Jeanette Farrell

It is nuts to think about how different human history would have been without infectious diseases. Would colonial forces have failed to take over the Americas if smallpox hadn't helped them out? Or maybe they would have had an even greater empire were it not for malaria! Leprosy is really interesting, in that it has a much different and worse stigma attached to it than a lot of other infectious diseases because it somehow got linked with a religious uncleanliness.
This interesting story about malaria shows how everything is connected: in Borneo DDT was used to kill mosquitoes, but roaches also ingested it and passed it on to the lizards who ate them, who then got so sick that the cats could start catching and eating them, who then died so there was nothing to stop the rats from coming into the villages, which then sparked fear of plague!
I also thought it was interesting that Florence Nightingale supposedly thought that germ theory was about as good a hypothesis as witchcraft (though this website debunks that claim).

The writing style was sophisticated yet simple enough to understand. A good book for young adults and children who are strong readers.… (mere)