I think this was originally a recommendation from Bill Gate’s reading list. Very informative overview of the 1918+ influenza pandemic, and highly relevant for the times we’re living through in 2020. It’s not short, and at times the stories of the personal lives of some of the key scientists involved felt a bit drawn out. However, I felt I came away much more informed about viruses and pandemics than I was before, so would still very much recommend. A few take-aways:
- Medical science was actually more advanced in 1918 than I would have thought. That was largely due to a pretty extreme overhaul of what was a pretty dismal profession in the late 19th century, especially in the US.
- That being said, during the entire pandemic, there actually was not a clear understanding of what was causing it. Medical science had the ability to isolate bacteria and viruses but the techniques were still pretty rudimentary.
- Adding to the lack of scientific clarity was a “complex” relationship with the truth at the time. Due to the war, there was extreme pressure to play down any reporting that could be harmful to morale. This book focuses on the US experience where this pressure was particularly acute, but it was present in most places at the time. A lack of reporting led to people not taking the threat seriously until it was too late. The stories of how badly things got bungled as a result were chilling and the parallels to today are equally so.
- There is really good (although at times dense) explanation of the science of how viruses work, how they evolve, and how our immune systems react to them. Highly relevant for better understanding the current pandemic as well.
- Interestingly, there is also a real paucity of accounts of the experience. I.e. the major writers of the subsequent era like Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, are all effectively silent on it. That being said, there’s no question it left an impact, so it’s probably just that we don’t understand it as well as we do some other major events of the time.