Stupidly, I began Pathogenesis then put it aside to read something else. When I finally got around to getting deep into it, I realised just what a fascinating and brilliant book it is.

Not only is it a perfect introduction to the building blocks of life for the non-scientist - it doesn't assume any previous scientific knowledge and neither insults your intelligence - it is a window into how our history is often shaped by accident rather than our own design. This book would have made history so much more interesting to me as a teenager! But while Pathogenesis illustrates how microbes, viruses and bacteria have affected world history, it is by no means a backward-looking book; it has so much relevance to the here and now, especially in the post Covid pandemic era.

The obsession our political and business leaders have with "advancing" society by making massive profits from exploiting the earth's resources and ignoring public health issues seems increasingly likely to lead us into oblivion. This book reminds us that pathogens can devastate populations within a very short timescale. Without a global political will to work together, we could very quickly find ourselves extinct.

An excellent read.

I wasn’t expecting an easy read with this book, and I often found it difficult to snuggle in bed and read about plagues and the impact on civilisation. That aside, I am glad I read this book.

It is an interesting look at history and the role that pathogens played. The author seems to argue that disease was the primary factor for the outcomes covered, which I disagree with, but disease and plague clearly played a significant role.

I almost DNFed a couple of times, but kept with it, and I’m glad I did.

If you enjoy non-fiction and history, this is worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

An incredibly engaging and fascinating exploration of how germs have impacted human history.

This book looks at the way diseases and infections have led to major changes in human development, and how adaptations to those infections, immunity and immunisation, and death led to opportunities and exploitation. An absolutely incredible book.

Great men didn't shape history, it was teeny tiny bugs. That is the fascinating hypothesis that underlies Pathogenisis. Jonathan Kennedy argues his case well.

I found this to be one of the most interesting non fiction books i've read this year.
If this book had been around prior to covid would our politicians have acted differently to germ warfare?

A gréât scientific read that looks into global pandemics and their evolution, really very interesting and well written

How pandemics have helped to shape us and our history

A fascinating read that gave me much food for thought.

Starting with man’s beginnings and working through to the current day Jonathan lays out the impact of pandemics on our evolution and history and how deeply they are intertwined.

I wasn’t previously aware that differing immunity to diseases in Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals acted as a barrier that prevented them migrating. Or how interbreeding between them would share their immunity to diseases like Malaria, Yellow Fever, respiratory viruses and TB. The effect this would have on the New World and slavery were revelationary for me.

Nor had I realised how long Plague had been around, that it started in it’s pneumonic form which limited it’s spread in less populous times, that the real damage was done when it crossed the species barrier to fleas enabling it to hitch a ride and spread with us along trade routes via rats or that gradual loss of immunity in following generations lead to repeated devastating waves of infection through history.

Jonathan’s book reveals the impact Pandemic diseases from Plague through to Covid have had, from colonising continents and devastating populations to contributing to the rise and fall of civilisations. I found this a deeply interesting book which has helped me to better understand our history, it also gave me much food for thought about the risk of future pandemics. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in our past or our future.

I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

This was a really interesting read about how pandemics and bacteria have shaped history in various ways.

Pathogenesis was less absorbing for me than I’d hoped; I love non-fiction about diseases, even though I’m already studying for my MSc in the subject and thus most of it is not new to me. Still, often there are titbits I didn’t know, and that seemed like it was going to prove true here too when I read the introduction: did you know that viral genes are involved in the formation of the mammalian placenta?

But overall, the rest of it was much less scientific, less based on… well… pathogenesis, and much more about history. How diseases affected armies and governments, and how changes like capitalism (of which the author seems to be a huge fan) changed the approach to public health. Which is to say, created a demand for it, since there was no such thing under feudalism.

For someone who is interested in the history of infectious diseases in relation to humanity, this is probably still fascinating. For me, it was just a bit to starboard of my real interests, and I found it far too simplistic in discussing how diseases work. (Plus, there was definitely a lot more room to consider the impacts of the current pandemic and what it means for the future. Consider the impact on the treatment of tuberculosis, for example — deeply negative.)

It was alright, but not what I wanted, ultimately.

Thanks so much for the ARC of this fascinating book. It deserves its own physical copy so I will be buying an edition for myself and my family to get years of enjoyment out of. This book was so well researched and was a thoroughly captivating zip through plagues that have afflicted humanity.

An enlightening tale of how life has progressed over sixty thousand years being shaped by germs and bacteria. It also advises on what we need to do to preserve our future. Such an interesting read, particularly the early prehistoric accounts.

