In August of 1918, the flu returned after its summer hiatus. However, something had seriously gone wrong after the mild flu of the preceding winter. Soldiers, and other young, healthy people started dying of a terrible pneumonia. The leading doctors of the era slaved to find a cure, but the disease seemed resistant to every step they took. Finally, after having carried away some 100 million people(!), the disease simply disappeared.This...
5Report
I happened upon this intriguing well-written book after finishing Laurie Garrett's wonderful exploration of the emerging microbiological threat in "The Coming Plague", and was fascinated by what I discovered in this book regarding the specifics of the most famous flu outbreak in modern times, the great world-wide flu epidemic of 1918. Nothing in recent experience, not even the AIDS epidemic, has prepared the American people...
3Report
Gina Kolata makes science fun! Her writing is intricate and detailed and the chrononology of the epidemic is easy to follow. This true story is a true thriller. The flu pandemic of 1918 was one of the worst in the history of the world, yet so few people know it even existed. The book is interesting as well as educational. And reading "Flu" makes me want to change professions and study microbiology and cell science. Believe...
2Report
I was hooked on this book from the beginning. I am always reading and lately have had a hard time finding a book that could keep my attention, until Flu. I don't remember how I learned of it but I did, I bought it, and I really liked it. I definitely recommend it especially if you're bored with the same old storylines.
2Report
I first became interested in new research on the 1918 flu epidemic when I read the New Yorker article about teams of researchers on the track of the illness. She seemed to have hit the story at the right time: here was modern medicine with all its bells and whistles looking for any remaining tissue samples from victims of the most devastating pandemic in the history of the world in order to keep it from happening again...
2Report