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    Hot Zone
    Hot Zone
    Hot Zone
    Audiobook11 hours

    Hot Zone

    Written by Richard Preston

    Narrated by Richard M. Davidson

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 8, 2011
    ISBN9781442343313
    Hot Zone
    Author

    Richard Preston

    Richard Preston is an internationally acclaimed bestselling author of eight books, including The Hot Zone and The Wild Trees. He has won numerous awards, including the American Institute of Physics Award and the National Magazine Award, and he is the only person not a medical doctor ever to receive the Centers for Disease Control’s Champion of Prevention Award for public health. He lives with his wife and three children near Princeton, New Jersey.

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    Reviews for Hot Zone

    4.5/5

    188 ratings65 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The Hot Zone By:Richard Preston The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is about the Ebola virus. For many years the Ebola virus has been lurking in the shadows. Now it is coming out. Throughout the book there have been many cases of Ebola found in Africa. This is the place where the virus first became known. Soon, the virus spreads to the United States of America. Undetected by many civilians, only a few people from the CDC and USAMRIID know about the cases of Ebola. In a monkey house in Virginia monkeys are starting to become sick. Doctors working with the monkeys find out that they tested positive for Ebola. The whole entire monkey house then goes into quarantine. People still today do not realise how close we were to an Ebola outbreak in America. Richard Preston did an unbelievable job in making this non-fiction novel a thriller. It is a true page turner. As you get into the book you start to realise how deadly Ebola can be and how close we were to getting it. Richard Preston did a great job in his vocabulary use by making the novel not to hard to understand, but by still keeping it interesting. Usually some non-fiction books could be boring and filled to the brim with facts, but this was just in the middle and just right. Overall, it was an exciting adventure and learning experience. Although this book was incredible, there was some downsides to it. During the book I thought there became too many short stories that intertwined with each other. It became a little confusing. Another downside to the book was that there was way too many characters. Some characters were in completely different short stories making it become confusing while reading. At times it became hard to follow. Still even with the downsides this was a great book to read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A brilliant book. One you can listen to again and again.
    • 5/5
      Excellent story! Preston knows how to pull us in to an important event that probably few people ever knew about. Pretty scary stuff. And I agree with him. Maybe earth isn’t meant to be home to so many billions of people and viruses are her way to thin our population.
    • 5/5
      I was hooked from the first page I never thought I would like a book about a virus as my preconceived notion is that it would be too technical and too detailed. I also don't read a lot of strictly non-fiction. However, Preston has done a great job into making it into a mystery/novel form. I've read it twice!
    • 3/5
      The opening chapters of this book are utterly revolting. In a good way. Seriously. After about page 40, I set the book down and went and washed my hands nine times in a vat of boiling Purell. Afterwards, I returned to the book, only to find it settling into the groove of a pretty standard, maybe better than average, "true medical thriller." Still a good, creepy read, though.
    • 5/5
      This read very much like a thriller, keeping me turning pages. It was a terrifying piece of non-fiction full of gory and gruesome details regarding the pathology of Ebola
    • 5/5
      As the ebola crisis continues, this book is both topical and relevant. Preston recounts an outbreak of a highly infectious and deadly virus among monkeys in a laboratory in Washington D.C. in the early 1990?s. He traces the history of the virus, explaining in detail the different strains and their origins. Though heavy in science, the book is reads more like a science thriller, begging the reader to continue reading. Preston?s descriptions are gripping and graphic, so younger readers may need to be forewarned. This text would make a good addition to a nonfiction collection.
    • 5/5
      WOW - Ebola and other killer viruses and the scientists who study them. Did you know there was an outbreak of Ebola virus among monkeys kept in a suburban Washington DC laboratory? Neither did I, until I read this book. Nonfiction that reads like the best medical thriller.
    • 4/5
      Wow, what an experience it was reading this piece of non-fiction. My field is in environmental health and this really is like the type of thing that epidemiologists prepare for yet hope never happens. It's frightening and real and a very good read.
    • 5/5
      Preston's history about the ebola virus reads like science fiction, and that makes it frightening. Very accessible, very interesting, very gripping, very timely with the current news. I enjoyed it a lot.
    • 3/5
      I have come to think that Ebola is a thoroughly unpleasant experience.
    • 5/5
      Stephen King is right this was a scary read, especially because this is a real.

