Steven Johnson

A historical chronicle of Victorian London's worst cholera outbreak traces the day-by-day efforts of Dr. John Snow, who put his own life on the line in his efforts to prove his previously dismissed contagion theory about how the epidemic was spreading. 80,000 first printing.

The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and how it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

The Ghost Map

Cindy Lieberman

Engaging story of the persistent scientist who debunked the prevailing "wisdom" of how cholera was passed along. In the near future I envision a similar book about how people in the 20-teens "discovered" what causes global warming....

Amanda Valentin

Kerry Gibbons

Though I enjoyed this book and feel that I learned quite a bit (I knew little about cholera or the just-pre-germ theory medicine), I did find the book rather repetitive and also the conclusion and epilogue went so far off-topic that I found myself rolling my eyes a bit.

Interesting that the author never mentioned the concept of infographics (what the "ghost maps" were and the effectiveness of visual communication in conveying complex patterns and vast amounts of data quickly. He breezily touched on it at the beginning of the conclusion, but I felt that deserved a bit more verbiage than the potential of worldwide annual nuclear terrorist attacks on urban centers.

A historical chronicle of Victorian London's worst cholera outbreak traces the day-by-day efforts of Dr. John Snow, who put his own life on the line in his efforts to prove his previously dismissed contagion theory about how the epidemic was spreading. Reprint.

The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

Jeremy Anderberg

“This is how great intellectual breakthroughs usually happen in practice. It is rarely the isolated genius having a eureka moment alone in the lab. Nor is it merely a question of building on precedent, of standing on the shoulders of giants, in Newton’s famous phrase. Great breakthroughs are closer to what happens in a flood plain: a dozen separate tributaries converge, and the rising waters lift the genius high enough that he or she can see around the conceptual obstructions of the age.”

I started The Ghost Map a few weeks ago (which feels like months…) in hopes of understanding our current pandemic a little better. I knew Steven’s work from his wisdom-soaked Farsighted, and I knew he’d take a bird’s-eye, multidisciplinary view of things. The Ghost Map did not disappoint in that regard, and is one of the more memorable books I’ve read in the last few years. (Of course, it’ll stick with me for a long time for no other reason than it’s now associated with this crazy period in time.)

Anyways, the bulk of the narrative takes places over roughly the first 150 pages. A cholera outbreak in London in 1854 takes the lives of 700 residents in basically one neighborhood. It wasn’t the city’s deadliest outbreak, but it was the one that most managed to change the world later on. Really, cholera was a side affect of London itself; such a dense, infrastructure-less city was experiencing epidemics every few years. The leading science of the day figured cholera was an airborne disease; the thinking went that the putrid smells in the air carried the bacteria from person to person.

But one man came along (with help from others, of course) and proved them all wrong by drawing detailed maps about people’s water-drinking habits. In fact, John Snow tracked the disease back to the very water pump that wreaked havoc on that poor neighborhood. This “ghost map” revolutionized not only the infant field of epidemiology, but urban planning too. The outbreak of ‘54 led to London’s most impressive architectural feat: it’s sewer system. That network of pipes proved that major urban areas could handle the literal waste of all its inhabitants. It paved the way for every megacity to follow.

In a couple of lengthy concluding chapters, Johnson tackles urbanism as a whole. He tracks its successes through the centuries and also its threats. At the top of that latter list is nuclear war and pandemic; Johnson, well-versed in history and epidemiology, has some really interesting (and hopeful) ideas about the future of pandemics in large societies. I found this long postlude of sorts to be just as interesting as the main narrative, if not more so. There are numerous lessons to be had for today, and it in fact feels like it could have been written in the last month:

“However profound the threats are that confront us today, they are solvable, if we acknowledge the underlying problem, if we listen to science and not superstition, if we keep a channel open for dissenting voices that might actually have real answers.”

Johnson writes with a storytelling flare that’s hard to beat in non-fiction writing. While it may seem a bit masochistically distressing to read about disease in the midst of a pandemic, this is a unique book that focuses on optimism rather than the pestilence itself. I can’t wait to read his new book, which is about pirates. So that’s cool.

Emily C Peterson

This was really good until the super weird conclusion and epilogue...

Ben Blumenrose

very interesting look at design research, design, history, disease, urbanization, etc.

The Ghost Map The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and how it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

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