If you like: Dorsey Armstrong, TGC: The Black Death (academic), Emily St John Mandel (dystopian)
If you’re in the mood for: nonfiction, current affairs, real life medical thriller
My reading format: Audiobook
Ok, so there are probably a few people who are sick of hearing about the pandemic and I don’t blame them, but unfortunately I’m still obsessed! I’ve listened to countless podcasts about it and have been searching for more content to learn more and more.
Sonia Shah, a journalist, does a great job talking about previous pandemics and I loved that she spoke like a regular person; this isn’t a boring scientific book. It’s also a relatively short book and it was published in 2015. So it’s long before the current pandemic, but after recent ones like SARS & Ebola. It’s a great place to start if you want to learn more about the pandemics of the past. Although, she talks a lot about cholera (that’s the main focus of the book), it’s not all about that pathogen. She delves into all sorts of political, social and economic reactions to pandemics while keeping you engaged and wanting to know more.
I’d be very interested to hear what the author thinks about the world’s reaction after we get through this eventually.
4/5 stars from me!
Some useful links:
-> NY Times article published Feb 24th, 2020- 7 essential books about pandemics – https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/bo…
-> Bookriots list of the best pandemic books – https://bookriot.com/best-pandemic-bo…
-> An interview with Sonia Shah in January 2020 when the coronavirus was just emerging – https://www.directrelief.org/2020/01/…
Comment below with whether or not you have read, not read, liked, disliked or any books you feel another reader might like that is similar to this book.
Happy Reading! 🙂
