Customer Reviews

Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and Control (Oxford science publications)

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I'm shocked that no one has previously reviewed this. In a sense, it is *the* classic text of disease ecology, binding together decades worth of papers and theory into a single, coherent volume.

May was trained as a physicist, and Anderson as a mathematician. They are a singular duo in ecology, publishing a series of very high impact papers that re-shaped the way many thought the interactions between hosts and parasites, drawing analogies with popular predator-prey systems. In addition, they drew attention to interactions between ecology and evolution.

One of the things that I most like about their work in general, and this book in particular, is the clear narrative structure. There are abundant equations, but each is explained with clear English, and each one's importance in the overall "story" is plainly laid out. I found it to be *almost* (though not quite) armchair pleasure reading. Much of the math isn't exceptionally difficult, and can be skipped, but those looking for detail will find plenty.

It's beginning to get a little old in what is missing, but this work remains a firm foundation for disease ecology, which in itself remains a cornerstone of modern population and community ecology research.