Spillover – Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic - Softcover

Quammen, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393346617 ISBN 13: 9780393346619

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013

Synopsis

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Scientific American Best Book of the Year, and a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Ebola, SARS, Hendra, AIDS, and countless other deadly viruses all have one thing in common: the bugs that transmit these diseases all originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. In this gripping account, David Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge and asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be?

About this title

Review:

David Quammen [is] one of that rare breed of science journalists who blend exploration with a talent for synthesis and storytelling.--Nathan Wolfe

An adventure-filled page-turner...told from the front lines of pandemic prevention.--Lizzie Wade

David Quammen might be my favorite living science writer: amiable, erudite, understated, incredibly funny, profoundly humane.--Kathryn Schulz

Quammen balances the technical terms with gorily gripping description and scenes from his own fearless journeys...But his real gift is his writing, with its nice balance of reverence and whimsy.--Chloë Schama

Quammen's more teacher than Jeremiah. So he calms when he can; but he's blunt when he must be.--Jeffrey Burke

The scariest book you'll read this year.

[An] ambitious and encyclopedic voyage...Mr. Quammen does a beautiful job of showing how so much of scientific knowledge is provisional, with great unknowns about infectious diseases.--Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone

This is a frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting that reads like a detective story. David Quammen takes us on a quest to understand AIDS, Ebola, and other diseases that share a frightening commonality: they all jumped from wild animals to humans. By explaining this growing trend, Quammen not only provides a warning about the diseases we will face in the future, he also causes us to reflect on our place as humans in the earth's ecosystem.--Walter Isaacson, author of Leonardo Da Vinci

Book Description:

A gripping and timely book about the transmission of highly dangerous diseases from animal to human populations.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0393346617
• ISBN 13: 9780393346619
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 592