      Everything you wanted to or maybe did not want to know about Ebola. Including a strain of Ebola that was in the US in the 1989 well before our most recent scare. Yes, there is more than one strain and the strain that is in the news is a strain with a 50-90 percent mortality rate.

    • 5/5
      Read at a very poignant time, so had a very powerful effects. The reviews are right: this is an absolutely terrifying book. This work shows why we should not grow too comfortable with not knowing about these extremely lethal and contagious viruses.
    • 4/5
      The first non-fiction book I read that wasn't assigned by a professor. Scared the daylights out of me. The movie stunk.
    • 4/5
      This book is a good read, more so because it is written in a narrative style evocative of a fictional thriller, and the result is that you're turning the pages frantically while at the same time it is scaring the hell out of you.

      Ironically enough, this same aspect restrained me from giving 5 stars.The descriptions of what the victims of hemorrhagic viruses undergo are very gory and embellished with hyperbole, obviously for shock value. These viruses do not really liquefy your organs, that is a bit of overstatement.

      However the research put into this book, and the knowledge gained from within its pages, makes this a groundbreaking attempt to bring the mystique of these exotic and deadly organisms to the attention of the reading public. If you want to understand the nature of the current (2014) Ebola epidemic in West Africa, this book is the perfect place to start.
      I highly recommend it
    • 4/5
      My 14-year old niece was assigned this book for summer reading and didn't want to read it, so I told her I would read along. Good timing, considering the current Ebola outbreak (2014). It's a fast read and quite gruesome in places; the biggest impression it made on me was not the effects on humans but the use humans made of lab primates to gauge transmission routes and effectiveness of drugs. Inexcusable. So yes, I'd say this book had a huge impact on me, although not necessarily the one the author intended.
    • 5/5
      We're doomed. This book truly is scary. I had heard of Ebola many times but this really brought to home just how horrifying and deadly it really is. The day that virus mutates into an airborne pathogen is the day the human race faces extinction.

      And if you thought descriptions of the Black Plague were bad you ain't seen nothing yet. Death by filovirus would have to be one of the worst ways to go. Your body literally liquifies while you are still alive. Blood pours from every orifice. Every organ fails and half of them pass out of your body before you're gone. You end up a mess of slime and bone.

      We have close many times and it's getting more likely that we will soon face a serious pandemic. Let's just hope it's not something with a mortality rate like Ebola Zaire.
    • 4/5
      This book introduces us to filo viruses, a class of viruses that are rather rare and have a high mortality rate. With the current outbreak going on in Africa, Ebola is the best known of them. It is written like a thriller, taking the first cases of Marburg in Europe as a starting point, covering the ensuing search for the origin of the virus and outbreaks in the previous century. Preston introduces us to people that came into contact one way or another with the virus - as patients that died or survived, as doctors, as researchers. This gives the disease reality. He then goes on to cover an outbreak among monkeys in Reston, right in the heart of the US. How it was discovered and dealt with.

      Along the way he covers other diseases that come seemingly out of nowhere and touches on the AIDS epidemic. In his conclusion he considers that such viruses may be a way that nature under pressure seeks to restore a balance. Very readable and really, truly scary.
    • 4/5
      Terrifying, disgusting, unsettling...and completely fascinating. Not for the squeamish or those who are not interested in this type of subject. Written in a very entertaining style that reads like fiction without any dry, scientific information that would put the non-scientist to sleep.
    • 5/5
      This is the bestselling non-fiction account of the mysterious history of the Ebola virus and of an outbreak of what appeared to be an airborne variant among monkeys in a facility outside Washington DC, which scared the pants off pretty much everybody when it was first published back in the early 90s. Everybody but me, that is, because for some reason it took me this long to finally get around to reading the thing. Well, I can report that it's still really freaking scary. It is, in fact, terrifying and horrific and deeply fascinating, and so gripping that I truly had difficulty putting it down to go to bed (and not just because I was mildly worried that it might give me nightmares). And now I don't think I'm ever going to be able to look at any of those plague-wipes-out-humanity post-apocalyptic science fiction stories the same way again. That scenario is way, way more plausible than I really want to think about.
    • 3/5
      As seems to be the usual with these books, a bit on the alarmist side. BUT lots and lots of great stories of outbreaks, near outbreaks, scientific triumphs and scientific infighting from all over the world.
    • 5/5
      This book is difficult to read because of the graphic details the author presents. A fascinating read though and extremely well-written. If you have the stomach for it, well worth reading!! (Thanks, Jay, for the recommendation.)
    • 4/5
      Frightening stuff.
    • 4/5
      Terrifying to start, dwindled towards it's conclusion. A good read/listen
    • 3/5
      I re-read this on the brink of the current Ebola crisis, thinking I'd familiarize myself.
      I'd read it once before, but it had been a long time.

