Customer Reviews

Plagues and Poxes: The Impact of Human History on Epidemic Disease

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The "M.D." stands prominently after the author's name on the cover of this book and that's probably for a good reason: this text would fit better in the pages of a medical journal then as a book for public consumption. As a reader with a science background (albeit in physics) I am always ready to read a new science book. I also have an interest in the study of disease, particularly as it relates to the historical development of the human race. Still, this book was a disappointment.

Consider the following passage from the chapter on anthrax: "Most naturally occurring anthrax strains are sensitive to penicillin, which historically has been the preferred anthrax therapy. Doxycycline is the preferred option among the tetracycline class of agents, because it has been proved efficacious in monkey studies. Other members of this class of antibiotics are suitable, and animal studies suggest that such prophylaxis should be effective. The floroquinolone antibiotics (such as ciprofloxacin [Cipro®])should have equivalent efficacy, but no data are available..." Not only is this dull prose, it is unimportant to the thread of the story that Dr. Bollett claims he is telling. And this is only one of the most prominent examples of poor prose (besides making me wonder whether or not Dr. Bollett has any financial interest in Cipro).

According to the introduction, this book is a revised edition to an earlier book on the same subject. I didn't read the first edition but I have a feeling it is much better than this book. Mainly because the last three chapters on emerging diseases are the poorest in the book and are probably new to this addition. As are what I expect are new paragraphs near the end of every chapter that relates how every single disease in history could be weaponized. It is disturbing to see a book like this play on people's fears of bioterrorism.

It's unfortunate because the historical sections of the book which are the bulk of the first parts of each chapter are well done if a bit dry. Dr. Bollett has turned the traditional view around a bit by considering how human history has impacted epidemic disease rather than the other way around. If the book had stayed on this path it would have been decent, if not great. Somehow this new edition has lost its way.

The impact of human history on epidemic disease is related in Dr. Bollett's Plagues And Poxes, an excellent medical-based survey which charts the rise and changing of disease patterns throughout human history. From key events which sparked changes and people involved in them to how inflections diseases have been stopped, Plagues And Poxes provides both a case history and a social analysis, written by a medical doctor who has been a member of many prestigious medical history societies.

got this for a history of medicine course i took in my senior year of college. it actually is pretty gnarly if you get into it. i usually dread reading textbooks; this is one of those exceptions. basically, if yr taking a history course & yr teacher assigns you this, consider yrself lucky.

I am using this book in a class I am currently teaching. It's fine, gives a decent rundown on the major plagues and includes non-infectious plagues which adds another dimention to the text. Still, it is a tad brief for anything much other than an overview.