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The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World Hardcover – October 19, 2006

by Steven Johnson (Author)

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From the dynamic thinker routinely compared to Malcolm Gladwell, E. O. Wilson, and James Gleick, The Ghost Map is a riveting page-turner with a real-life historical hero that brilliantly illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of viruses, rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry. These are topics that have long obsessed Steven Johnson, and The Ghost Map is a true triumph of the kind of multidisciplinary thinking for which he's become famous-a book that, like the work of Jared Diamond, presents both vivid history and a powerful and provocative explanation of what it means for the world we live in.

The Ghost Map takes place in the summer of 1854. A devastating cholera outbreak seizes London just as it is emerging as a modern city: more than 2 million people packed into a ten-mile circumference, a hub of travel and commerce, teeming with people from all over the world, continually pushing the limits of infrastructure that's outdated as soon as it's updated. Dr. John Snow—whose ideas about contagion had been dismissed by the scientific community—is spurred to intense action when the people in his neighborhood begin dying.
With enthralling suspense, Johnson chronicles Snow's day-by-day efforts, as he risks his own life to prove how the epidemic is being spread.

When he creates the map that traces the pattern of outbreak back to its source, Dr. Snow didn't just solve the most pressing medical riddle of his time. He ultimately established a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers, city planners, physicians, and public officials think about the spread of disease and the development of the modern urban environment.

The Ghost Map is an endlessly compelling and utterly gripping account of that London summer of 1854, from the microbial level to the macrourban-theory level—including, most important, the human level.

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Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Riverhead Hardcover
Publication date

October 19, 2006
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18 years and up
Dimensions

6.34 x 1.13 x 9.28 inches
ISBN-10

1594489254
ISBN-13

978-1594489259
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. On August 28, 1854, working-class Londoner Sarah Lewis tossed a bucket of soiled water into the cesspool of her squalid apartment building and triggered the deadliest outbreak of cholera in the city's history. In this tightly written page-turner, Johnson (Everything Bad Is Good for You) uses his considerable skill to craft a story of suffering, perseverance and redemption that echoes to the present day. Describing a city and culture experiencing explosive growth, with its attendant promise and difficulty, Johnson builds the story around physician John Snow. In the face of a horrifying epidemic, Snow (pioneering developer of surgical anesthesia) posited the then radical theory that cholera was spread through contaminated water rather than through miasma, or smells in the air. Against considerable resistance from the medical and bureaucratic establishment, Snow persisted and, with hard work and groundbreaking research, helped to bring about a fundamental change in our understanding of disease and its spread. Johnson weaves in overlapping ideas about the growth of civilization, the organization of cities, and evolution to thrilling effect. From Snow's discovery of patient zero to Johnson's compelling argument for and celebration of cities, this makes for an illuminating and satisfying read. B&w illus. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

In books such as Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, Steven Johnson neatly draws connections between seemingly unconnected aspects of lifethink of James Burke in the digital age. The Ghost Map is no different in applying a 21st-century sensibility to a 19th-century cholera epidemic. According to critics, Johnson makes a single tactical error in the last pages, where he attempts to link the events he describes to too many other contemporary historical trends while ignoring some real-world realities. Regardless, the story is in capable hands, and the lives of individuals and a culture on the cusp of technological and medical advance resonates with readers 150 years later.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* More than two million people were squeezed into 30 square miles in Victorian London, producing massive quantities of waste that, before modern public waste disposal systems, fouled both land and the Thames River. Indeed, Johnson says, "No extended description of London from that period failed to mention the stench of the city." Some, called miasmatists, believed foul odors caused disease. Many believed the lifestyles of the poor and ignorant masses made them more susceptible to illness. Thus, in late summer of 1854, when cholera began claiming poor -working-class residents of the Golden Square neighborhood, popular opinion blamed the city's excavation of a nearby burial ground. But Dr. John Snow, an anesthesia expert and consultant to the queen, and the Reverend Henry Whitehead thought the pathogen might have a different source. Their dogged efforts soon ended the deadly epidemic. They demonstrated that Vibrio cholerae had been contracted by drinking contaminated water from the neighborhood pump. In the short run, Snow and Whitehead saved hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives. In the long run, their work, part of which consisted of mapping the disease's spread, resulted in efficient public waste disposal systems and disease control measures that saved millions worldwide. And that work is hardly done. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

