Spillover

I love this book because Quammen looks at pandemics in terms of the changing relationships between humans and animals. A master of science writing, he explains how global economic and climate change is bringing us closer contact with many species in the wild—bats, parrots, chimpanzees—whose pathogens can “jump” to domestic animals (pigs and chickens). If you are worried about the bird flu, this is a great book to gain perspective on. 

This book is less about who we are than how we relate to nature. It is important for all of us to be reminded periodically that humans are only actors in a much larger and more powerful environment that operates beyond our control. Many books have been written in the past 50 years about the next pandemic, and David Quammen’s account of how diseases spread from animals to humans is one of the best. For me, it puts the daily feed of political bickering and distant violence in a refreshing perspective, mixed with a level of invigorating nervousness. 

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What I love about Quammen’s science writing is that he immerses himself in the subject. Whether he’s writing about bat caves in Malaysia or the ebola virus killing gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he ingratiates himself with a top scientist working on the problem and gets himself invited on a field trip.

Like a fusion between a travelogue and an Indiana Jones movie, this book is an utterly compelling read that marries the joy (and challenges) of doing science in exotic places with biological lessons that we all need to know about. This awesome book was written… show more.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Quammen investigated the science behind “spillover”—the way that animal illnesses can mutate and infect humans. Given the grim subject matter, I found this nonfiction account of various diseases to be surprisingly engrossing and highly readable. Spillover was one of my inspirational resources when I created my fictional illness for my novel. Quammen shares information about Ebola, SARS, Lyme disease, AIDS, bird flu, and others in this well-researched book.

Sweat, dirty jobs, genetics, viruses, and outstanding journalism are the ingredients of  this wonderful, gripping book that anticipated the coronavirus pandemic. The starting point to understand where the recent pandemics came from, and where to expect the next ones.