Feeling tired, achy, and congested? You'll hope not after reading science writer Gina Kolata's engrossing Flu, a fascinating look at the 1918 epidemic that wiped out around 40 million people in less than a year and afflicted more than one of every four Americans. This tragedy, just on the heels of
World War I and far more deadly, so traumatized the survivors that few would talk about it afterward. Kolata reports on the scientific investigation of this bizarre outbreak, in particular the attempts to sequence the
virus' DNA from
tissue samples of victims. She also looks at the social and personal effects of the disease, from improved public health awareness to the loss of productivity. (The…
This book reads like a work of fiction, but every word is fact. The story of the devastation of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the subsequent decades-long search for the virus that caused it will… This is a rare book. A history book that reads like a popular book. The author did an excellent job of covering a difficult subject with enough science to make it relevant, but with a style that makes…