      It wasn't as good as I remembered.
      They had the gory, gross details of Ebola. The first chapters were pretty good, if perhaps not as well written as I remembered.

      The second half, the whole monkey house chapter, I found a bit of a struggle to get through. I liked it, but not as much as the first read.
    • 4/5
      Indeholder 4 dele: I Mount Elgons skygge, Abehuset, Destruering, Kitum Cave.Fort?ller historien om farlige virusudbrud, der faktisk fand sted i perioden 1967-1993."I Mount Elgons skygge":En person (Charles Monet) bliver smittet - uvist af hvad - og d?r en r?dselsfuld d?d hvor kroppen n?rmest bliver opl?st af virus. 9 dage efter bliver l?gen Dr Shem Musoke, der behandlede ham syg og viruset bliver identificeret som Marburg-virus. Selv p? et moderne hospitals intensivafdeling d?r ca 25% af patienter med Marburg. Musoke overlever og har givet navn til den variant af Marburg, der blev isoleret udfra hans blod. Virusset er d?bt Marburg efter en tysk by, hvor 7 ud af 31 d?de efter at v?re blevet smittede i en vaccinefabrik, der brugte aber importeret fra Afrika. Ham, der leverede aberne, havde en praksis med at tage syge aber (som han godt vidste han ikke kunne s?lge) og s?tte ud p? en ? i Viktorias?en. N?r han s? manglede et par aber, kunne han tage ud p? ?en og hente nogle af dem, der var blevet raske i mellemtiden. Smart, bortset fra at det var en sikker m?de at f? fat i raske smitteb?rere p?.Nancy Jaax arbejder i et laboratorie med Ebola virus og er t?t p? at blive smittet p? grund af en ut?t handske.Yu G. d?r af Ebola Sudan og smitter en m?ngde andre, der smitter andre, .. og s? d?r epidemien ud.Ebola Zaire dukker op p? Yambuku Missionshospital. Nogle nonner og sygeplejersken Mayinga bliver smittet. Mayinga n?r at g? rundt i Kinshasa i to dage inden hun bliver indlagt og WHO sl?r r?d alarm.Center for Disease Control tigger en pr?ve af Mayingas blod og f?r den. Undervejs er den g?et i stykker og de er ved at g? i panik da det g?r op for dem at de har h?ndteret den som en normal pr?ve.L?gerne Karl Johnson og Joel Breman bliver udsendt til Zaire men epidemien spreder sig ikke og d?r stille ud.En dansk dreng (opdigtet navn Peter Cardinal) d?r af Marburg. Virusset kan angribe og dr?be aber, mennesker og grise. Peter har v?ret i Kitum Cave p? Mount Elgon ligesom Charles Monet. Myndighederne lukker Kitum Cave og leder efter virusset der, men uden held. Ingen kender Marburgvirussets v?rt eller hvor det lever."Abehuset":I Reston, Virginia havde Hazleton Research Products et abehus, hvor importerede aber blev holdt i karant?ne i en m?ned, f?r de bliver sendt videre. Aberne begynder at d? og en pr?ve bliver sendt af dyrl?gen Dan Dalgard til USAMRIID p? Fort Detrick. Thomas Geisbert dyrker det og han og Peter Jahrling snuser lidt til det, 10 dage senere kigger de p? det i elektronmikroskopet og opdager at det er et filovirus der ligner Marburg til forveksling. De tier stille med at de m?ske er blevet smittede, men s?rger for at blive checket. Imens checker de videre p? pr?ven fra abehuset og finder ud af at det er Ebola Zaire (med d?delighed p? 90%) eller noget meget n?rt besl?gtet. De g?r til lederen af h?rens medicinske forsknings- og udviklingsafdeling Philip K. Russell og han tager med det samme aff?re og siger ligeud at det ikke er sikkert at han har bef?jelse eller midler til det, men at det er lige meget i situationen og at nogle s? m? rydde op bagefter. C. J. Peters bliver udn?vnt til delingsf?rer for operationen og kontakter Dalgard. Han bliver f?rst lettet over at f? at vide at det ikke er Marburgvirus, men det g?r over. CJ og Nancy Jaax henter nogle d?de aber fra abehuset og k?rer dem tilbage til Fort Detrick i CJ's bil. I det hele taget er der gnidninger mellem CDC og h?ren. CJ f?r fuldmagt til at rense abehuset og samler sine folk."Destruktion":CJ udpeger Jerry Jaax som leder af operationen og folkene g?r igang med at aflive aberne. Senere bliver aberne obduceret og der er ikke tvivl om at det er Ebola. Nogle af dyrene ser ud som om de har v?ret d?de i 3-4 dage, selv om de er blevet aflivet f? timer inden. Med noget besv?r f?r de aflivet alle aber og t?mt fryseren for frosne abelig og desinficeret hele bygningen. Firmaet f?r bygningen tilbage og starter igen med at importere aber. I januar 1990 bryder Ebola igen ud og dr?ber alle aber uden undtagelse. Undervejs er fire mennesker blevet smittet, men uden at blive syge. Og de tre er formentlig smittet via luftb?ren smitte."Kitum Cave"Et bes?g i Kitum Cave. Og refleksioner over Lassa, Rift Valley, Oropouche, Rocio, Guanarito, Monkeypox, Dengue, Chikungunya, Hanta, Machupo, Junin, mokola, Duvenhage, LeDantec, Kyasanur, HIV, Sindbis, O'nyongnyong, Ebola Reston. Om at virus er der ude og bare venter.Enkelte navne er opdigtede og dialogen er rekonstrueret vha interviews.Oversat af Johannes S?rensen. Ok men ikke specielt god overs?ttelse. (Fx: Mordet p? John Jaax lammede Jerry af sorg.)Flere steder n?vnes det at det er usandsynligt at en virus skulle udrydde alle mennesker, men at en der tager 90% godt kan t?nkes.Sp?ndende og skr?mmende beretning om h?jvirulente virus som ebola og marburg.
    • 3/5
      I listened with interest. It’s an interesting introduction to Ebola.
    • 5/5
      Scary, Scary book - wonderful.
    • 2/5
      This book was recommended to me about a month ago. Published in 1994, it is a nonfiction account of the origin, discovery and initial spread of the Ebola virus. The book starts out interesting, with a personal story of a man named Charles Monet, a Frenchman who lived in Western Kenya. Monet contracts the Ebola virus and the doctor who treated him subsequently contracts the virus.