The Ghost Map charts the London cholera epidemic of 1854, from which Johnson extracts a saga of human ingenuity and true communal effort. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 15, 2006

By turns a medical thriller, detective story and paean to city life, Johnson's account of the outbreak and its modern implications is a true page-turner. A- -- Washington Post, October 16, 2006

The author, Steven Johnson, gives us history at its best: colorful, connected and compelling. -- Seattle Times, October 20, 2006

This is a marvelous little book... -- Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2006

[The Ghost Map is] an engrossing story that should appeal to anyone interested in the idea of cities as functioning systems-not to mention tales of urban lechery and bounties of Charles Dickens quotes. -- The Onion, October 15, 2006

About the Author

Steven Johnson is the author of the national bestsellers Everything Bad Is Good for You and Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life, as well as Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software and Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Hardcover; First Edition (October 19, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594489254
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594489259
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.34 x 1.13 x 9.28 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #249,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #72 in Microbiology (Books)
- #94 in Communicable Diseases (Books)
- #192 in History of Medicine (Books)

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4.4 2,376 ratings

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Steven Johnson

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Steven Johnson is the best-selling author of seven books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience. His writings have influenced everything from the way political campaigns use the Internet, to cutting-edge ideas in urban planning, to the battle against 21st-century terrorism. In 2010, he was chosen by Prospect magazine as one of the Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future.

His latest book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, was a finalist for the 800CEORead award for best business book of 2010, and was ranked as one of the year’s best books by The Economist. His book The Ghost Map was one of the ten best nonfiction books of 2006 according to Entertainment Weekly. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Steven has also co-created three influential web sites: the pioneering online magazine FEED, the Webby-Award-winning community site, Plastic.com, and most recently the hyperlocal media site outside.in, which was acquired by AOL in 2011. He serves on the advisory boards of a number of Internet-related companies, including Meetup.com, Betaworks, and Nerve.

Steven is a contributing editor to Wired magazine and is the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School, Columbia University. He won the Newhouse School fourth annual Mirror Awards for his TIME magazine cover article titled "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." Steven has also written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, and many other periodicals. He has appeared on many high-profile television programs, including The Charlie Rose Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He lectures widely on technological, scientific, and cultural issues. He blogs at stevenberlinjohnson.com and is @stevenbjohnson on Twitter. He lives in Marin County, California with his wife and three sons.

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J. Kocsis

Great scientific and popular history

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2023

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Steven Johnson is an excellent writer. The book is beautifully crafted throughout, overall structure to paragraph and sentence level. A great and memorable read.

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2023

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What begins as a flashback to London, a dark, overcrowded, dirty Dickensian London, becomes a step by step review of the cholera outbreak, its escalation, and its conclusion. And rather than dragging on, the cholera deaths become links that medical and scientific heroes will study as they solve the mystery of transmission, contact, and causes before ultimately containing the transmission and ending its killing spree.

And beyond the cholera epidemic are the transformations of living areas, of urban growth, of healthcare and education. The evolution of mankind as it continues to struggle to survive on a planet that has also had to struggle is explained through its direct links and lessons from Landon’s cholera epidemic.

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Jackie Houchin

An interesting and scary account of finding the source of "DEATH"

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023

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Steven Johnson’s THE GHOST MAP is an amazing history about a disease, a doctor, and a parson who tracked, and eventually mapped the mass destruction that cholera brought to Victorian London in the 1850’s, and how, due to their persistence and that of a few other scientists, it was traced to its source – the water from a single pump in one neighborhood – and eventually stopped.

