On Pandemics: Deadly Diseases from Bubonic Plague to Coronavirus
Written by David Waltner-Toews
Narrated by David Godfrey
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Authored by a leading epidemiologist, this engrossing book answers our questions about animal diseases that jump to humans—called zoonoses—including what attracts them to humans, why they have become more common in recent history, and how we can keep them at bay.
Almost all pandemics and epidemics have been caused by diseases that come to us from animals, including SARS, Ebola, and—now—Covid-19. Epidemiologist, veterinarian, and ecosystem health specialist, David Waltner-Toews, gathers the latest research to profile dozens of illnesses in On Pandemics. Chapters are broken into short, dynamic explainers, each one tackling a different disease. Readers will discover:
- Why zoonotic diseases jump from animals to humans—and why some decide to stick around for good.
- How governments have responded to pandemics and epidemics throughout history, for better or for worse.
- The role of climate change, industrialized farming, cultural practices, biodiversity loss, and globalization in making these diseases not only possible, but inevitable outcomes of our modern lifestyles.
Coronaviruses, such as those that cause SARS and Covid-19, have made bats their home for centuries. Until SARS came along, we didn’t know they were there, nor do we know how many other death-dealing viruses might be living undetected in wildlife. On Pandemics shows the greater impact of animal-borne diseases on our world, and encourages us to re-examine our role in pandemics, if not for our own health, then for the health of our planet.
Published originally in 2007 as The Chickens Fight Back: Pandemic Panics and Deadly Diseases that Jump from Animals to Humans, this book has been updated in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
David Waltner-Toews
David Waltner-Toews is an internationally celebrated veterinary epidemiologist, eco-health, and One Health specialist. He has published more than 20 books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry
Related to On Pandemics
Related audiobooks
Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreventing the Next Pandemic Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quack Quack: The Threat of Pseudoscience Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Viruses, Pandemics, and Immunity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Epidemic: Ebola and the Global Scramble to Prevent the Next Killer Outbreak Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Plagues and Their Aftermath: How Societies Recover from Pandemics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism Dad Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outbreaks and Epidemics: Battling infection from measles to coronavirus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anti-vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Planet of Viruses: Third Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Science That Will Save Us Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting the First Wave: Why the Coronavirus Was Tackled So Differently Across the Globe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlagues, Pandemics and Viruses: From the Plague of Athens to Covid 19 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Viruses, Plagues, and History: Past, Present, and Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America and the Fears They Have Unleashed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Duel Without End: Mankind's Battle with Microbes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mad Dogs and Other New Yorkers: Rabies, Medicine, and Society in an American Metropolis, 1840–1920 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Coronavirus Pandemic: The History of the COVID-19 Disease and Its Outbreak across the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patient Zero (Revised Edition): Solving the Mysteries of Deadly Epidemics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wellness For You
The Highly Sensitive Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Stress-Proof Brain: Master Your Emotional Response to Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroplasticity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last House on Needless Street Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Happiness Makeover: Overcome Stress and Negativity to Become a Hopeful, Happy Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Do the Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Forever Strong: A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Moneyzen: The Secret to Finding Your ""Enough"" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grow Up: Becoming the Parent Your Kids Deserve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for On Pandemics
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I thought the book was well-written and certainly timely given that it was updated during the covid-19 pandemic. The narrator has a great vocal quality but unfortunately he has a problem with rampant mispronunciation of words that are basic to the subject of the book. Not only that, many of these words are pronounced in more than one way throughout the book. For instance, his four distinct pronunciations of the word spirochete and his two different pronunciations of the word presage. These egregious mispronunciations made listening to the book difficult. The problem with mispronunciation could have been solved by either the narrator checking pronunciation on words he was not comfortable with or the director having him reread those portions.
Here's an incomplete list:
Subsistence
presage (two pronunciations)
spirochete (four pronunciations)
Gabon
demonstrable
Advantageous
phylum
Profligacy
Vagaries
Sojourn
Brutical (?)
Scheherazade
Albert Camus
Misanthropic