A National Bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book, and an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year
It's the summer of 1854, and London is just emerging as one of the first modern cities in the world. But lacking the infrastructure-garbage removal, clean water, sewers-necessary to support its rapidly expanding population, the city has become the perfect breeding ground for a terrifying disease no one knows how to cure. As the cholera outbreak takes hold, a physician and a local curate are spurred to action-and ultimately solve the most pressing medical riddle of their time.
In a triumph of multidisciplinary thinking, Johnson illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of disease, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry, offering both a riveting history and a powerful explanation of how it has shaped the world we live in.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Absolutely riveting Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. This book immediately grabs you and dumps you into the wretchedness and filth that is London in 1854. Before this book, I couldn't have told you what cholera was or how it is prevented/cured, but now I can. My only complaint is that the photo/graphic of the actual ghost map is not featured very prominently. It would have been wonderful to have more and larger photos of the actual map to peruse. It's almost difficult to understand if the map shown is the actual... more info
Dr John Snow and the transmission of cholera Many years ago, I read the monograph of Dr John Snow ("On the mode of communication of cholera") originally published in 1854 after the famous Broad Street outbreak of cholera which is described in the book of Steven Johnson, "The ghost map".
But at that time, I was unable to fully understand the historical background in which Dr Snow lived and the details of how he made his fundamental discovery of the transmission of cholera by water. I did'nt even know Henry Whitehead and how important he was in... more info
Scientific research at its best This is wonderful account of scientific research on 19th century conducted not with high tech instruments but with an open and inquisitive mind and ground work. It eventually traces the cause of cholera to water when all the medics were sure at that time that diseases like this were transmitted by air in the form of foul smells. What is really amazing is that the works of Dr. Snow and Reverend Whitehead points to water as the source but they did not have any means to identify or propose what was wrong in... more info
Definitely Worth The Read The book kept me glued for 180 pages straight. Very compelling read for the genre. There are some negatives though. The book often dwells far too long on topics not all that relevant or necessary to the story. You get the filling that the author added a lot of filler to make the book longer. This feeling is stressed by the fact that the author repeats himself A LOT. He will literally say the same thing reworded three times in a row and repeat it once more in the next paragraph. Still, I loved the book and I... more info
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