      The narrative is sort of chopped up, with another story starting of a lieutenant colonel who is a veterinary pathologist for the United States Army. And then several other people are introduced. It gets a bit confusing at times, with different stories happening at the same time.

      Preston adds some unnecessary details to this book, which had nothing whatsoever to do with Ebola. For example, he relates how the lieutenant colonel's brother-in-law is mysteriously murdered. I kept thinking Preston would follow up on this side plot, expecting some sort of resolution, perhaps the murder victim had Ebola and was not murdered after all. But this event was left untouched and unresolved. There were other little details like this, which had nothing to do with anything and should have been edited out.

      The end of the book got a little sensational and preachy too. It's almost as if Preston steps back from the story for a chapter and begins another essay on the evils of destroying the rain forests. While I don't disagree with some of his assertions, it would have been better if Preston had left his little personal platitudes out of the story :they were out of place with the factual accounts.

      The Hot Zone was a #1 New York Times best seller. Though overall it was well written and interesting, it's not on my top list. I also disagree with a lot of reviewers that this book was scarier than a Stephen King novel. Other readers cautioned against reading this at night, saying that it would give you horrible nightmares, that it was not meant for the faint of heart. Well, I'm a pretty sensitive person; I shy away from horror. I was not at all frightened or traumatized by this book, though I don't deny the horrors of the virus.

      Given the latest outbreaks of Ebola, especially in Sierra Leone, it is important, I think, to become more educated about this virus. And this book was informative and interesting, so it was worthwhile to read in that regard. I appreciated that Preston did not use too much medical lingo, and that he provided a glossary of terms as well as a list of characters at the end.

      2 stars for content, 4 for writing.

    • 4/5
      I'm not sure when exactly I read this..5th 6th grade? All I remember is loving it. For years afterward I wanted to work at the CDC. Liquefied organs, bleeding out your eyes; I read snippets out loud to friends. Needless to say, I was a morbid child. A thrilling and super grotesque portrait of a virus that is more terrifying than you can imagine.