Dr. Robert Baker (1944–)

This engaging read is an overview of diseases caused by infectious agents. This is, of course, a fascinating topic, but Baker takes it a step further. He manages to avoid writing the hagiography of Great Diseases and the Men Who Cured Them as well as maintaining optimism about the survival of the human species. He takes care to touch on the ethics of pharmaceutical practices, the historical pattern of disease, and the ecological factors that lead to new epidemics. He also explains, in laymen's terms, the routes to antibiotic resistance; I knew, for example, that antibiotics are often mixed into livestock feed, but to realize that in some countries 99.9% of certain antibiotics are used this way--wow. And he discusses recent diseases as well as "historical" ones, allowing him to postulate the next major illness to sweep through humanity.

The descriptions of the diseases give detail without dwelling on the gory; neither do the photographic plates focus on horrific symptoms and cell invasions. It helps to read this with a slight British accent in mind; however, the British idioms that do occur are clear from context. Baker also gives a bibliography rather than footnotes, preferring popular writings where available but citing specific papers where this is not the case.

Highly recommended.
Read with: Gerald Callahan's love essay "Chimera."… (plus d'informations)