"The Ghost Map" by Steven Johnson. A Review
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson My rating: 5 of 5 stars With thousands of reviews on this book infesting the cyber-market (it has been out since 2006), I'll simply address what I found enjoyable and informative about the book. Steven Johnson, author of eleven books, host of a PBS series, and podcaster, takes an all-too-easily-forgotten moment in epidemiological history and narrates it with intrigue and allure. The author has masterfully crafted an historical event into a highly readable novella. It's summer 1854; the place is the Soho district of London; and the main actors are Doctor John Snow and the Reverend Henry Whitehead, with the principle role played by none other than the virtuoso, Vibrio Cholerea (cholera). The tale unfolds in a city crammed with 2 million people whose sanitary and drinking-water infrastructure makes one's skin crawl, and a sickly infan...