A very timely book that makes for not just a relevant comparison to our current moment, but also simply fascinating reading by a renowned epidemiologist.
TEN PLAGUES:
An Untold Story of Human Pandemics and Why They Still Plague Us
by Dr. John Froude & Bob Berman
Benbella, January 2021
In 1918, in just under a year, 50 million people worldwide died from influenza. In the twentieth century alone, 400 million people died from smallpox, tuberculosis and AIDS. That’s sixteen times more than all the soldiers killed in every human war, combined. Pandemics historically occur at the rate of two new ones per century. And often times, the plagues we may have not yet seen will arise as AIDS did, with little or no warning. These catastrophes deserve serious attention. This book re-examines these global cataclysms in a new way, with DNA research and with technologies which allow us to consider the importance of plagues in human history, their effects, why we have them, how they arise, and how they have been misunderstood. It also explores our intimate relationship with the primary cause of plagues, the tiny creatures that kill us by the millions. TEN PLAGUES covers the origins, histories, and cultural impacts of yellow fever, smallpox, syphilis, bubonic plague, influenza, typhus, cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, and more. The story of each is interspersed with chapters that explore the science and the quirky, often astonishing facts behind these universal threats. The authors started writing before the onset of COVID-19, but the incredible timing makes this book a significant resource for readers trying to learn not just how things got this way, but also what history might be able to tell us about what the future holds.
John Froude, MD FRCP is board certified not just as a Doctor of Internal medicine but also as an expert in Infectious Diseases. He has taught lectures on epidemiology and medicine as an Assistant Professor at NYU and continues practicing in upstate New York.
Bob Berman is the bestselling author of several significant works like Earth-Shattering: Violent Supernovas, Galactic Explosions, Biological Mayhem, Nuclear Meltdowns, and Other Hazards to Live in Our Universe. He is also known for having co-written (with Robert Lanza) Biocentrism, Beyond Biocentrism, and The Grand Biocentric Design, among other published works.
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THE SHADOWS is the story of Chloe Davis, a psychologist coming up on the 20th anniversary of the event that destroyed her family: the day when, as a 12 year old, she found a critical piece of evidence that proved her father was a serial killer, and which would lead to his being convicted for the murders of six teenage girls. And while the freight of those events has followed her like a shadow ever since, it’s also the thing she has spent her entire adult life fighting and overcoming. Now 32, Chloe seems to have won. She has built a thriving practice as a psychologist in Baton Rouge, (using her own childhood trauma to help other young, troubled girls), fostered a rich community of friends, has even managed to work through her trust issues, and is engaged to be married to a loving and supportive partner. But behind those hopeful outlines of a normal, happy life lurk paranoia, unhealthy choices, and the steady ticking of dread that, at any moment, Chloe’s carefully-constructed equilibrium might come crashing down around her… And on the eve of that 20th anniversary, it does…