Flu

The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It

By: Gina Kolata

Narrated by: Gina Kolata

Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Feeling feverish, tired, or achy? Listening to Gina Kolata's engrossing account of the 1918 Influenza epidemic is sure to give you the chills.

When we think of plagues, we think of AIDS, Ebola, anthrax spores, and, of course, the Black Death. Influenza never makes the list. But in 1918 the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young and healthy virtually overnight. An estimated forty million people died as the pandemic raged. More American soldiers were killed by the 1918 flu than were killed in battle during World War I. And no area of the globe was safe. Eskimos living in remote outposts in the frozen tundra succumbed to the flu in such numbers that entire villages were wiped out. If such a plague returned today, taking a comparable percentage of the U.S. population with it, 1.5 million Americans would die, which is more than the number killed in a single year by heart disease, cancers, strokes, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS, and Alzheimer's combined.

Scientists have recently discovered shards of the flu virus in human remains frozen in the Arctic tundra and in scraps of tissue preserved in a government warehouse. In Flu, Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of the lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. From Alaska to Norway, from the streets of Hong Kong to the corridors of the White House, Kolata tracks the race to recover the live pathogen and probes the fear that has impelled government policy. A gripping work of science writing, Flu addresses the prospects for a great epidemic recurring, and considers what can be done to prevent it.

©1999 Gina Kolata

Great could’ve have more facts

Great I don’t know why people are complaining about the “accent” I didn’t notice anything

Great Book

This is a very interesting book from all aspects. Great documentation of history and the people involved, from the victims to the scientists.

Flu

I thought the book was quite interesting. It developed the 1918 flu and others in a way that tied the human events with the history of the times and the science of the flu. A good explanation to help people understand the Bird Flu currently in the news.

Informative Orientation

Gina Kolata's "Flu" will get the interested up to speed on the flu in one read. If you are interested in the Pandemic of 1918, this perhaps is not your book. It uses the great flu pandemic as a spring board to present material on influenza in general.

On the other hand, if you are seeking to understand influenza in biological and historical context this book is a great non-technical start. If you want to understand the practical health implications of the flu this is good as well. It is well written and read.

Those interested in a more detailed history of the Great Pandemic, per se, might listen to John Barry's "The Great Inluenza" also available from Audible.

Content is great, narration is terrible

I am currently listening to this book and am enjoying it, except the narrator's voice (she is also the author) is grating on me. Maybe it's just me, so don't avoid this book, because it's very compelling, in light of what's going on in the world right now (Nov 2009). Fascinating content, well researched.

Hire an actor - please

Why would they allow an author with multiple speech impediments read her own book?! Hire an actor, rerecord this and then it might be worthwhile listening to. As it is it feels like having an mildly put out teenager who hasn't gotten used to get braces it giving a class report. Which is a terrible pity, because Ms. Kolata's writing and subject matter are both gripping.

Fascinating

Any additional comments?

This is a great book, entertaining as well as informative. It covers the very real tragic episode of the 1918 influenza. Told in stories of individuals and the famlies. It goes on to explain some recent scares and why there was so much concern. There is a great story of the quest for the virus that caused the 1918 episode, found only recently. Loved it. I highly recommend the book for it's contents but the narrartor is terrible.

Why are some immune??

(chapter 1) Navy prisoners who agreed AND purposed to get infected, did not!!! Unbelievable moment in the book....no explanation. wha? huh?!

What a way to start!

For ewhat ever reason, I chose this book as my first ever audio book. What a way to start. For a guy who loves watching Discovery, this book was kind of like that.

Losts of medical / science talk, but told in away to be very understanding. I was never lost.
The story shared some great insite into historical events, and gives you a very good insider story into today's disease control.

I was never bored, the reader is easy to listen to.

Slips pages of the written book

This is a very frustrating audiobook to read along with. She keeps slipping paragraphs and pages and I have to search for where she picks up again. I can't even finish with it.