Welcome to Litsy!

This is a fascinating book. It isn‘t about specific types of pathogens, but rather it is about how pathogens drive and shape humanity. Pathogens and humans continue to evolve, as history shows us; we seem to take turns in who dominates. From our earliest stages of evolution, through classical Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, & Colonial days until now—pathogens continue to define and shape us. There is a lot we can learn from our experiences⬇️

Another mind-blowing example of a function that human ancestors acquired from retroviruses is the ability to give birth. When animals first evolved, they reproduced by laying eggs, and most creatures in the animal kingdom continue to give birth this way. Then, between 100 million and 200 million years ago, a shrew-like creature developed the capacity to gestate her young inside her own body—an extraordinary evolutionary advance because a fetus⬇️

This book is in my top 5 non-fiction books of all time. It is manages to be both very expansive and compact at the same time. It tells the big picture of pathogens and their effects on human history going all the way back to Homo sapiens tenuously coexisting with Neanderthals. Tuchmans “A Distant Mirror” is also in my top 5 and is a great companion piece for this book; its focus is much tighter: The Black Death. “Pathogenesis” is truly remarkable.

What an interesting book! I have a whole new understanding of human history now that I‘ve listened to this audiobook. Microbes shape our world! Sections on Ancient Rome, The Black Death and the pathogens brought to the indigenous communities were especially enlightening for me. Highly recommended for history/science enthusiasts! Thanks to @AmyG for helping me discover this one!

This was a swift audio history of the world through the lens of infectious disease. I never considered how the Palatine and Ciprian plagues likely influenced the rise of Christianity. The book starts slowly with Prehistoric and Neolithic plagues but the pace picks up when people formed settlements and began growing crops. 🦠

I listened to this book and it was really good. It's fascinating to me how much viruses and bacteria have shaped history (and current times).

Me at the beginning aware of how long it‘s been since I was in a biology class.

46/150 This book isn't what I was expecting, from the title. I thought the author was going to discuss eight specific plagues, but instead, the book is a discussion of history as seen through the lens of infectious diseases. It is very informative, but the author allows his own bias and political leanings to influence his conclusions. It would have been better if he had been more objective. 3 ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Based on the subtitle, I expected this book to discuss 8 different infectious diseases and how those impacted their moment. Instead, it is a reframing of history with a focus on how infectious disease impacted or even caused certain things. Interesting and engaging, though for me there wasn‘t much here that was new.