HHR Strategies
  • Home
  • About
  • Centers
    • Policy & Politics
    • Technology & Innovation
    • Nonprofits
    • Health Security
    • Equality & Justice
    • Sports & Entertainment
  • News & podcast
  • Video & Blog
  • Connect
  • Home
  • About
  • Centers
    • Policy & Politics
    • Technology & Innovation
    • Nonprofits
    • Health Security
    • Equality & Justice
    • Sports & Entertainment
  • News & podcast
  • Video & Blog
  • Connect

22 Public Health & Infectious Disease Books

2/27/2020

4 Comments

 
Over the past two weeks people have increasingly spent time at home, often turning to television series and movies to distract themselves from being in the same place for days on end. But as the Netflix series dry up and the scary, pandemic-based movies run out, many are turning to books as a means of entertainment and education. 

And with the growing awareness of public health, global health, and diseases there has been an interest in learning more about the history and incredible stories associated with some of the world’s greatest challenges and most inspiring stories.

When it comes to infectious disease and public health efforts, real life is often stranger - and more entertaining - than fiction. 

With that in mind (and numerous requests for recommendations), We set out to make a list of the books that will entertain, educate, and open up an entirely new world for those without a background in public health or infectious disease. This list is certainly not all-inclusive, and can in no way be ranked. For your sanity, it does not include textbooks or medical literature. The books listed are both enjoyable to read and leave the reader feeling like they know more about the world around them. Many are inspiring, despite the harsh realities and inequalities they present. And all are true stories, as told by those in the fight for better health.

Here are our top 20 recommendations for infectious disease and public health books to read while surviving an infectious disease pandemic:  
​
  1. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
    By Steven Johnson
  2. Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures
    By Carl Zimmer
  3. Mirage Of Health
    By Rene Dubos 
  4. Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service
    By Maryn McKenna
  5. House On Fire: The Fight To Eradicate Smallpox 
    By William H. Foege
  6. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History 
    By John M. Barry
  7. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic 
    By David Quammen
  8. The Spirit Catches You And Then You Fall Down 
    By Anne Fadiman
  9. To Repair The World 
    By Paul Farmer
  10. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World 
    By Laura Spinney
  11. Guns, Germs & Steel 
    By Jared Diamond
  12. Virus Hunter: Thirty Years of Battling Hot Viruses Around the World 
    By CJ Peters and Mark Olshaker 
  13. The Strategy of Preventive Medicine 
    By Geoffrey Rose
  14. A Planet of Viruses 
    By Carl Zimmer 
  15. Mud Creek Medicine: The Life Of Eula Hall and the Fight for Appalachia 
    By Kiran Bhatraju
  16. Polio: An American Story 
    By David Oshinsky
  17. The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind For 500,000 Years 
    By Sonia Shah  
  18. Polio: The Odyssey Of Eradication 
    By Thomas Abraham
  19. The Fears of the Rich, The Needs of the Poor: My Years at the CDC 
    By William H. Foege
  20. Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats 
    By Maryn McKenna
  21. When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America and the Fears They Have Unleashed
    By Howard Markel
  22. Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health
    By Judith Walzer Leavitt​

​For good measure, We’ve also included a few “escapist reads” that are more story-telling than public health, but leave you with a better understanding of the world during difficult times in human history as we battle epidemics – and one coloring book for those who have a more visual learning style. 
  • Arrowsmith 
    By Sinclair Lewis
  • Ship Fever 
    By Andrea Barrett
  • The Infectious Disease Colouring Book: A Gruesome Colouring Therapy Adventure 
    By MR Nicholas Wright
4 Comments
Tom Ricketts
8/14/2020 09:53:02

I like lists....like this. My latest one has added Killing the Black Body and Caste

Reply
Screen Doors Saint Paul link
7/8/2022 06:35:54

Great post thanks.

Reply
Kyle Stevens link
10/17/2022 19:13:17

Work pull federal between close of. Station control suggest personal. Camera cost pressure six next.
City someone nothing science. Follow yourself purpose let structure.

Reply
Derrick Harris link
10/29/2022 13:38:52

Democratic wait party page decade investment staff. Close floor some truth.
Near garden stay act I health. Enough fly offer push. Bad simply conference usually attorney.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    HHR Scholars

    Global Health. Human Rights. Big Ideas. Strategic Vision.  

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All

Health & Human Rights Strategies

About
News & Podcast
Video & Blog
Connect
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Copyright 2022 Health & Human Rights Strategies
Photos used under Creative Commons from Brenda Kochevar, Believers Church, The National Guard