In the second of our RCIScience Summer Reads program, we explore how pandemics, both recent and historic, have changed the way we live with Sonia Shah's book Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond.
Published in 2016, Pandemic is an especially chilling read when viewed through 2020's lens, appearing downright prophetic in some chapters. It presents a startling examination of the pandemics that have ravaged humanity — and shows how history can prepare us to confront the most serious acute global health emergency of our time.
Hone your armchair epidemiology skills and follow cholera as it germinated in the Sundarbans in India, spreading to Europe then sailing to the New World. Learn how pathogens jump from animals to people and why habitat encroachment by humans is only making this easier. You'll even get a summary of the musical Hamilton in a chapter about the cholera outbreak in New York in the early 1830s!
About Sonia Shah
Sonia Shah is a science journalist and prizewinning author. Her writing on science, politics, and human rights has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Scientific American, and elsewhere, and she has been featured on Radiolab, Fresh Air, and TED.com, where her talk “Three Reasons We Still Haven’t Gotten Rid of Malaria” has been viewed by more than a million people around the world. Her book The Fever was long-listed for the Royal Society’s Winton Prize for Science Books, and Pandemic was named a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. Her latest book, The Great Migration, was released in June 2020.
About the Moderator
Dr. Debora Foster is a Professor of Biochemistry at Ryerson University in Toronto and holds a cross-appointment as graduate faculty in Oral Microbiology, the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto. A recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award, she also holds awards for Excellence in Teaching and for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Education. Debora teaches courses in advanced biochemistry, infection and immunity, and host-pathogen interactions. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular basis of pathogenesis of several gastrointestinal pathogens and how the micro-environments within the human host influence pathogen virulence. She is a Trustee of RCIScience where she is dedicated to profiling science and engaging the public in meaningful dialogue about the value of science education and research, and its importance for the future of society.