Fascinating book! Loved it! Great insight and information mixed with some humor made this a great read. I am extremely curious to know her thoughts about everything going on with COVID. ( )

This nonfiction account of the worst plagues in history is shockingly funny. Wright shares the facts, but with a dark sense of humor that I loved. She is honest about her bias against certain leaders and doctors who made horrific choices. Who knew that reading about plagues could be so incredibly entertaining?

“Pretending any historical age before proper indoor plumbing was a glorious epoch is a ludicrous delusion.”

“Feel free to start using Walter Jackson Freeman II as an insult directed toward people you hate. Almost no one will get the reference, but if I am in the room we’ll high-five and it will be awesome.”

“Knowing about pop culture doesn’t make you dumb; it makes you a person who is interested in the world you live in. Besides, it is impossible to believe that everyone in the past was a serious figure meriting great respect once you learn that one guy thought
tubercular patients should take up new careers as alligator hunters.” ( )

Enjoyed this a lot. If you want an in depth history of any of f these diseases, other books would better serve you, but if you'd like a quick and breezy introduction to the subject, this is a good one. Move on from this to microbe hunters or coming plague for other general books that go into greater depth ( )

This book looks at various “plagues” (or diseases) over the years and how they were overcome. There are chapters on smallpox, the Spanish flu, polio, leprosy, syphilis, typhoid, and more. Not only does she talk about the diseases and how they affected people, but she included specific people stories for some of them, as well (“Typhoid Mary”, Father Damien at Moloka’i...)

This was published pre-COVID. I listened to the audio and although my mind did wander at times, I thought it was very good. She does pepper the book with humour. It was interesting to read about vaccines, etc, especially with COVID fresh in my mind. She does end on a positive/hopeful note, but it does make me curious about how she feels about how people have reacted to the COVID vaccine, particularly anti-vaxxers (she does talk a bit about vaccines and anti-vaxxers in her chapter on polio). ( )

Enjoyed this, even with the rather disturbing subject matter. However this may not be everyone's cup of tea. It is well presented, without being terribly graphic. She doesn't stint with being factual or presenting her own opinion** after presenting the subject in certain areas (polio is one example) but she doesn't do that through the whole book.

In one chapter she points out how the Spanish overcame the South American Empires, and does so succinctly and with little sympathy for the Spanish of the era. Good for her.. they were myopic and brutal. and that's being nice. (fyi.. they conquered because they brought illness, mainly smallpox in this instance, which more than decimated the peoples of the Americas as they had not encountered these diseases, and had no immunity to them. Terrible devastation. )

This was written and published in 2017, so pre-pandemic (as in COVID). She speculates (hopefully) about a future pandemic, and it is - in retrospect - humorous in spots, even if she didn't write those bits to be funny. This has a lot of rewarding stories and information about people who fought and overcame certain diseases, it's not all dark!

This is the second book I've read from this author, both have been enjoyed, and surprisingly as I just noticed this was her second publication. So I guess I'm reading them in order lol.

** I don't totally disagree with her, but if you are heavily (or lightly?) anti-vaxx you are forewarned when reading the end of the polio and measles chapters (and possibly some other of the later chapters). Also don't go all weird about your opinions on vaccination pro or con here, I'm giving people a heads up, not inviting a war. ( )