A great book of maps of diseases and their incidences across the world at different points in time. In addition, there's detailed write ups of all the diseases and a mix of pictures or illustrations of the diseases and cartoons and posters created during particularly serious outbreaks.

As someone in the medical field, this book is fascinating. My husband who is a map enthusiast loved it. I will absolutely be buying a hard copy of this book.

If you have an interest in deadly epidemics and how they really became the killers they were/are, then this book is for you. Definitely not something I would recommend binge reading due to the heavy nature of the information and statistics being given, but definitely interesting if you’re up to reading 2-3 entries a day.

Each entry gives you background on the disease, some of its defining attributes, and ultimately how and how quickly it spreads. I really liked that each disease has a world map showing likely origination points and how it spread from there, which was heavily dependent on the trade routes of the time. It is also extremely interesting to read about how these diseases helped with the creation of epidemiology, in seeing patterns of how diseases are spread to determine how to prevent further outbreaks.

If you are prone to being a hypochondriac, I would not recommend this book. But to anyone else that is interested in diseases and their history, I would highly recommend this.

Received via Netgalley and reviewed of my own accord.

"The Atlas of Disease" explores major diseases and epidemics. The author looked at diphtheria, influenza, leprosy, measles, scarlet fever, SARS, smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, malaria, plague, typhus, yellow fever, Zika, polio, Ebola, AIDS, and syphilis. She talked about the history of the disease, including quotes from historical people talking about what the disease was like during normal, local appearances or during epidemics or in perhaps the first recorded mentions of a disease. She talked about what may have caused a disease to turn into an epidemic (like war, trade, etc.) and also where the disease is currently still a problem.

While adequate, I had expected more maps and more detailed maps in an atlas. There was usually one or two maps per disease, showing things like the spread of the disease during a certain outbreak. They were usually either color-coded chunks on a map or color-coded arrows indicating the general spread of the disease. While the author did talk about how maps were used to identify the source of the cholera during an epidemic, maps were not the focus of the text but illustrations of what was stated in the text. I found the information about how the diseases were treated and viewed in the past and the present to be interesting.

The Atlas of Disease: (oct 2018)Mapping deadly epidemics and contagion from plague to the zika virus
By Sandra Hempel

October 2018
Nonfiction, health

I received a digital ARC copy of this book for review from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is an interesting review of the history and spread of contagious disease. It is well organized and provides basic information which is easy to read. The history and location of origin is fascinating and beneficial information. There are helpful maps to help visualize the information.

This is a very good popular science book, conveying as it does the history of science where several major diseases are concerned. It's not perfect (it constantly calls leprosy leprosy, even once it's said twice it's now called something else, and the purples on many maps really were impossible to differentiate on my e-arc) but it's very good. If you want to hope, like the WHO, that many of these diseases can and will be eradicated by 2020 then you'd better hope skates are fully got on, as some of these really are prevalent. A quarter of a million new diagnoses of leprosy (sorry, it's called something else now, apparently) in 2017 alone? Nut-jobs saying injections against measles cause autism? No, things really do have to look up, but this book is also great at looking back – where the diseases may have came from, how we thought they travelled way back when (and how we know they do travel now), and so on. The post-WWI incidence of flu was only named Spanish Flu because the neutral country felt able to publicise it in the press; other countries were combatant states where any such negative reporting would be bad propaganda. It's details like this you turn to books like this for, and that approach really seems to work for the illnesses herein. Most impressive.

A look at epidemic and pandemic diseases that have afflicted the world with a focus on maps of the spread of these diseases and how mapping diseases has been influential in aiding epidemiologists. Each disease gets 6-8 pages of text describing where it likely originated, when it was first noted, how it manifests and is treated, how it spreads, the years of major epidemics/pandemics (with maps of these), and how/when the WHO aims to eliminate the disease.

I find epidemiology a fascinating field. It’s a medical field that often gets overlooked until a major pandemic threatens and suddenly people who’ve never heard of an epidemiologist are paying major attention to their work. Even during such pandemics, you may never hear the term epidemiology mentioned but they are the oft unsung heroes who make it their job to find ways to stop those pandemics. The ways that maps can shed light on how diseases spread is integral to epidemiology, and an interesting overlap of geography, statistics, and science. This book keeps all the chapters short and easily readable. They are set up so that you can read individual chapters without needing to read any other, especially in that information relevant to different diseases is fully explained again when it appears in another disease. For people reading the book straight through, this may be annoying in its repetitiveness, but it does increase the usefulness of the book as it makes the book good for both quick researchers of specific diseases and full readers. Recommended to those who want to find out more about epidemiology, map lovers, and those fascinated by medical catastrophes and/or breakthroughs.

Notes on content: No language issues. The fact that some diseases are spread sexually is mentioned very textbook clinically. There are detailed descriptions of how various diseases can afflict sufferers and kill. Some of those are a bit nasty, and obviously there are millions of deaths mentioned over the course of the book.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Atlas of Disease provides really great overviews of several diseases. Hempel does an excellent job of describing the diseases by giving the history, epidemiology, some science, and recent events related to the diseases. While the maps were a nice visual to accompany the disease descriptions, I didn’t find them to be very significant or impactful. One particular map that comes to mind is the cases of scarlet fever recorded in Europe in WW2. The map of Europe has bar graphs to illustrate the number of cases in different years per region, but the scale is poorly executed to depict the number of cases and the bar graphs look really out of place. Considering that the purpose of the book was to provide an “atlas of disease”, I felt like the maps should’ve been more effective at conveying information while still being a nice visual for the reader. I was initially drawn to The Atlas of Disease for the maps, but unfortunately, I thought that the maps were the weakest part of the book.

