19. But this is a great overview of historic emerging diseases (Machupo, Ebola, Toxic SHock Syndrome, new flus, Hantavirus, and many more) and the scientific and cooperative work that has
This took me so long to read because I got bogged down a few times. The chapter on the 1976 flu was slow because nothing happens--which is the point. What happens to public health trust and funding if the scientists models are incorrect?
Several of the later chapters are science-heavy (though my microbiologist friend disagrees LOL), as they discuss how viruses mutate. There are also a lot of numbers--costs, risks and percentages, absolute numbers, rates per place or population, etc.
All in all, this is an excellent book. A little hard to understand in places, and obviously not up-to-date. I would love to see an updated edition or part 2.
This book is from 1993 so there is no SARS, MERS, or Covid-19. But this is a great overview of historic emerging diseases (Machupo, Ebola, Toxic SHock Syndrome, new flus, Hantavirus, and many more) and the scientific and cooperative work that has
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gone into learning about vectors, contagion, treatments, and so on. She discusses the political problems of getting funding and recognition for AIDS around the world. Near the end Garrett does begin to address the ranpant budget-cutting that had started in the US, and what it might mean for the future.This took me so long to read because I got bogged down a few times. The chapter on the 1976 flu was slow because nothing happens--which is the point. What happens to public health trust and funding if the scientists models are incorrect?
Several of the later chapters are science-heavy (though my microbiologist friend disagrees LOL), as they discuss how viruses mutate. There are also a lot of numbers--costs, risks and percentages, absolute numbers, rates per place or population, etc.
All in all, this is an excellent book. A little hard to understand in places, and obviously not up-to-date. I would love to see an updated edition or part 2.
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LibraryThing member rynk
The plague came, and will come again. The story repeats over 50 years of fighting urban and rural epidemic: A small band of field researchers are left to improvise missions of mercy against the next mysterious contagion and its potential global spread. If anything got us through the coronavirus it
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was that many of the same people that fought AIDS, Ebola and other scourges hung on after their bosses moved on. This history of midcentury microbial threads predates SARS as well as COVID yet foreshadows them repeatedly and depressingly. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Wissensbuch des Jahres (1996)
Original publication date
1994
ISBN
1860492118 / 9781860492112