Everyone needs a good beach read—especially people who spend their days thinking about disease. That’s why, with the help of Ohio State University Life Sciences Librarian Amanda Rinehart, the Infectious Diseases Institute will be posting a book of the week, every week until autumn semester classes begin on August 24, 2021.
Week One:
Our first featured book is The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson. This is the story of a cholera-stricken, post-industrial revolution London—and how physician John Snow tracked down the source of the disease outbreak.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Two:
The second book we're reading is The Great Influenza, by John M. Barry. This New York Times Bestseller tells the tale of the 1918 outbreak of influenza in the midst of the first world war.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Three:
The third installation of this series is Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus, by Bill Wasik, which dives into the vibrant history of rabies.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Four:
Book Four is The American Plague, by Molly Caldwell Crosby! Pick up this book to learn the untold story of yellow fever, which majorly impacted the early United States.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Five:
Week five's book tells the tale of a storied disease: Bubonic Plague. The Great Mortality, by author John Kelly.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Six:
This New York Times Bestseller breaks down the origins of Ebola. Check out The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Seven:
Following up on last week's The Hot Zone, we have another book by Richard Preston: The Demon in the Freezer
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Eight:
This week's installment is Pale Rider by Laura Spinney, which is another look at the 1918 Spanish Flu.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Nine:
One week left to go! Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 by author Elizabeth Fenn tells the story of smallpox sweeping colonial America at the height of the American Revolution.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Week Ten:
Closing out the Diseased Reads Summer Book Series is Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by Ohio-born author David Quammen. This 2012 book has a new potency given the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Here’s where you can find the book:
HONORABLE MENTION:
John Green's The Anthropocene Reviewed gets an honorable mention on this list because of his essays on Viral Meningitis, Staphylococcus aureus, and the Plague.
Here’s where you can find the book:
Follow us on Twitter @IDIatOSU for book announcements and updates!