Welcome to Litsy!

Paul Farmer provides an excellent assessment of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. It was especially hilarious given that it was released during the Covid epidemic.

I previously read a fascinating book about the 2014 Ebola outbreak from a physician, but this one goes deeper. Farmer starts with that event then goes deeper into the past to show how Sierra Leone and Liberia came to be health care deserts via colonialism. You then comes forward again to show how radically different things could be with just basic supportive care. Terrific and sobering.

Listening to this 22 hr audiobook is an investment but one that pays dividends. Farmer, a doctor on the frontlines of the 2014 Ebola crisis, writes about the history of Sierra Leone and Liberia from the slave trade and founding of these countries to the current politics and extractive trading. He explains why these countries are healthcare deserts from a historical perspective and gives ideas how we can better prepare for the next health crisis.

So you may have noticed I haven‘t written an audiobook review in awhile. I‘m still listening to them, but I‘m not enjoying it as much. With all the aides coming and going, I rarely get uninterrupted listening time anymore. However, I decided to leap into a super-long (22 hour) one about the 2013-15 Ebola outbreak and an sociological history of those countries, and I‘m really enjoying it! It‘s a bit slow going, but maybe I‘ll love audio again!

First off, this is an older book. Published about 1994, so its a little dated. It was before the time of Ebola outbreak in 2014, when a lot of people hadn‘t even heard of the virus yet. This book gives a summary of the then Reston Outbreak in Reston VA. It can get a little gory at times, but overall it‘s a solid read and can prove that truth is better (and scarier) than fiction…

Read more at: FictionLux

Finally! I haven‘t been able to read physical books for a while, so it was nice to finally be able to finish this book. Very scary. I know there have been outbreaks of Ebola virus in the past but I hope there are none in our future. Unfortunately, we lose a major character in this book and it‘s someone you‘d think was invincible. #SeriesLove2023 @Andrew65 @TheSpineView

“Maggie O‘Dell and AD Cunningham believed the threat targeted Quantico. It targeted them. A deadly virus—virtually undetectable until it causes death from a million internal cuts. The victims appear random, but Maggie wonders if vengeance isn‘t the guiding hand..Maggie knows dangerous minds, but she must tackle this new opponent from within a biosafety isolation ward—while waiting to see if death is already multiplying inside her body.”

I think the tag line sums this up nicely "The terrifying true story of the origins of the ebola virus."
Seriously this book has some disturbing revelations also as a warning Preston like to compare things to food. So don't eat while reading ?
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
#Naturalitsy #freespace @AllDebooks
#Booked2023 #pandemic @alisiakae @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Cinfhen

I read this pick from my #AuldLangSpines list from @Cinfhen and it was so good. It was well written and helped me learn about the healthcare workers who fought the virus so hard. The last chapter of this book, written before COVID-19, was pretty prescient about the pandemic to come. I‘m not sure if this Ebola outbreak was technically a pandemic or an epidemic but I‘m counting it for #Booked about a pandemic

4 out of 5