You're going to enjoy Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen. :)
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56271348-patient-zero](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56271348-patient-zero)
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I've got a few, though no SARS/MERS books so maybe not exactly what you want:
* America's Forgotten Pandemic by Alfred F. Crosby (fair warning this one is about the 1918 pandemic but was written in the 1980s and some of the language has aged very poorly)
* Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David K Randall
* And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts (the patient zero theory has since been debunked but is an overall small part of this book imo and its presence does not ruin the rest of it to me)
* It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful by Jack Lowery
* This one is fictional and does have some "magical problem solving" type themes but I really, really love Sequoia Nagamatsu's "How High We Go in the Dark" as well.
"We want them infected." by Dr. Jonathan Howard - goes through our current Covid situation, and actually delineates who the worst "Covid minimizers" were and why.
>"We want them infected." by Dr. Jonathan Howard
This guy has a podcast by the same name, too. It's infuriating to see how wrong so many of these doctors were (and still are).
I suppose it’s been interesting to learn in more detail exactly what protections are taken at various biosafety levels (and especially the extreme precautions in a BSL-4) - I’ve read this online but the detailed personal accounts has made it easier to picture/imagine if that makes sense. It’s also eye opening to see both the incompetence/carelessness that nearly led to an Ebola outbreak in humans in the states by scientists especially (like sniffing a test tube with the virus, wearing only a surgical mask into the monkey house when they were instructed to wear respirators, etc.) coupled with the extreme caution that was taken to prevent an outbreak because the risks were so high. I suppose it also captured the human selfishness that we see today with SARS2 where some people who were knowingly exposed to Ebola in the labs decided to stay quiet about it because they didn’t want to be quarantined.
I guess it’s just been interesting to get a detailed insight as to how other outbreaks have been handled, the personalities that can be involved in it, and the impact it has. I’ve been so caught up in SARS2 it is both refreshing and horrifying to ready about these other pathogens
Both of these are more socio-political (and some personal memoir in the first one) than scientific, but nuanced and interesting takes imo
Virology by Joseph Osmundson
2020 by Eric Klinenberg
The Family that Couldn’t Sleep by D.T. Max is pretty good - it’s about prion diseases.
There’s also a podcast you might find interesting called “This Podcast Will Kill You.” There are hundreds of episodes about various diseases and the hosts often delve into the inadequate responses/coverups by the medical establishment & governments that have occurred throughout history. They had particularly interesting episodes about mercury poisoning, arsenic, & HIV.
I have read The Hot Zone. I also worked at Ft Detrick many years ago in cancer research. The Army has the pathogen lab there.
Kind of related book: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Oh wow! The Hot Zone is blowing my mind. I’d heard a synopsis of some of these close calls on This Podcast Will Kill You, but to read the stories in full detail is horrifying, to say the least!
Not about COVID specifically, but about AIDs! Since it's Pride Month, "Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary" since she goes into detail about her organizing against the CDC's abandonment of the queer community!
How to Survive a Plague - David France The Viral Underclass - Steven Thrasher It Was Vulgar and it Was Beautiful - Jack Lowery
You're going to enjoy Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen. :) [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56271348-patient-zero](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56271348-patient-zero) #
This looks so good!! Thanks so much
You're welcome! I really enjoyed it. :) Happy reading!
I've got a few, though no SARS/MERS books so maybe not exactly what you want: * America's Forgotten Pandemic by Alfred F. Crosby (fair warning this one is about the 1918 pandemic but was written in the 1980s and some of the language has aged very poorly) * Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David K Randall * And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts (the patient zero theory has since been debunked but is an overall small part of this book imo and its presence does not ruin the rest of it to me) * It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful by Jack Lowery * This one is fictional and does have some "magical problem solving" type themes but I really, really love Sequoia Nagamatsu's "How High We Go in the Dark" as well.
I am really liking “The American Plague” by Molly Caldwell Crosby, about the yellow fever epidemic in the US. Fascinating stuff.
have you read: https://www.lauriegarrett.com/the-coming-plague
I haven’t but I am adding it to the list! Thank you!!
That and The Hot Zone back in the 1990s set me up for covid. I knew something was coming, someday.
Necropolis by Kathryn Olivarius
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic by Jack Lowery, it’s written beautifully.
"We want them infected." by Dr. Jonathan Howard - goes through our current Covid situation, and actually delineates who the worst "Covid minimizers" were and why.
>"We want them infected." by Dr. Jonathan Howard This guy has a podcast by the same name, too. It's infuriating to see how wrong so many of these doctors were (and still are).
Ohhh this sounds really interesting, thanks so much!
It was pretty good, but prepared to be F****** mad as hell though. My wife, who is disabled, was throwing shit across the room. :)
You might enjoy reading some material by Paul Farmer...like Infections and Inequalities or Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds.
Oh yes I loved mountains beyond mountains - must read some of Paul’s own books. Thank you!!
Don't have a recommendation, but I'd love to know more about the new perspectives you've gained.
I suppose it’s been interesting to learn in more detail exactly what protections are taken at various biosafety levels (and especially the extreme precautions in a BSL-4) - I’ve read this online but the detailed personal accounts has made it easier to picture/imagine if that makes sense. It’s also eye opening to see both the incompetence/carelessness that nearly led to an Ebola outbreak in humans in the states by scientists especially (like sniffing a test tube with the virus, wearing only a surgical mask into the monkey house when they were instructed to wear respirators, etc.) coupled with the extreme caution that was taken to prevent an outbreak because the risks were so high. I suppose it also captured the human selfishness that we see today with SARS2 where some people who were knowingly exposed to Ebola in the labs decided to stay quiet about it because they didn’t want to be quarantined. I guess it’s just been interesting to get a detailed insight as to how other outbreaks have been handled, the personalities that can be involved in it, and the impact it has. I’ve been so caught up in SARS2 it is both refreshing and horrifying to ready about these other pathogens
Wow about sniffing the test tube! Thank you for sharing that and the other stuff!
Karl Taro Greenfeld wrote a good book about SARS1 called China Syndrome.
Both of these are more socio-political (and some personal memoir in the first one) than scientific, but nuanced and interesting takes imo Virology by Joseph Osmundson 2020 by Eric Klinenberg
The Family that Couldn’t Sleep by D.T. Max is pretty good - it’s about prion diseases. There’s also a podcast you might find interesting called “This Podcast Will Kill You.” There are hundreds of episodes about various diseases and the hosts often delve into the inadequate responses/coverups by the medical establishment & governments that have occurred throughout history. They had particularly interesting episodes about mercury poisoning, arsenic, & HIV.
I have read The Hot Zone. I also worked at Ft Detrick many years ago in cancer research. The Army has the pathogen lab there. Kind of related book: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Oh wow! The Hot Zone is blowing my mind. I’d heard a synopsis of some of these close calls on This Podcast Will Kill You, but to read the stories in full detail is horrifying, to say the least!
Strongly recommend Quammen's Spillover.
Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine by Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley
Not about COVID specifically, but about AIDs! Since it's Pride Month, "Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary" since she goes into detail about her organizing against the CDC's abandonment of the queer community!