Sanitary conditions at that time were unimaginable. People were literally drinking sewage. They simply let the solids settle to the bottom of their buckets before ladling it out. Millions died, often within 24 hours of being infected by cholera. Whole families… whole blocks wiped out in a matter of days. There are details and statistics in the book but Johnson makes them interesting and readable.

THE GHOST MAP tells of the dedication of these men who battled against vicious backlash and ridicule from “knowledgeable” people, as well as the bacteria itself. And more astonishing is how the city – once convinced – undertook the massive project to remedy the problem. Water and sewer systems that rival any in the world were built in less than 10 years.

In the epilogue, Johnson gives warnings about germ warfare and pandemics loosed on the planet by rogue labs in the future. (Ha! This was written in 2015. How could he have known what would happen a mere 5 years later!) For me, the book is non-fiction at its scary best.

(NOTE: Johnson does promote Darwin’s evolution in several minor places, and “denigrates” Intelligent creation as well.)

4.5 STARS

10 people found this helpful

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The author should have stopped at page 200...

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2010

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It seems like I am not alone in these sentiments, at least among the critical reviewers of this book. Much of the Conclusion, and certainly all the Epilogue is such a non-sequester in style, content, but primarily in the quality of thought from what preceded it. The last 50 pages seem like a rambling "cut and paste" add-on.

Johnson is a polymath in his own right, and has mastered the diverse aspects of the outbreak of cholera in the Soho section of London, in 1954, and has written a compelling story. It is the London of the time of Charles Dickens, whom Johnson has read and routinely quotes. His descriptions of the significant part of the population that dealt in "recycling" and human wastes (and these people would have formed one of the larger cities in England at the time) were most memorable; Dickeneque in their own right. He provides an excellent clinical description of the action of cholera on the human body. The "drama" of the story centers around the action of two very different men, the scientist Dr. John Snow, and the social worker pastor Henry Whitehead, who combined their different outlooks and skills, to prove that the vector that carried cholera was water; which was totally contradictory to the received ideas of the time. Establishment thought considered it to be the "miasma," the fetid air, the bad smells that transmitted the disease. Johnson gives an impressive biological explanation why human reactions to smells would cloud their judgment; much contradictory evidence, such as the fact that the laborers who worked in the fetid atmosphere of the sewers all day were not particularly susceptible to the disease, was simply ignored. Johnson laces his account with some droll humor, for example, praising the advantage of cities so that it gave consumers an opportunity to concern themselves with "new technologies.... and celebrity gossip"(!) Considerable emphasis is given to the impact of "the Ghost Map," which is a graphical representation of where the deaths occurred, and how this helped "sell" the theory that the water from the one well, at 40 Broad Street, which had been contaminated with cholera from the diapers of Victim #1, or as they say in epidemiology, the "index case," was the source of the disease. And yes, despite some reviewer comments, the Ghost Map is in the book, in several places, even with a "ghost" shading.

But even with the first 200 pages I had some problems. The gas/liquid/solid energy metaphor of the three states of water compared to the three developmental states of human society: hunter-gather/farmer/city dweller is completely muddled, and the energy levels are actually the reverse of what is indicated (p 94). The Ghost Map was in the book, but it certainly would have been useful to have a Voronoi diagram also. And when he cites Marcel Proust and his Madeleine-inspired reveries (p 128) he missed a marvelous opportunity to compare Dr. Snow's work with Marcel's father, Dr. Achille Adrien Proust, who was an epidemiologist who devoted much of his life to fighting cholera, and is largely responsible for developing the "cordon sanitaire" technique. There is also the problem, particularly prominent at the publisher, Penguin, ( Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival fame) of not taking the time to run the manuscript through spell-check. The editing, particularly towards the end was shoddy - saying the same thing about the 1918 flu epidemic, thrice, in three pages. Despite these shortcomings, I would have given the book 5-stars if he had stopped around page 200.

