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

Interesting

Interesting and informative. Don't recommend for long listening periods--could get a little dry and boring (don't want you falling asleep at the wheel). Good for short bursts of listening--like waiting for someone or city driving. Good info.

Great book, not-so-great reader

I downloaded this fascinating book, which I started in paperback on a plane, so I could finish reading it on my daily autocommute. Unfortunately, Kolata's nasal voice and flat affect do not do justice to the riveting true horror-story and history lesson that her well-researched and eminently readable book otherwise provide.

12 Monkeys Chiling

Sometimes real life is more scary than fiction.

In this book, Gina Kolata describes the events around 1918 Influenza pandemic and the colossal effort scients delivered to trace back the possible origins of the virus, uncover its lethal genetic structure and prepare humanity for a probable come back.

Chilling.

Flu mystery

The story is very good if you like medical mysteries. It is well written and has the feel of fiction. But I had some trouble with the readers voice. I could not understand everything she said and had to go back frequently.

A real life mystery

I am a social scientist who is addicted to mystery and thriller novels. The Flu by Gina Kolata brings together my science vocation and my mystery avocation. Kolata has taken the scientific and epidemiological search for the 1918 killer flu and put it in a highly readable (aka listenable) form. She keeps you interested until the very end. The Flu is a mystery worthy of Michael Connelly at his best. The only downside of the book is the narration. The author chose to narrate it herself. Whether for economic or ego reasons, it was a bad decision. But even the narration has a silver lining in this book. It is a credit to Kolata's ability to tell a story that midway through the book I got used to her amateur narrating style and forgot that the book would have been better with a professional narrator. Anybody with an interest in the flu, or how science really gets done through long hard slogs, or loves a good mystery will enjoy reading Flu.

good book - bad reader

the reader seems to have a lack of dexterity of the tip of her tongue which is distracting and sometimes hard to de-code over road noise. She is not able to annunciate words with a hard consonant and often slurs them into the next word or abbreviates them. We did enjoy the book anyway, it’s the story of influenza research from pre 1800’s to now. It could have been a lot better with another narrator.the reader seems to have a lack of dexterity of the tip of her tounge which is distracting.

Enthralling

I have to agree with other reviewers that the author's lisp made it sometimes difficult to understand. But once I got used to it, I didn't notice it. I found the story enthralling but then I tend to like most medical mysteries, fact or fiction. I didn't know a lot about the 1918 flu and found the topic very, very interesting. While this definitely is not a comedy, I found myself laughing at the comparison of the two "expeditions" to obtain tissue samples. A guy with a shovel and two strong helpers, and a million dollar expedition with 2 tons of equipment, dozens of journalists and hazmat suits that took years to plan. The latter, of course, receiving federal funding. Also the description of the outcome of the expensive expedition as not being a failure was classic spin! I suggest you listen to the sample of the book and see if the narrator's speech will be too distracting to you before buying. If it won't, this is a great book. I will probably listen to it again. If you have listened to "Hot Zone" and liked it, you will like this one.

Gripping

Excellent reading. Shakes up our complacency vis-a-vis disease.

Comes up with a couple of novel and thought-provoking explanations for why the 1918 flu spared children & old people, attacking mainly young aduts.

Interesting material - narration terrible

While I have no doubt that the entire audiobook is absorbing, I just could not finish listening to it all, as the narration is very bad. I find myself losing my place constantly while I try to figure out what the narrator is saying, and Ive lost patience with the whole thing. This is most unfortunate, and perhaps I will try again sometime, but time and life is short, and I have many other better-narrated audiobooks to listen to.

overexcited

Ms. Kolata has too few facts and too many superlatives. Her writing style is labored, sprawling and cliched. Worse, her voice is not suitable for narration as she has a strong accent and slurs her words. I am very interested in this issue, but this book is intolerable.