The Ghost Map
A Street, an Epidemic and the Two Men Who Battled to Save Victorian London
Ratings39
Average rating3.8
15
A Street, an Epidemic and the Two Men Who Battled to Save Victorian London
Ratings39
Average rating3.8
A thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London-and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science, and the modern world.From the dynamic thinker routinely compared to Malcolm Gladwell, E. O. Wilson, and James Gleick, The Ghost Map is a riveting page-turner with a real-life historical hero that brilliantly illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of viruses, rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry. These are topics that have long obsessed Steven Johnson, and The Ghost Map is a true triumph of the kind of multidisciplinary thinking for which he's become famous-a book that, like the work of Jared Diamond, presents both vivid history and a powerful and provocative explanation of what it means for the world we live in.The Ghost Map takes place in the summer of 1854. A devastating cholera outbreak seizes London just as it is emerging as a modern city: more than 2 million people packed into a ten-mile circumference, a hub of travel and commerce, teeming with people from all over the world, continually pushing the limits of infrastructure that's outdated as soon as it's updated. Dr. John Snow-whose ideas about contagion had been dismissed by the scientific community-is spurred to intense action when the people in his neighborhood begin dying. With enthralling suspense, Johnson chronicles Snow's day-by-day efforts, as he risks his own life to prove how the epidemic is being spread.When he creates the map that traces the pattern of outbreak back to its source, Dr. Snow didn't just solve the most pressing medical riddle of his time. He ultimately established a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers, city planners, physicians, and public officials think about the spread of disease and the development of the modern urban environment.The Ghost Map is an endlessly compelling and utterly gripping account of that London summer of 1854, from the microbial level to the macrourban-theory level-including, most important, the human level.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was fascinating - I love those rare times when a non-fiction book is a page-turner for me! I really couldn't put this down. The insight into the lowest classes of London society and their waste recycling/removal work, the descriptions of living conditions for average people, and how neighborhoods changed and were redesigned around class issues. All really interesting background that set the stage for a good understanding of the cholera outbreak and Dr. Snow's work.
And of course, the horrifying-yet-fascinating descriptions of filth, human waste, and the story of the well being contaminated were captivating. Awful, but incredibly compelling. And seeing John Snow, brilliant at medical observation and analysis, zeroing in on the problem, it really was like a good detective story.
I felt like the book should have just stopped at the end of the cholera story, or gone in a different direction altogether and been structured around how humans live in cities, with the cholera story as one example. Instead, we have a book about the cholera outbreak, then a weird chapter tacked on the end that navel-gazes about city living, terrorism vs. disease as our big fear, and such. It just didn't fit. But it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book overall. Definitely highly recommended!
Too many rambling detours on the way to the subject of the title. Abandoned halfway through, before mention of any maps. Once I found that I was only skimming through filler for relevant content, instead of reading for enjoyment, I set the book down for good.
This got very repetitive. Overall though, interesting topic I knew nothing about. Epidemiological study of cholera in London.
Every so often I get dreamy about what it would be like to time travel to Victorian England.
NOPE. Not any more. Holy cow, cholera sucks. Modern plumbing is awesome. That was my takeaway.
