Good books on infectious disease? - not textbooks

[Tipsy McStagger]

More for funsies.

So far I've read:
The Hot Zone
The Pandemic Century

I've like them both. Any other recommendations?

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[rokshana]

More for funsies.

So far I've read:
The Hot Zone
The Pandemic Century

I've like them both. Any other recommendations?

Andromeda strain by Michael Crichton
New Guinea tapeworms and Jewish grandmothers by Robert Desowitz
Outbreak by robin cook
And the band played on by randy Shilts...old book but written at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic which gives a different perspective to this disease and reflective of how far we have come...and not with this disease.

 

[Tipsy McStagger]

Andromeda strain by Michael Crichton
New Guinea tapeworms and Jewish grandmothers by Robert Desowitz
Outbreak by robin cook
And the band played on by randy Shilts...old book but written at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic which gives a different perspective to this disease and reflective of how far we have come...and not with this disease.

Thanks for the reply! I’ve read The Andromeda Strain and all-in-all I like a lot of Crichton’s books.

I just read the description for the tapeworm / grandmother book and it sounds great! I’m going to order it today.

I think I’ve only seen one case of aids so far. In a homeless gentleman who didn’t know he had hiv. Otherwise I’ve seen quite a bit of hiv but really when it comes to aids it seems rarer and rarer at least where I’ve worked and lived. I’ll definitely check out that other book. The chapter about it in Pandemic was good but it’s definitely a disease that deserves its own book. I’ll order ...Band Played On, but I’ll save it for after the Tapeworm book.

Thanks again!

 

[wholeheartedly]

Deadly Outbreaks by Alexandra Levitt
The Woman with a worm in her head by Pamela Nagami
Deadliest Enemy by Michael Osterholm
Outbreak investigations around the world (actuallly a textbook but doesn't read like one as it's a series of case studies)
Inside the Outbreaks by Mark Pendergast (stories of the CDCs EIS fellows)
No time to lose. A life in pursuit of deadly viruses by Peter Piot
The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston
Called for Life by Kent Brantly (the doc who got Ebola and was sent to Emory)
The Pus Whisperer by Mark Crislip (a book of his blog posts for like a buck or two)
Spillover by David Quammen
Beating Back the Devil by Maryn McKenna

Some of the CDC EIS ones start to overlap with the stories, but they're still pretty interesting. Clearly I have a problem...

 

[Tipsy McStagger]

Some of the CDC EIS ones start to overlap with the stories, but they're still pretty interesting. Clearly I have a problem...

Lol, well it's my kind of problem! Thanks for the list, I'll have to triage some of these recommendations and get into it!

 

[OsteopathicThirdLeg]

Microbe hunters - Short histories on early microbiologists from Leeuwenhoek to Ronald Ross. It feels more like a pop history book but its a light read that gets you into the beginnings of microbiology.

And The Band Played On is absolutely excellent. Its a side of the HIV pandemic from the perceptive of patients and doctors that you will rarely see. Outside of falsely blaming Gaëtan dugas as patient zero, the science is great and some stories will tug at your heartstrings.