The Power of Plagues: Microbial Threats & Human History | ASM Books | Science Reading for Students & Researchers

I am a scientist who wanted to read outside my narrow expertise to learn more about the history of infectious diseases - this is a great starting point! I have a PhD in parasitology and I have worked on tuberculosis as well, but was interested in when disease outbreaks happened in antiquity and their consequences for society, as well as familiarizing myself with the biology of some pathogens I’ve not read about. Given the current SARS-CoV2 pandemic some lessons can be learned.I recommend this book to a wide audience: any high school student who wants to study science or medicine, all life science undergraduate and postgraduate students, science teachers, curious non-scientists with a degree, and other scientists like myself looking for the human story to microbiology research. This book is academic, so is harder reading than a popular science book, but not as advanced as textbook, I’m not sure non-college educated readers would find it as accessible. However, each chapter of the book is independent, and the reader can pick and choose as they wish.Ancient and modern diseases are discussed, caused by viruses, bacteria, eukaryotic parasites, and prion proteins including: the bubonic and pneumonic plagues, HIV and AIDS, typhus, malaria, cholera, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, and many others. There are many figures explaining the biology, photographs of clinical cases (squeamish readers beware), and reproduced images of famous paintings depicting epidemics, and pop culture. The author Professor Irwin W. Sherman has the credentials to write the book and creates a narrative for each chapter with historical events, and discoveries by distinguished scientists such as Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. It’s a great resource for teaching microbiology as the historical and biographical perspectives will enliven lectures.My only criticisms are - an editor could have improved the structure of the book, and revisions would have honed a more fluent narrative for some of the chapters. Also, there were three pages which were drafts, the sentences were incomplete, one in Chapter 12 on syphilis and the other was a paragraph on Ebola in Chapter 16. This strongly suggests no one proofread the draft before publishing. Nevertheless these are minor points which did not marr a thoroughly enjoyable read. I will certainly reread chapters in the future, especially if I do any microbiology teaching.