Cholera

The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866
$17.00
Raising my children in Central America when the sixth world cholera pandemic reached the shores of this continent heightened my awareness as to existence of this mysterious disease. My children would bring home their cholera awareness materials from school that emphasized hand washing and clean water. Later on, I researched an incident in 1852 when Ulysses S. Grant and the U.S. 4th Infantry were devastated by cholera when passing through Panama on their way to California. However, it wasn?t until I read Rosenberg?s book that I understood how horrible a death from cholera was and yet how easy it is nowadays to treat. Rosenbery brings out so many interesting aspects of the impact of cholera on public health and the fact that the disease has only been known in the Western world for a little over 200 years. Most people think cholera is biblical. The book is an easy read for a layman and too bad it appears to be mostly used as a text book in college.

The Medical Detective: John Snow, Cholera and the Mystery of the Broad Street Pump
$13.38
In 1831, an unknown, horrifying and deadly disease from Asia swept across Continental Europe, killing millions in its path and throwing the medical profession into confusion. Cholera is a killer with little respect for class or wealth. When it arrived in Britain, its repercussions rocked Victorian England - from the filthy lanes of the Sunderland quayside and the squalid streets of Soho, to the great centres of power: the Privy Council, Whitehall and, the Royal Medical Colleges. One man - alone and unrecognised - uncovered the truth behind the pandemic and laid the foundations for the modern, scientific investigation of today's fatal plagues. John Snow was a reclusive doctor, without money or social position, who had the genius to look beyond the conventional wisdom of his day, and work out that cholera was spread through drinking water. The book draws extensively on 19th century medical, political and personal records in order to describe what is both an important breakthrough for medical science and also a dramatic story with a cast of colourful characters, from the heroic to the frighteningly incompetent. The book is also full of fascinating diversions into aspects of medical and social history - from Snow's tending of Queen Victoria in childbirth, to the Dutch microbiologist Leeuwenhoek's deliberately breeding of lice in his socks; and, from Dickensian children's farms to riotous 19th century anaesthesia parties.

Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club)
$14.95
This book was awful. Like many readers, I persevered through the book thinking that there must be a reason for so much critical acclaim and the honor of being on Oprah's Book Club. It was a difficult read to say the least. Each progressive chapter made my skin crawl and made my blood boil. This book was not about love, but the illusion of love. It was a book about lust, rape, unrequited "love", seduction, molestation, depression, delusion, etc. There was no love in this book whatsoever. It seemed like everyone was so self obsessed with their own feelings and desires that they forgot to even love or care about each other. The marriage between Fermina Daza and Dr. Urbino was one out of stability (in her husband's own word), not happiness. Her rejection of Florentino Ariza was something that was simply explained as "not love" and her views about him was that he was nothing more than a shadow that one does not remember. Yet in the end, without rhyme or reason, they end up together. Was she mourning? I don't know. This book seemed like it was written by a man who once had an unrequited love, and he thought this was a worthy tribute to what he imagined would have happened. It was nothing more than a novel about a man with an unrequited love that "made him" into a passionless man with only a naive expectation that the love of his life would realize it one day and return to him. So he became an adulterer and child molester and found sex as his redemption or therapy to sooth his broken heart. This book was not about love, but a story about the mind and life of a determined stalker. I was so excited to finally read this book, but when I finished, I felt so let down.

The Ghost Map
$26.95
Comic relief, scientific concepts explained in an enjoyable style, a balanced viewpoint, and an engaging true story are just a few of the features this book offers. The author explores historical trends and approaches the subject from both a conceptual and a concrete fact based level. If you desire to learn a lot and not feel the burden of unpleasant labor, this is a book worth reading.