This is a book that will only appeal to a certain group of readers, but since I am in that group, I found it fascinating. Sandra Hempel offers a concise history of various diseases that have plagued the Earth for centuries (and in some cases, millennia), and writes in a very clear manner. It's not bogged down with too much academic terminology, making it accessible for the general public, not just those studying the topic.

The structure of the book itself is amazing, and the maps are so informative. Hempel includes old drawings/political cartoons of the diseases, which helps show the historical impact of the disease. She also doesn't focus too much on one disease; each chapter is relatively short, yet still provides a great deal of information. It takes a great deal of talent to be able to have something be in depth and short at the same time.

Bottom line: if you like to study history and disease, this book is for you.

Probably shouldn't have started reading this during lunch, haha.

The book is divided into different types of transmission and goes in depth on where the disease originated, the symptoms, plagues that were caused by it, and how it was eradicated. There are some really cool maps illustrating how some like the 1918 flu traveled around the world. Just in case you think that the diseases aren't all that bad, there are a number of gross illustrations of things like smallpox.

Not a bad book to get for that budding epidemiologist in your family or if you are into slightly gross/disturbing health history.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from Net Galley.

Thank you to NetGalley, White Lion Publishing, and Sandra Hempel for an ARC ebook copy to review. As always, an honest review from me.

The Atlas of Disease is perfectly summarized in the title. The book features diseases that have caused epidemics, outbreaks and overall ill health in humans throughout history. The author uses maps to help illustrate the spread of, infection rate, and other useful information relating to each disease.

Each disease featured starts with the basics about it, so even if you’re not an expert in the field you can learn about the disease enough to have a good understanding to read the rest of the section. The next few pages describe the history, transmission, and much other information related to that specific disease. I found it fascinating and learned some new information, even beyond what I had learned in my college courses.

I found it very interesting to see how people’s actions affect the spread of disease including individual people’s choices, the political climate, war, poverty, and famine. Also the book is a great example of why vaccinations are so important. Yes, anti vaxxers I’m talking to you. Vaccinate your children!

However, some of the maps didn’t interest me that much. Partly because I was reading it on my iPhone so I had to constantly zoom in and move the page of the book around the see the whole map, so it was more bothersome than worth it. Also I already understood most of the information through reading the text, so the map didn’t give me too much additional information. But if you’re a big visual learner or very next to the subjects then the maps would be very helpful.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading The Atlas of Disease. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a nerd like me.

nonfiction, medical, science, spread-of-disease, maps

I already know the basics of signs/symptoms and transmission of highly contagious diseases courtesy of an eclectic nursing career, but generally have difficulty envisioning global pathways (think of it as map dyslexia). This book revisits the more notable contagious diseases throughout world history, but is exceptional in that it gives excellent visuals demonstrating WHERE the diseases traveled and if simultaneously or sequentially. Fascinating! An excellent resource for geeks and practical application as well. I will be glad to revisit this book periodically, and not just for crosswords or to win a bet with a colleague!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

Most non-fiction books that are historical in nature would do well to include maps. A well designed and informative map adds greatly to my enjoyment of the subject matter. The historical and medical descriptions contained in 'The Atlas of Disease' are accurate and up to date. Each short chapter contains enough information to entertain without being boring. The included maps, however, are not informative or useful to a student of disease. The maps do not add to the narrative and nothing would be lost if they were not included.

A beautifully illustrated , clear and concise book about epidemiology and the history of disease migration, this was a very educational and informative read. It is written in a simple manner, making it easy to understand and the breakdown of each disease at the beginning of the chapters e.g.causes and carriers, symptoms, prevalence etc was very helpful. The real selling point of the book are the wonderful maps that show the movement and progression of the various diseases over time, ranging from historical outbreaks of illnesses like the plague, smallpox and cholera to the AIDs epidemic of the 1970's and 1980s , and right up to the current day with Zika. I also liked the fact that there is a strong focus on what the future entails for these diseases.

Pretty book about an important, but scary topic. Spread and dynamic are dependent on factors many can't even begin to anticipate. Fascinating topic and critical to know. I liked reading this and learned a lot- wish there could be more to be done to intervene as disease travels.

Unfortunately I am only able to review on kindle at this time. However, the synopsis for this looks incredibly interesting and a really unique way at looking at disease and I would have really loved to have read this.

Fascinating look at epidemics, outbreaks and other ways microbes can harm you

I loved this book. Even though the book is grim (20 different ways that germs can kill you), it was still fun to read. Sandra Hempel provides an overview of these infectious diseases: their causative agents, how and where they originated and how they spread. The information is provided concisely, but is accompanied by maps, images of the microbes, and works of art portraying the diseases. While there was some science, it was explained very well. I recommend this book for anyone interested in biology, medicine or the history of science.

A combination of Epidemiology and maps, yes please! While I was reading this I was reminded of one of my favorite video games, Plague Inc, the maps of infection spread calling to mind the same game mechanics, never have I seen a book quite like this in my various studies of infectious disease and I love it. It is not just the path of infection, but also countries affected the most in various years, showing really fascinating trends of population density and poverty to infection rate. The book is also full of a lot of historical and medical details that will seem a little redundant to anyone who studies Epidemiology, but would be a wealth of information to someone with only a passing knowledge. My only complaint is the map for Zika Virus, while read on the computer it is really hard to see with the wavy background they gave to the ocean, though I was really glad to see the inclusion of Zika.

An intereting read. I am always fascinated by how things like pandemics travel across the world. Only recently we had the disease in parts of the world which have had to be contained. I have always been addicted to the app game pandemic when where you have to make a disease spread across the world to win. This book is like a real life insight into that. It didn't disappoint.

This interesting book provides a brief overview of the symptoms and history of major contagious diseases alongside maps visualizing epidemics.