The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
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Product Description
A thrilling past account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London-and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow’s solution revolutionized the way we reflect about disease, cities, science, and the modern world. The Ghost Map is an endlessly compelling and utterly gripping account of that London summer of 1854, from the microbial level to the macrourban-theory level-including, most vital, the human level.
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I just finished Steven Johnson’s “Ghost Map”. Not to be rude, but how does this stuff get published? For Pete’s sake, the name of the book is ghost map, and there is not even a copy of the ghost map in the book.
The book itself lacks any kind of literary punch. Ostensibly about John Snow and cholera, in which there is probably an appealing tale if told with focus, Johnson rambles pointlessly around campy urban preparation poetry.
I guess Johnson’s reputation is so unassailable that editors don’t bother to read what they publish. And that is what the book lacks, an editor.
The worst part is Johnson’s attack on the foolish orthodoxy of the miasmaists, while he dutifully regurgitates the junior-high platitudes to Darwinist orthodoxy, when doing so adds absolutely nothing to the tale, except to confirm his own Party loyalty.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
I haven’t read this book, but if you want a stellar past novel on times of plague (16th century England this time), read Geraldine Brooks _Year of Wonders_. Not only is it absolutely riveting, but it is perfectly and meticulously written, with unforgettable characters. You will not be able to place it down, and it will stay with you for a long time. It is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
The tale is fascinating and informative, but has a few places where the writing style comes across as a bit amateurish. Also, I was expecting a more forceful ending. Overall, a fun, worthwhile read, but lacking a punch.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
Book reviews, it seems, come in two forms… one is to consider the writing of a book and the additional is to consider a book’s content. In the case of Johnson’s The Ghost Map, I establish his writing very comfortable and an simple read. In fact, the sort of writing which tends to constrain a person from putting the book down. In a way, the book is much like a Colombo mystery; i.e. we know the culprit but delight in the journey to expose him. I judge Johnson is to be commended for his effort, bringing an vital time of scientific discovery to the modern reader. It may be honest enough to say that few young readers today are aware of John Snow (as well as others) and his work to determine the cause of the cholera epidemic which stuck London in mid 19th century. What is sad about this deadly event, and sad that Johnson didn’t touch upon it, is that humanity had been told many years earlier about the proper way to care for human waste. The message of Deuteronomy 23: 12-14… is pretty clear but, rumor has it that, this message was not honored. Had a name truly honored what God told the Hebrew children about human waste, perhaps many of the deaths in London and elsewhere could have been prevented. What John Snow (re)learned was the truth of what had been told years earlier to the Hebrews as they left Egypt. Johnson didn’t even mention this in his account.
I judge Johnson, otherwise, has done a excellent job but he could have done better if had not included so much nonsense about evolution. He tends to judge organic evolution is a real thing but to date no evidence has been place on the table to prove it….just a bunch of words.
Nevertheless, agreed these concerns, I recommend Johnson’s book.. for it shows, if nothing else, how an incorrect thought (Miasma) can hinder the progress of science. We see much of this same blindness in today’s schools where the silliness of evolution is the reigning paradigm.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
A fan of books by past writers such as Erik Larson (“Isaac’s Storm,” “Devil in the White City”) and Timothy Egan (the utterly breathtaking “The Worst Hard Time”), I chose to give Steven Johnson a try. Needless to say, I was disappointed in “The Ghost Map.” Johnson reasonably simply did not place an impression on me the way Larson and Egan did. The book seemed too moralistic and preachy, relying on pathos and storytelling as much, if not more than, actual, past fact. There are too many descriptions of babies crying in dark, empty homes; too many forced diatribes of ideological battles between Snow and Whitehead; too many far-fetched extrapolations to the present and future for the book to function effectively. But perhaps the most glaring issue is that many of the winding, senselessly repetitive passages had no past basis whatsoever, and if they did, Johnson certainly did not convey the tie to his sources clearly. Had I submitted this as a paper for class, I would expect much of it to be returned bottom layers and layers of disheartening red ink. Johnson’s bibliography is respectable, but his final product is not. Rarely do I encounter a book where I feel as though I am wasting my time. Sadly, “Ghost Map” falls into that category. All I wanted to do was set the book down write to Penguin Books for a refund. I hoped Johnson might eventually resurrect himself, and therefore kept reading–a mistake indeed. The only enjoyable part of the novel was the beginning, when Johnson described the thousands of scavengers sifting through London’s filth. After that, the book spun wildly… not downhill (because that would imply a sense of direction), but every which way imaginable. “The Ghost Map” is history at its sensationalized worst. Although I have not read Sandra Hempel’s “The Weird Case of the Broad Street Pump,” I feel obligated to recommend it before I even consider suggesting this piece.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5