According to Quammen, diseases of this sort are responsible for %E2%80%9Cthe death of more than 29 million people since 1981.%E2%80%9D And, as he explains so well, these diseases %E2%80%9Crepresent the unintended results of things we are doing.%E2%80%9D Environmental destruction, burgeoning human populations, increased mobility, and extremely different patterns of food production are all part of his story. This cross-species transmission of disease%E2%80%94the %E2%80%9Cspillover%E2%80%9D of the book%E2%80%99s title%E2%80%94has happened for the 200,000 years modern humans have been present on the earth, but the frequency and consequences of such events have been increasing dramatically in recent years. He traverses the globe exploring cases in which animal-borne diseases somehow jump to humans, often with devastating consequences. Quammen (The Song of the Dodo) is a masterful writer who adroitly blends science and journalism, speculation and fact, as well as horror and humor in his latest tour de force.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |