Get Well Soon
Ratings11
Average rating4.3
"A humorous book about history's worst plagues from the Antonine Plague, to leprosy, to polio and the heroes who fought them In 1518, in a small town in France, Frau Troffea began dancing and didn't stop. She danced herself to her death six days later, and soon thirty-four more villagers joined her. Then more. In a month more than 400 people had died from the mysterious dancing plague. In late-nineteenth-century England an eccentric gentleman founded the No Nose Club in his gracious townhome a social club for those who had lost their noses, and other body parts, to the plague of syphilis for which there was then no cure. And in turn-of-the-century New York, an Irish cook caused two lethal outbreaks of typhoid fever, a case that transformed her into the notorious Typhoid Mary and led to historic medical breakthroughs. Throughout time, humans have been terrified and fascinated by the plagues they've suffered from. Get Well Soon delivers the gruesome, morbid details of some of the worst plagues in human history, as well as stories of the heroic figures who fought to ease their suffering. With her signature mix of in-depth research and upbeat storytelling, and not a little dark humor, Jennifer Wright explores history's most gripping and deadly outbreaks."--
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This was really interesting and horrifying in turn. Like Wright's other book I read earlier this year, I didn't always like some of the joking asides, but still really enjoyed the book. Fascinating stuff.
I expected this book to be more science based. I was happily wrong. It is more about society and their response to plagues. It is a quick read and really makes you think. It is clever and funny. It is so interesting!
“When the community as a whole swings into action, plagues can be overcome relatively swiftly. That almost never happens.”
As 2020 bleeds seamlessly into 2021 for large parts of the world, this seemed like an appropriate read, particularly because it was written before the outbreak we're dealing with now. I was wondering how prescient this book would be in light of what we know now.... and it turns out, history continues to repeat itself. Who knew.
There's lots of good information in this book. I liked the inclusion of plagues I hadn't heard of before (hello Dancing Plague), and there was some good info here on everything included. What really ended up irking me more and more as the book went on was the tongue-in-cheek nature of the writing. I totally get wanting to make something serious and inherently sad and morbid like plagues into something more approachable for the average person, but I think the author went a little too far. Several times I kept mentally checking out because the author went on one of her tangents intended to ultimately draw a laugh from the reader rather than inform them. I also thought the chapter on Lobotomies – while informative and something I didn't know much about aside from the general idea – was a weird inclusion. Less a plague and more a psychotic guy mutilating brains.
If you're willing and able to read through the “lets see how many jokes about syphilis we can fit in” nature of the book, there really is a lot of good information, from a high level at least. Otherwise, maybe pass on this one in favor of something more academic.