The last 50 pages should have been prefaced with that classic cover from the "New Yorker," that shows the world in wildly distorted proportion, with Manhattan consuming about 80% of it, Jersey as a distant shore, San Francisco a remote dot, and all of China a smaller and more remote one still. Johnson is an unabashed New Yorker, (and yes, as the cliché has it, it is a great place to visit, but...) and he apparently believes that the world would be a better place if we all lived like they do in the Big Apple. "We are now, as a species, dependent on dense urban living as a survival strategy" (p 236). Pleeeze. Some of us in the "fly-over zone" would demur. Johnson asserts with the aplomb and certainty of Edwin Chadwick, one of the chief miasmaists who propounded the "All Smell is Disease" dogma.

As a few other reviewers have commented, it is rather ironic that there are large dollops of miasma-theory supporter thought processes behind Johnson's statements made in the final pages. All the contradictory evidence is set aside when "I (heart) NYC." Is New York really the greenest city in the United States, aside from an article in - no surprise here- "The New Yorker"? Density as an engine of wealth creation? How many trillion did Wall Street just vaporize? Density leads to population reduction? Or is it increased income levels that makes the "human" Social Security of many children no longer necessary? And then the long ramble about terrorist threats was sophomoric, at best, with nary a thought as to how to reduce or eliminate these threats. It is not that terrorism, fossil fuel depletion, or the threat of a new epidemic are not real issues to be considered in rationale discourse, but how could you NOT mention America's, and even New York's massive reliance on foreign capital, and foreigners to supply us the necessities of life, while so many able Americans are unemployed as being the central issue that must be resolved: an equitable distribution of the wealth of society. I just finished reading Thoreau's Walden , and what a stunning contrast.

Overall, the last section should be dropped, or re-worked, with much more critical thought, including some input from beyond the Hudson River, and perhaps made into its own stand-alone book. Combining the excellent portions of the book, with a shoddy ending: 3-stars.

17 people found this helpful

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Bama Fan

Pretty Good.

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2023

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I'm a big fan of Steven Johnson and while I think many people have been introduced to his work through this book, I've somehow managed to read most of his other books first. It is written in the same style as the other books where he sets the scene, tells some stories about other people and thoughts around the time and then comes back to the main characters. That pattern has become familiar in his work and this is no exception. You do not need to know about history or epidemiology to appreciate this book and it is written for anyone. This was not my personal favorite but that could be because I came in knowing part of the story before and was likely the reason for waiting to read it after the other books. Having said that, I still had trouble putting it down and it was enjoyable!

2 people found this helpful

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Julia Smith

A stellar subject with inconsistent writing, saved by sheer enthusiasm

Reviewed in Canada on January 14, 2020

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This book is very readable for the most part - but there are major problems an editor should have found, in my opinion, and fixed. Repetition, meandering and dry patches could easily have been tweaked, because this is a REALLY interesting story. It's too bad that the author couldn't have his best sections be his writing style 100% of the time - there were chapters were I couldn't put the book down and stayed up late into the night page-turning. But then there were chapters that really dragged and musings that seemed more like those of an excited student dancing around a point in an essay because they feel very strongly about it, but haven't quite decided where to go with it.

However, I think it's worth a read despite these issues. The information itself is fascinating - I'd never heard of Dr. John Snow before, and this makes me want to learn more. The contrast between the science being born, and the social barriers to progress is as relevant today as it was then - something a lot of people seem to object being explored in the epilogue, but which I think makes a perfectly valid point.

The vivid picture of life in Victorian London, specifically in terms of access to water and waste disposal, was absolutely riveting in my opinion. This book really opens your eyes to how near us in history absolute squalor can be found in cities that are now gleaming and modern. It's hard to conceive of how people lived this way, but the author gets you there.

