Should be called “an American history of the great influenza”

The great influenza was a worldwide phenomenon. Whilst I appreciate the importance of a short history of the medical profession, I don’t understand why this goes into such depth and (amazingly) almost totally concentrated on the history of the American medical tradition. I stopped listening after chapter 2. Either provide a balanced review, or make clear that this is only a partial history from the perspective of the USA. Very annoying.

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6 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Good description what happened during that time.

Ich finde das Buch sehr empfehlenswert. Weniger wegen der Beschreibung der damaligen Pandemie an sich, sondern wie sich die wissenschaftliche Forschung und Ausbildung in der Medizin damals gewandelt hat. Wie viele Warnsignale zu Beginn der Pandemie übersehen bzw. bewusst unterdrückt wurden. Und was für eine ausweglose Situation sich dadurch entwickelt hat.

Daher ist das Buch ein gutes Beispiel wie wichtig Pressefreiheit, Unabhängigkeit der Wissenschaft und fähige Führungspersönlichkeiten sind. Auf die wir achten müssen, damit sich so etwas nicht wiederholt.

Was man eventuell als Nachteil sehen kann, ist, dass die Geschehnisse sehr detailliert beschrieben werden und wirklich jeder erwähnt wird, dem Ehre gebührt, sodass das Buch sehr umfangreich ist. Das Wichtigste wird aber immer wiederholt, sodass man problemlos nach einer Pause wieder lesen/hören kann.

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I can highly recommend the book. Less because of the description of the pandemic itself, but how scientific research and medical training changed during that time. How many warning signals were overlooked or deliberately suppressed at the start of the pandemic. And what a hopeless situation this then created.

Therefore, the book is a good example of how important freedom of the press, independence of science and capable leaders are. Therefore, we have to take care that something like that does not happen again.

What can be seen as a disadvantage is that the events are described very detailed and really everyone is mentioned who deserves credit, so the book has a large scale. However, the most important things are always repeated, so that you can easily keep reading / listening after a break.

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A book everyone should read

The book opened my eyes to the history behind WWI and the way medicine evolved from the old ways to modern medicine. Also, the author should be taped on the back by everyone since he described exactly what DID happen with Coronavirus. The man warned that sth like that was coming and will keep coming.
Also, the book gives all of us who lived through Coronavirus and its variations a chill to read the way people behaved in 1918 towards each other and how similar human responses are.

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Read "Pale Rider" by Laura Spinney instead!

The man has words. lots of words. many words. words, he is unafraid to use. words he is unafraid to repeat. you will learn about early American medicine and what the people learning it liked to eat, who they socialised with, what they felt, how they cared for their petry dishes. you will wait until chapter 14 until the actual topic of the book is broached. then you will listen, repeatedly, to how scared people were. how terrified, mortified, petrified even. How even the nurses, the student nurses, the ex nurses, the retired nurses, the women who had thought about being nurses even were drafted in then fled, left, departed, chucked it in, gave up in terror, in fear, in fright.

if you enjoyed that style of writing, then this book is for you. The speaker obliges the overblown style of the book by giving every sentence a sense of breathless drama, even when describing the living quarters and preferred gentleman's club of Welch. If you want to waste 14 hours listening to something that could have been said in five - this is the book for you. If you want to learn something about the Spanish flu, read Pale Rider.

And Mr Barry should have sacked his editor. Or vice versa.

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2 Leute fanden das hilfreich