Viruses, Plagues, and History

Past, Present, and Future

By: Michael B. A. Oldstone

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

The story of viruses and humanity is a story of fear and ignorance, of grief and heartbreak, and of great bravery and sacrifice. Michael Oldstone tells all these stories as he illuminates the history of the devastating diseases that have tormented humanity, focusing mostly on the most famous viruses.

Oldstone begins with smallpox, polio, and measles. Nearly 300 million people were killed by smallpox in this century alone and the author presents a vivid account of the long campaign to eradicate this lethal killer. Oldstone then describes the fascinating viruses that have captured headlines in more recent years: Ebola, Hantavirus, mad cow disease (a frightening illness made worse by government mishandling and secrecy), and, of course, AIDS. And he tells us of the many scientists watching and waiting even now for the next great plague, monitoring influenza strains to see whether the deadly variant from 1918 - a viral strain that killed over 20 million people in 1918-1919 - will make a comeback. For this revised edition, Oldstone includes discussions of new viruses like SARS, bird flu, virally caused cancers, chronic wasting disease, and West Nile.

Viruses, Plagues, and History paints a sweeping portrait of humanity's long-standing conflict with our unseen viral enemies. Oldstone's book is a vivid history of a fascinating field, and a highly reliable dispatch from an eminent researcher on the front line of this ongoing campaign.

©2010 Michael B. A. Oldstone (P)2018 Tantor

Great read even if you're not a scientist.

Great narration. I feared this book would be to complicated for a lay person. I skipped through a couple of chapters at the beginning that were heavy on virology. I was more interested in the impact of viruses on people and how viruses were conquered --or not. This book did that wonderfully. Also it was very informative on the people who studied diseases and who have worked to relieve human suffering. We do need science.

Informative

I read this book in weeks 8-10 of my COVID-19 Stay-at-Home order. I wish I'd have read it even sooner. The information in this book helped me to better understand and rationalize the history of virology and our response to viruses throughout history. A great book for this period of time.

Must Read on Virology and Public Health

This is a great book that brings a slightly different perspective on virology and infectious diseases. I can see how some readers, albeit erroneously, may believe that the author has American ethnocentrism but it is incorrect to say the very least. US authorities are cited as being as big a part of the problem of emerging diseases as any other country. The book spends an adequate amount of time discussing virology and immunology, but spends the most important, and different than other books on the topic, time discussing implications on religion, politics and financial interests as playing a major role is infectious disease. I found the most interesting part of the book is discussing American outbreaks of diseases such as yellow fever that may have fallen through the cracks in understanding such diseases. It may be a bit technical at times, but this is minimal and the author does a great job of explaining terms when necessary. A general understanding of microbiology and disease is helpful but not necessary. Medical professionals may find this book more interesting than the layperson is small areas but is helpful for all those concerned with the past, present and future of the health of the global community.

Good, if heavy

interesting and, well, not quite "enjoyable" due to the subject, but something like that. A little technical regarding biology, but not so much that it lost me in the details.

Great Narrator!

The narrator's voice kept me hooked even in parts that were more complicated. I really enjoyed it!

Good enough to educate

I have been listening to books like this in order to gauge the difficulty I would have in writing a similar book. The presentation here is sufficient and reasonable in depth, but often is presebted in a voice of what sounds like someone with a PhD (no offense) and not like someone with a facility in explaining scientific concepts. If you basically already understand what he's talking about then you can understand this presentation, but if you don't he seems to miss the ability to translate science into english. I do not suggest however that I could accomplish a superior effort so i want to congratulate him on a well-researched and technically accurate book .

What I have written above notwithstanding, the author through a series of chapters devoted to specific disease entities such as chikungunya, yellow fever, poliomyelitis, measles, HIV, influenza and others, does make a very strong case for two very important concepts that I would like to not leave unmentioned.

The first is the role of serendipity in the discovery process. Science is a conglomeration of many things happening at the same time and discoveries in everything from fluid dynamics and plastics and nuclear physics combine in often accidental ways and build upon each other in a way that makes a discovery possible that was not possible before, but no more likely except for the hodge podge of a vast array of researchers sloppily pursuing different aims. On more than one occasion, an accidental or serendipitous discovery in one area influenced another which was supported by several other peripheral advancements. This argues strongly in favor of diverse, aggressive and courageous funding of a variety of science, because it's very difficult to predict where the next discovery or breakthrough will come from.

Secondly, another important factor and the pursuit of science and world health is the horrendous and inexcusable history played by primarily RELIGION, followed by politics and big moneyed interests from cattle farmers to exporters in the obfiscation of scientific inquiry, distraction and hysteria and the impeding of progress. The pursuit of money will not go away, nor will the unabashed pursuit of souls for one silly god or another. These forces together have made decisions and said things and have impacted our perception of the ill and public policy in a way that has led to countless millions of deaths over the centuries. The disappointing thing is that with each and every disease, the same voices rise up to block aggressively addressing the problem. Nationalists want their own assays used so they can make money, politicians don't want their country to get a bad name an religion . . . religion cannot resist the urge to label every disease as a scourge from god, everyone infected as a sinner and every treatment as against god's will. It is petty and exhausting and almost always gives way to sanity (eventually they back away from and forget their original objects and statements) but it confuses things and slows down recognition of disease. I don't want to rob people of their collective dellusions but these beliefs must be kept in its box and not allowed to impact public health policy.

One thing is certain. viruses will continue to stalk humans and it is only science as a candle in the darkness that can find the answers to push back against his never-ending struggle against biology. If you want a bright future then every effort should be made to fund, support and believe in science.

C-19 is not really "unprecidented"

I learned a lot about how frequent these kind of events happen in human history. Makes me question all history that does not include the affects of diseases on the outcome. Good book, well written, not written to scare, but more to inform.

an eye opener for today

A real eye opener! It puts the events of today into perspective and shows the dangers of failing to learn from history.

very informative!

I really enjoyed not only learning about the different infections, but I really liked the linking into historical events and influences. like with the Louisiana purchase.

Impressive..!

After the recent pandemic, everyone should be interested in the preparation to stop future attacks by still unknown viruses .