A fascinating and thoroughly researched book that explores the impact pathogens have had throughout history. It is a real journey through time and one that I found very grounding. It makes you think about how far we have come, or rather the trials and tribulations that have taken place for us to be where we are today; despite statistics and science, the information is presented in a digestible way. It is not just about progress in medicine, the author makes a convincing argument about state funding and politics, social reform being the main cause that led to the eradication of cholera and small pox in the world (primarly amongst other factors - no spoilers and would recommend you read the book!). The recent pandemic, by way of brief summary, makes us realise that pathogens are part and parcel of life on earth and have always affected humans but we can learn/ apply lessons from history on how we must deal with them to make the world a better place. I did lose my focus around halfway in the book as there is alot of information I wanted to process quickly but I would recommend this fully, especially history buffs, you will love it! Thank you @netgalley @randomhouseuk and @transworldpublishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest unedited review.

A fascinating book taking in pathogens across history and the impact that it has had on how different areas developed. The book is written in a very accessible way, guiding you through the facts, context and people's experiences. I really enjoyed reading about the geographical effect that pathogens have had on the expansion of different tribes and wars, you can see that a considerable amount of research has gone into the book.

The relationship between pathogens and their hosts is explored here, particularly how it can be argued that the development of human society can be linked to the development of disease. Starting before general history, this book uses evidence from written and scientific sources to plot the growth of civilisation and to reconsider major moments in history from the perspective of how pathogens showed influence. Combining my two loves of science and history, I found this book really engrossing.

A bit of a late review but for a good reason. This is not a book that can be galloped through, it needs to be savoured and that I what I have been doing. Have not yet finished the book but have read more than half and so am able to say how much I am enjoying it and the things that it has revealed in the process. Always knew there was a world that we mostly knew nothing about due to the fact that we did not have the technology to see or explore it. After all, it was not so long ago that it was believed that solid things, like a wooden table, were actually solid and one would have been laughed at for saying otherwise. Now we have the technology to prove and discover all sorts of "living" things and their interdependence with us as humans!

Take yourself on the same voyage of discovery that I am on, it is very well worth your time.

I found this a completely fascinating read, I love learning about diseases and did a science degree that included epidemiology and parasitology so this was right up my street!

I feel like I learned a lot through this book, and really appreciated the author's inclusion of colonialism and its impact in his history of diseases and how they were/are spread. I knew about the spread of smallpox in South America by the Spanish but the book goes into a lot more detail around it, and how the global slave trade spread disease with devastating consequences whose impacts are still felt today.

The author gives an breakdown of how early humans migrated across the world and how these migration patterns impacted human evolution and our DNA which I found fascinating.

This book is written in plain language so it's easy to digest and the author manages to be informative and also entertaining as his sense of humour shines throughout. Definitely recommended, I think a lot of people will get something interesting from this and learn something cool!

Big picture history is hard to write, particularly if what we are talking about is the scope of entire human history and even how we evolved. Pathogenesis takes this on as a topic, and tries to be as comprehensive as it can be. Its a solidly accessible read and one whose general thesis (that out entire history and evolution has been shaped by disease) is a relatively simple one to accept. The problem I had with it was the specifics. Not so much the swing at specifics, I understand the evidence of neo-lithic plagues that wiped out some Neanderthals is going to be contingent at best. But the tone of the book seems to prioritise his swings over those of previous writers in the field, and there seems to be more glee in pooh-poohing previous work. There are theories here that will probably be disproved, and from a perspective of scientific discourse, the book felt like it was falling into the fallacy of standing on the shoulders of giants, whilst stamping on those giants' heads.

The book is cheerily split into eight chapters based on different types of plagues from Paolithic Plagues to Plagues Of Poverty. Kennedy is very clear-eyed about all of this, he's talking about plagues, there will be death. He is particularly interested in the early chapter about how a plague have forced people to move, or given one group with immunity or no contact advantage over others. Genetics has moved on incredibly since previous books in this field, so he talks with more authority about tracing genetic lineage, again needlessly disparaging those who did not have these tools. Things take a shift to the economic near the back half of the book, the way diseases moved with colonialism, epidemics which wiped out entire peoples, and of course bang up to date with Covid and attempts to stop its spread.

The annoying thing about Pathogenesis is that it is full of really interesting ideas that I want to push back on, or at least explore the science more, because the presentation riled me. The very opening paragraphs of the book take a Sigmund Freud quote, then has a pop at Sigmund being egoistical (likely true but so what) before retooling that quote for his own purposes. Its symptomatic of a book that is full of interesting arguments, but the personality the advocate makes you want to push back.

Such a fascinating and interesting read.
Jonathan really knows how to engage with his readers into the insight of how we as humans impact not just bacterial infections and viruses but how we have ignored the history behind many illnesses.
Jonathan takes you back to when we were hunter gatherers to the present day.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Pathogenesis.

I found this to be learned but not patronising. Although it's clever and comprehensive it is written quite plainly so it's very readable. Fascinating stuff. I really enjoyed it.

Pathogenesis is a fascinating and very readable book, exploring the impact of infectious diseases on human history. It really made me think about the intended and unintended consequences of colonialism and has definitely altered my world view.

Totally vindicates my decision to get a degree in microbiology in the 1990's!