Overall I'd recommend this book strongly, but I'd also warn you to be ready to have to sigh you way through certain parts where it's a bit like listening to your nephew explain something to you that you already know, three or four times, because they're sure they discovered this whole idea and can't wait to share it. The thing that saves these sections is that I believe it comes from a place of genuine enthusiasm and passion rather than a conscious desire to beat you over the head with the information.

This book, whatever it's editing flaws may be, has some genuine gasp-worthy moments - it has drama, human interest, nobility, stupidity and all the other things that make people so compelling to get to know through words on a page. It's rekindled my interesting in epidemiology and anthropology of medicine, so for that I have to thank the author big-time.

2 people found this helpful

Hibbard

A very good read, however...

Reviewed in Canada on April 12, 2020

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This was an amazing read - the author does a wonderful job of describing the everyday lives of working-class inhabitants of nineteenth century London, just as a wave of cholera is about to hit Broad Street and the surrounding areas. The lives and the thoughts of the keen-minded doctor and the priest as they encounter the sick and dying on their rounds is so very gripping. One can almost feel the tension in the air as the author describes the activities of the policeman's wife or of the tailor's daughter in the days and hours before people start dying like flies. The detail in the accounting of the activities of the working class folk in the Broad Street area is just marvelous. Also intriguing is the author's account of the social and professional etiquette amongst the scientific community as documented through the various letters to The Lancet and to the newspapers.

The part where the book falters is in the editing. As a previous reviewer has pointed out, there are portions of the book that are gripping, almost like a detective thriller that has you enthralled. Yet there are other parts of the book that read more like an editorial on the link between human activity, ecology and epidemiology. However, for me, the most incomprehensible editorial misstep was the absence of John Snow's Voronoi diagram (the so-called "Ghost Map" after which the book is titled!) showing the spread of the cholera cases in the Broad Street area and the relationship with the community water pumps. I was compelled to go online to try to find a scanned image of the original and, once I did, it was a brilliant thing to see. No wonder the Directors of the Board of Health were convinced upon it being presented to them!

Dr. Snow was obviously a gifted thinker and our current study and approaches within the field of epidemiology owes much to him.

2 people found this helpful

G.I.Forbes

cholera

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2008

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This book deals with a cholera outbreak in London in 1854 and environmental and hygeine conditions that existed at that tima.
In 1854 itwas commonly believed that cholera was spread by foetid air but it was Dr.John Snow who conclusively prooved that it was waterborne.This result was achieved by careful investigation,mapping,case histories,surveillance,collection of data and statistics.All these factors are woven into a thrilling detective story by the author.
Equally fascinating is the social comentary of the times with its filth,sewage, horrendous housing and poverty.
The principles of disease investigation used by Snow are the basis of epidemiology which is practised today.
The maps ,diagrams and illustrations are good but I do not like the title of the book "The Ghost Map"which hs no relevance to the investigation of the outbreak.
The notes and bibliography are good but it is surprising Snows book "The Broad Street Pump"is not listed.
110 years later in 1964 a virtually identical incident occured in Hong Kong known as "The Temple Street Well".
Abook to be recommended.

4 people found this helpful

A1teacher

The Ghost Map...hopeful

Reviewed in Canada on April 18, 2014

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I found this book to be most interesting. I learned a great deal about the development of safe cities. I am amazed at how, only 160 years ago, the London sewers were built to solve the problem of clean drinking water in an urban centre...certainly one of the great achievements of the 19th century. I worry not that with our dwindling resources and the lack of support for science we will not be able to punter the threats that plague us.

J Barry Gander

We need to be reminded that heroes walk among us ...

Reviewed in Canada on November 19, 2014

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We need to be reminded that heroes walk among us in plain sight, yet unseen. The man who removed the Broad Street pump handle worked for years against social custom to establish a shocking new theory: that people could be killed by drinking water that looked clear and safe. Reading this gives you a sense of appreciation for how much we owe to people whose names are perhaps no longer as prominent as they should be.

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