She Treads Softly: A Short History of Disease

Monday, September 14, 2015

A Short History of Disease

A Short History of Disease by Sean Martin

Oldcastle Books: 9/15/15
eBook review copy; 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9781843444190

A Short History of Disease by Sean Martin is a very highly recommended concise, easy to read history that presents a good overview of infectious and non-infectious diseases.

The book begins with definitions and origins and then is divided up by time periods, from prehistory to modern times. "Analyzing case studies including the Black Death, Spanish Flu, cholera, leprosy, syphilis, cancer, and Ebola, this book systematically maps the development of trends and the latest research on disease into a concise and enlightening timeline." Naturally anything with such a broad scope is not going to contain an exhaustive amount of information covering every faucet of every disease. It does have a nice balance of history and diseases, including how society has handled them over the decades - and spread them.

Contents include: Introduction: Definitions, Origins; Chapter One: Prehistory; Chapter Two: Antiquity; Chapter Three: The Dark and Middle Ages; Chapter Four: The New World; Chapter Five: Early Modern to 1900; Chapter Six: The Twentieth Century; Chapter Seven: New Diseases; Notes, Glossary of Diseases, Bibliography, and Index.

I'll freely admit that I have a fondness for books on diseases and outbreaks of various epidemics or pandemics, so this accessible survey of diseases is right up my alley. I thought Martin did an excellent job presenting the history of diseases in a way that doesn't seem too daunting or overwhelming while including a wealth of pertinent information. As is also my wont, I was thrilled to see that A Short History of Disease includes notes, a bibliography, and index. I really liked the inclusion of a glossary of diseases which I think could be helpful for the novice.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Oldcastle Books for review purposes.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.