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Viruses, Plagues, and History
- Past, Present, and Future
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
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Publisher's summary
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.
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It can come in waves - like tidal waves. It changes societies. It disrupts life. It ends lives. As far back as 3000 B.C.E. (the Bronze Age), plagues have stricken mankind. COVID-19 is just the latest example, but history shows that life continues. It shows that knowledge and social cooperation can save lives. Viruses are neither alive nor dead and are the closest thing we have to zombies. Their only known function is to replicate themselves, which can have devastating consequences on their hosts.
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Somewhat elemental
- By Bertha Watkins on 10-23-21
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The Moth in the Iron Lung
- A Biography of Polio
- By: Forrest Maready
- Narrated by: Forrest Maready
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A fascinating account of the world’s most famous disease - polio - told as you have never heard it before. Epidemics of paralysis began to rage in the early 1900s, seemingly out of nowhere. Doctors, parents, and health officials were at a loss to explain why this formerly unheard-of disease began paralyzing so many children. Why did this disease start to become such a horrible problem during the late 1800s? Why did it affect children more often than adults? Why was it originally called teething paralysis by mothers and their doctors?
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Root Cause
- By Circlekay1 Gulfport MS on 10-24-19
By: Forrest Maready
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The Language of Life
- DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine
- By: Francis S. Collins
- Narrated by: Greg Itzin
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A scientific and medical revolution has crept up on us, based on study after study, from hundreds of laboratories around the world. It is no longer just a theoretical shift: every one of us will be touched by it, and many of us already have been. The meaning of disease, our understanding of the human body, and crucial decisions about what we all need to know and what choices we make about our health are at stake. Welcome to the new world of personalized medicine.
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The future of medicine
- By Ronald E on 04-12-10
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The Great Influenza
- The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
- By: John M. Barry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.
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Great book but very disturbing...
- By Tim on 01-15-09
By: John M. Barry
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The Emperor of All Maladies
- A Biography of Cancer
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
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The Emperor of All Maladies reveals the many faces of an iconic, shape-shifting disease that is the defining plague of our generation. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance but also of hubris, arrogance, paternalism, and misperception, all leveraged against a disease that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out "war against cancer".
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Incredible
- By S.R.E. on 03-02-16
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Seven Modern Plagues
- And How We Are Causing Them
- By: Mark Jerome Walter
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
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According to veterinarian and journalist Mark Walters, we are contributing to - if not overtly causing - some of the scariest epidemics of our time. Through human stories and cutting-edge science, Walters explores the origins of seven diseases: Mad Cow Disease, HIV/AIDS, Salmonella DT104, Lyme Disease, Hantavirus, West Nile, and new strains of flu. He shows that they originate from manipulation of the environment, from emitting carbon and clear-cutting forests to feeding naturally herbivorous cows “recycled animal protein.”
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Really opens your eyes! A must read for middle school+
- By Jay on 08-05-20
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Pale Rider
- The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
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In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus travelled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted - and often permanently altered - global politics, race relations, and family structures while spurring innovation in medicine, religion, and the arts.
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A Predilection for Those in the Prime of Life
- By Cynthia on 02-12-18
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Medical Apartheid
- The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
- By: Harriet A. Washington
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
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Medical Apartheid is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on African Americans. Starting with the earliest encounters between black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, it details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge - a tradition that continues today within some black populations.
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Sobering... but necessary.
- By Dr. Pepper on 10-27-16
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A Short History of Medicine
- Modern Library Chronicles
- By: Frank Gonzalez-Crussi
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
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Praised for his erudite writing, renowned scientist Frank Gonzalez-Crussi penned this concise history of medicine, beginning with the most primitive health-care practices and ending with the technology of modern medicine that we enjoy today. As with all Modern Library Chronicles, A Short History of Medicine is a wonderful primer for anyone interested in the subject.
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Dull and Disorganized
- By Amazon Customer on 05-21-08
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A Crack in Creation
- Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
- By: Jennifer A. Doudna, Samuel H. Sternberg
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
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Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the new gene-editing tool CRISPR - a revolutionary new technology that she helped create - to make heritable changes in human embryos.
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In to the abyss we ascend, a scary future
- By Philomath on 06-17-17
By: Jennifer A. Doudna, and others
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Pandemic
- Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond
- By: Sonia Shah
- Narrated by: Sonia Shah
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
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Interweaving history, original reportage, and personal narrative, Pandemic explores the origin of epidemics, drawing parallels between the story of cholera - one of history's most disruptive and deadly pathogens - and the new pathogens that stalk humankind today, from Ebola and avian influenza to drug-resistant superbugs.
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You will probably enjoy "Spillover" more
- By serine on 03-01-16
By: Sonia Shah
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Evolving Ourselves
- How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth
- By: Juan Enriquez, Steve Gullans
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
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Why are conditions like autism, asthma, obesity, and allergies exploding at unprecedented rates? Why are we living longer, getting smarter, having far fewer kids? If Darwin were alive today, how would he explain this new world?
