Seven Modern Plagues: Review

Posted on May 27, 2014 Updated on May 27, 2014

I don’t read very many books about sickness, so when a new one comes on the market I’m quick to grab it up and read it. Seven Modern Plagues is definitely one of the better books I’ve read about sickness in recent years and one that I will definitely be purchasing for myself when it is published.

Seven Modern Plagues focuses on seven major issues that have been afflicting the modern world, such as Salmonella, Lyme Disease, and West Nile Virus, amongst others. This book offers a comprehensive overview of each of the “modern plagues”, the ways in which humans have caused them and what we can do, if anything, to prevent ourselves from forming other, similar plagues. 

The information in this book is solid and really taught me a lot about the plagues and how we have caused them. I had never actually considered the possibility that certain serious health concerns could be caused by the actions of humans in such things as deforestation. This book will definitely make me look at any new plagues with a critical eye, wondering whether the actions of humans were responsible for the outbreak. Along with containing unique information, this book also contains strong scientific information. The author does a fantastic job of citing scientific studies and health information. I definitely appreciate it when nonfiction books contain strong scientific facts to back up the points being made in the book.

The author in this book is a clear and concise writer. Walters does a wonderful job of getting the point across in an easy to understand way. The author definitely understands how to write in a way that can be understood by a wide variety of people, regardless of their previous knowledge of the information. The author also does a good job of telling stories throughout the book. The way the author gave personal stories of the people who were impacted by the diseases definitely aided in driving the points in the book home. 

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in books about sickness, especially the ways that sickness is caused by human actions. I would also recommend this book to just a general reader, this is an important book to read so that we can (hopefully) stop anymore plagues before the infect us.

I received this book for review purposes via NetGalley.