"The Ghost Map: How a London Epidemic Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson"

sharon f. leff: What begins as a flashback to London, a dark, overcrowded, dirty Dickensian London, becomes a step by step review of the cholera outbreak, its escalation, and its conclusion. And rather than dragging on, the cholera deaths become links that medical and scientific heroes will study as they solve the mystery of transmission, contact, and causes before ultimately containing the transmission and ending its killing spree.

And beyond the cholera epidemic are the transformations of living areas, of urban growth, of healthcare and education. The evolution of mankind as it continues to struggle to survive on a planet that has also had to struggle is explained through its direct links and lessons from Landon’s cholera epidemic.

United States on Aug 29, 2023

Bama Fan: I'm a big fan of Steven Johnson and while I think many people have been introduced to his work through this book, I've somehow managed to read most of his other books first. It is written in the same style as the other books where he sets the scene, tells some stories about other people and thoughts around the time and then comes back to the main characters. That pattern has become familiar in his work and this is no exception. You do not need to know about history or epidemiology to appreciate this book and it is written for anyone. This was not my personal favorite but that could be because I came in knowing part of the story before and was likely the reason for waiting to read it after the other books. Having said that, I still had trouble putting it down and it was enjoyable!

United States on Jun 27, 2023

Jackie Houchin: Steven Johnson’s THE GHOST MAP is an amazing history about a disease, a doctor, and a parson who tracked, and eventually mapped the mass destruction that cholera brought to Victorian London in the 1850’s, and how, due to their persistence and that of a few other scientists, it was traced to its source – the water from a single pump in one neighborhood – and eventually stopped.

Sanitary conditions at that time were unimaginable. People were literally drinking sewage. They simply let the solids settle to the bottom of their buckets before ladling it out. Millions died, often within 24 hours of being infected by cholera. Whole families… whole blocks wiped out in a matter of days. There are details and statistics in the book but Johnson makes them interesting and readable.

THE GHOST MAP tells of the dedication of these men who battled against vicious backlash and ridicule from “knowledgeable” people, as well as the bacteria itself. And more astonishing is how the city – once convinced – undertook the massive project to remedy the problem. Water and sewer systems that rival any in the world were built in less than 10 years.

In the epilogue,...

United States on Jun 13, 2023

Hibbard: This was an amazing read - the author does a wonderful job of describing the everyday lives of working-class inhabitants of nineteenth century London, just as a wave of cholera is about to hit Broad Street and the surrounding areas. The lives and the thoughts of the keen-minded doctor and the priest as they encounter the sick and dying on their rounds is so very gripping. One can almost feel the tension in the air as the author describes the activities of the policeman's wife or of the tailor's daughter in the days and hours before people start dying like flies. The detail in the accounting of the activities of the working class folk in the Broad Street area is just marvelous. Also intriguing is the author's account of the social and professional etiquette amongst the scientific community as documented through the various letters to The Lancet and to the newspapers.

The part where the book falters is in the editing. As a previous reviewer has pointed out, there are portions of the book that are gripping, almost like a detective thriller that has you enthralled. Yet there are other parts of the book that read more like an editorial on the link between human activity, ecology...

Canada on Apr 12, 2020

Julia Smith: This book is very readable for the most part - but there are major problems an editor should have found, in my opinion, and fixed. Repetition, meandering and dry patches could easily have been tweaked, because this is a REALLY interesting story. It's too bad that the author couldn't have his best sections be his writing style 100% of the time - there were chapters were I couldn't put the book down and stayed up late into the night page-turning. But then there were chapters that really dragged and musings that seemed more like those of an excited student dancing around a point in an essay because they feel very strongly about it, but haven't quite decided where to go with it.

However, I think it's worth a read despite these issues. The information itself is fascinating - I'd never heard of Dr. John Snow before, and this makes me want to learn more. The contrast between the science being born, and the social barriers to progress is as relevant today as it was then - something a lot of people seem to object being explored in the epilogue, but which I think makes a perfectly valid point.

The vivid picture of life in Victorian London, specifically in terms of access to...

Canada on Jan 14, 2020

J Barry Gander: We need to be reminded that heroes walk among us in plain sight, yet unseen. The man who removed the Broad Street pump handle worked for years against social custom to establish a shocking new theory: that people could be killed by drinking water that looked clear and safe. Reading this gives you a sense of appreciation for how much we owe to people whose names are perhaps no longer as prominent as they should be.

Canada on Nov 19, 2014

A1teacher: I found this book to be most interesting. I learned a great deal about the development of safe cities. I am amazed at how, only 160 years ago, the London sewers were built to solve the problem of clean drinking water in an urban centre...certainly one of the great achievements of the 19th century. I worry not that with our dwindling resources and the lack of support for science we will not be able to punter the threats that plague us.

Canada on Apr 18, 2014

John P. Jones III: It seems like I am not alone in these sentiments, at least among the critical reviewers of this book. Much of the Conclusion, and certainly all the Epilogue is such a non-sequester in style, content, but primarily in the quality of thought from what preceded it. The last 50 pages seem like a rambling "cut and paste" add-on.

Johnson is a polymath in his own right, and has mastered the diverse aspects of the outbreak of cholera in the Soho section of London, in 1954, and has written a compelling story. It is the London of the time of Charles Dickens, whom Johnson has read and routinely quotes. His descriptions of the significant part of the population that dealt in "recycling" and human wastes (and these people would have formed one of the larger cities in England at the time) were most memorable; Dickeneque in their own right. He provides an excellent clinical description of the action of cholera on the human body. The "drama" of the story centers around the action of two very different men, the scientist Dr. John Snow, and the social worker pastor Henry Whitehead, who combined their different outlooks and skills, to prove that the vector that carried cholera was water;...

United States on Jun 30, 2010

G.I.Forbes: This book deals with a cholera outbreak in London in 1854 and environmental and hygeine conditions that existed at that tima.
In 1854 itwas commonly believed that cholera was spread by foetid air but it was Dr.John Snow who conclusively prooved that it was waterborne.This result was achieved by careful investigation,mapping,case histories,surveillance,collection of data and statistics.All these factors are woven into a thrilling detective story by the author.
Equally fascinating is the social comentary of the times with its filth,sewage, horrendous housing and poverty.
The principles of disease investigation used by Snow are the basis of epidemiology which is practised today.
The maps ,diagrams and illustrations are good but I do not like the title of the book "The Ghost Map"which hs no relevance to the investigation of the outbreak.
The notes and bibliography are good but it is surprising Snows book "The Broad Street Pump"is not listed.
110 years later in 1964 a virtually identical incident occured in Hong Kong known as "The Temple Street Well".
Abook to be recommended.

United Kingdom on Dec 07, 2008