Richard Conniff

There are a lot of things to like about Ending Epidemics by Richard Conniff. With COVID still being around this is even more topical than it would have been otherwise, though it would have been worth the read even prior to our current situation.

As science/medical history, this is an excellent read. The writing is concise but relaxed, bringing the reader along as we watch history being made over the years. While science is certainly the focus these are equally engrossing as stories of people doing wonderful things, displaying their curiosity and ingenuity to solve problems while advancing science and medicine.

It was also effective the way he included the relatively mundane things that can help prevent or minimize the effects, such as sanitation, as well as the peripheral inventions in science (improvements to the microscope, for instance) that helped make discoveries possible.

Perhaps one of the things that most speaks to our current situation is how short our memories can be. This isn't just true in this area, but can be more devastating than other examples. When a deadly disease is eradicated or so minimized as to be rare, we forget, as a population, how much pain and death previous generations lived with. Then, when new diseases pop up, as they will, our bigger problem becomes our lack of mental preparedness to take necessary steps even when those steps come far quicker than they ever could have before.

Highly recommended for both the reader with minimal knowledge of virology or epidemiology as well as those with more knowledge of the science but who want to better understand the history.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (altro)

Rats! The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ( Richard Conniff) NY: Crown Publishers: 2002

Informational: Middle 35 pg

Summary: Rats are actually not as dirty as previously thought. They breed quickly and grow quickly. They eat any food they can find and are able to sense poison in food. Many countries try to combat their rat problems by eating them.

Critique: This book was interesting. It used a picture book format but had a LOT of facts on each page. Made learning about rats interesting.

Activity (Before): What are some things you know about rats?
(After) Did you learn anything new?… (altro)