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fascinating ideas and science
- By Joel on 07-04-15
By: Juan Enriquez, and others
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Now in audio - a fascinating work of popular science from a world-renowned expert on mosquitoes and a prize-winning reporter. In this lively and comprehensive portrait of the mosquito, its role in history, and its threat to mankind, Spielman and D'Antonio take a mosquito's-eye view of nature and man. They show us how mosquitoes breed, live, mate, and die and introduce us to their enemies, both natural and man-made.
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Beware! Book content was written 2 decades ago
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Simply Electrifying
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Simply Electrifying: The Technology That Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk brings to life the 250-year history of electricity through the stories of the men and women who used it to transform our world: Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Michael Faraday, Samuel F.B. Morse, Thomas Edison, Samuel Insull, Albert Einstein, Rachel Carson, Elon Musk, and more. In the process, it reveals for the first time the complete, thrilling, and often dangerous story of electricity's historic discovery, development, and worldwide application.
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decent, but ended up disappointing.
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What listeners say about Viruses, Plagues, and History
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ekhensel15
- 01-12-19
very detailed, but very statistical
This book started off with a historical recall of viruses, bacterial rampages and then skewed to statistical data which was somewhat disorganized and lost me as a listener. I'm going to have to relisten and draw out some maps to fully understand everything in this book.
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46 people found this helpful
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- J. Keene
- 03-30-20
Excellent perspective on the Corona-19 pandemic
For perspective I am writing this review on March 30, 2020. I am still under social distancing and shelter in place orders consequent of the Corona-19 pandemic currently affecting my area of the United States.
This book is an excellent overview of the disease vectors that currently face this species. It isn't a good "story" in the Harry Potter sense, but the author does try to provide summary histories of the major diseases of the 19th and 20th centuries. Polio, Small Pox, and Measles are of particular interest. The chapter on SARS is eerily applicable to my current circumstances. Animal to human transition of a Corona virus, a massive Chinese Government face saving effort to coverup existence of the disease, the unilateral actions of a courageous whistle blower, its spread to 33 countries, and ultimate economic consequences from lock down. The human element gets lost in these narratives but the human element is often lost when discussing world evens that impact thousands and millions.
Having also listened to The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, the chapter on Influenza in this book felt a bit thin. I think that is the larger theme of the book though: it is a survey, not a history book. It has generated interest within me towards Epidemiology, but I'm going to have to search else where for more history of these afflictions.
The book ends with some interesting points about the conflict between commercial interests and public health. The author clearly and unashamedly lands on the side of scientists and public health. His points do have some interesting weight given that the lessons learned from SARS were so clearly ignored by the Chinese Government in light of the Corona 19 pandemic. I do not believe that Scientists are always adopting a position born of facts and altruism. Nor do I believe that scientists should hold ultimate authority over economic interests. I also certainly do not believe that economic interests should always overrule public health concerns. I do, however, think that these issues should be discussed and that the general populace needs to be aware of where the debate points lie. Our current predicament is clear indication that world leaders and the populace at large are exceptionally prone to go through a denial phase when new scientific information comes to light regarding public health.
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39 people found this helpful
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- bruce kittrick
- 03-16-20
Worried about the latest pandemic?
Great story about the major pandemics of the past. These times of tragedy give us guidance on the lessons of past battles against fear, greed and stupidity. Since I am a physician the technical language was part of my vocabulary. If you have no medical training you will appreciate the clear layout of each of these pandemics and the efforts to solve them. Kudos to the author and production team.
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33 people found this helpful
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- Louis Macareo
- 06-02-19
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.
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- OkazakiFrag
- 05-21-19
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.
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- 🌈☮️ MICHÆL IRVINE ❤️
- 02-26-20
INCREDIBLY ENLIGHTENING
Here is a AudioEbook (Audible) which practically everyone should both listen to and also study carefully, in its printed form too. Simply put, this opus contains vital information which even the well read autodidact and also formally college-educated, need to be well aware of, save for those few whom are cutting-edge medical professionals, well schooled and whom keep up with the field of emerging diseases.
Keep in mind that ignorance is far from Bliss. Rather, what one doesn’t know, may indeed kill you. Moreover, the wisdom contained herein this well-researched book, only makes more clear how the right kind of knowledge — and thinking like a skeptical scientist — may serve to keep one from being bamboozled by omnipresent clever Sophistry of pop “experts” in medicine. (Knowledge is power.)
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- Lori
- 02-05-20
History worth knowing
In this time when the fear of world wide pandemics is real, I felt that this historical perspective was of immense value to me. The things that the author revealed to me were pieces of information I am pleased to carry 'in my back pocket to act as reminders when I become discouraged by the latest news of a threatening viral outbreak.
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- Stelaki
- 05-18-20
Great Account
This book was recommended by a physician co-worker during the pandemic. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it has brought perspective on our current situation with COVID19 and how often culture, politics and public health collide with each other.
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- Lori Barr
- 12-13-20
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.
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- Cornelia Drees
- 12-17-20
Endlessly redundant
Reads as if many similar papers and lectures on a topic were copied and pasted to make a book. Would benefit from extensive editing. Disappointing because the content is interesting, though naturally COVID 19 is not discussed.
Cornelia Drees
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