Spillover
Animal Infections and the next Human Pandemic
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WW Norton
A Booklist Top 10 Science Book of 2012, a 2012 New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and a Daily Beast "Top 11 Book of 2012"
A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases.
Baker & Taylor … More »
A Booklist Top 10 Science Book of 2012, a 2012 New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and a Daily Beast "Top 11 Book of 2012"
A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases.
Baker & Taylor … More »
WW Norton
A Booklist Top 10 Science Book of 2012, a 2012 New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and a Daily Beast "Top 11 Book of 2012"
A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases.
Baker & Taylor
Examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called "spillover" where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic.
Norton Pub
A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases.
The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia—but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. David Quammen tracks this subject around the world. He recounts adventures in the field—netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo—with the world’s leading disease scientists. In Spillover Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and he asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be?
Book News
In this wake-up call for general readers, Quammen, a science reporter for National Geographic, reports on the latest research about zoonoses (animal infections transmissible to humans) and delves into 20th century outbreaks such as Ebola, SARS, and AIDS to predict elements of the next lethal global virus, which he argues will probably originate in animals. He interviews scientists and public health officials around the world to see which animal it might be, and charts the human actions that actually facilitate outbreaks of new zoonotic diseases, such as global travel, global import and export, and climate change. The book includes an extensive bibliography. The author has written other works of popular science. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Baker
& Taylor
Examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called “spillover” where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic. 70,000 first printing.
« Less
A Booklist Top 10 Science Book of 2012, a 2012 New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and a Daily Beast "Top 11 Book of 2012"
A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases.
Baker & Taylor
Examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called "spillover" where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic.
Norton Pub
A masterpiece of science reporting that tracks the animal origins of emerging human diseases.
The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia—but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. David Quammen tracks this subject around the world. He recounts adventures in the field—netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo—with the world’s leading disease scientists. In Spillover Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and he asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be?
Book News
In this wake-up call for general readers, Quammen, a science reporter for National Geographic, reports on the latest research about zoonoses (animal infections transmissible to humans) and delves into 20th century outbreaks such as Ebola, SARS, and AIDS to predict elements of the next lethal global virus, which he argues will probably originate in animals. He interviews scientists and public health officials around the world to see which animal it might be, and charts the human actions that actually facilitate outbreaks of new zoonotic diseases, such as global travel, global import and export, and climate change. The book includes an extensive bibliography. The author has written other works of popular science. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Baker
& Taylor
Examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called “spillover” where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic. 70,000 first printing.
« Less
Alternate Title:
Animal infections and the next human pandemic
Imprint:
New York - WW Norton & Co
Pages:
587
Edition:
1st ed
ISBN:
9780393066807, 0393066800
Language:
English
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (p. [531]-558) and index
Statement of responsibility:
David Quammen
Characteristics:
587 p. ;,25 cm.
Author (Original Script):
Quammen, David
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Add a CommentThis was a wonderfully written book and an eye-opening read. Highly informative and exceedingly interesting; Quammen excels at taking very complex science and making it both accessible to the lay person and engaging reading. His narrative on the course of AIDS is especially recommended reading!!
Best Nonfiction of 2012! Reads beautifullly. Facinating story of science trackign the wonder of the world of viruses. Great for book clubs or anyone interested in the future of homo sapiens.
Ignore the cover. This is NOT a scaremongering book. Obviously the book publisher chose a blurred photo of a baboon and a subtitle intended to titillate and sensationalize. Thankfully, the author does no such thing. This is science writing at its best. You will learn, for instance, why Ebola and Marburg virus are unlikely to ever pose a threat to you if you stay away from the droppings of certain African bats. You will also learn that, contrary to widespread misinformation, deer are not the culprits in spreading Lyme disease - field mice are. You will also learn why bird flu is perhaps the most likely source for a global pandemic, and most likely to originate around pigs, which can harbor both bird and human flu, allowing for recombinations to occur that could combine the transmissibility of human flu with the mortality rate of bird flu.
This book is on The Economist's top reads for 2012 and deservedly so. Although detailed and thorough, it is highly readable. The author's wry sense of humour offsets the truly horrifying descriptions of the effects of various zoonotic diseases, those passed from animals to humans. (Hint: stay away from bats!) The chapter on the source and history of HIV is particularly fascinating.
If you've been avoiding getting your flu shot, you do not want to read this book, in which science writer David Quammen describes some of the scariest diseases on earth -- including SARS, AIDS, and Ebola -- and discusses possible candidates for the NBO, or "Next Big One." And there will be one, Quammen predicts, due to an exponential increase in the (increasingly mobile and meat-eating) human population coupled with ongoing ecological devastation. And it will most likely result from "spillover," in which infectious diseases in animals are transmitted to humans, resulting in familiar maladies such as avian flu, as well as lesser-known (but no less virulent) scourges such as Nipah, Hendra, and Marburg. For another eye-opening journalistic work about epidemics, try Nathan Wolfe's The Viral Storm. Nature and Science newsletter December 2012 http://www.nextreads.com/Display2.aspx?SID=5acc8fc1-4e91-4ebe-906d-f8fc5e82a8e0&N=581853
This is a well-written book, and it is well-researched. Knowledge of biological sciences would help the reader appreciate some of the finer points.