The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson
The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson
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The Ghost Map

Author: Steven Johnson

Narrator: Alan Sklar

Unabridged: 8 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/01/2006


Synopsis

A thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London-and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science, and the modern world.

From the dynamic thinker routinely compared to Malcolm Gladwell, E. O. Wilson, and James Gleick, The Ghost Map is a riveting page-turner with a real-life historical hero that brilliantly illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of viruses, rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry. These are topics that have long obsessed Steven Johnson, and The Ghost Map is a true triumph of the kind of multidisciplinary thinking for which he's become famous-a book that, like the work of Jared Diamond, presents both vivid history and a powerful and provocative explanation of what it means for the world we live in.

The Ghost Map takes place in the summer of 1854. A devastating cholera outbreak seizes London just as it is emerging as a modern city: more than 2 million people packed into a ten-mile circumference, a hub of travel and commerce, teeming with people from all over the world, continually pushing the limits of infrastructure that's outdated as soon as it's updated. Dr. John Snow-whose ideas about contagion had been dismissed by the scientific community-is spurred to intense action when the people in his neighborhood begin dying. With enthralling suspense, Johnson chronicles Snow's day-by-day efforts, as he risks his own life to prove how the epidemic is being spread.

When he creates the map that traces the pattern of outbreak back to its source, Dr. Snow didn't just solve the most pressing medical riddle of his time. He ultimately established a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers, city planners, physicians, and public officials think about the spread of disease and the development of the modern urban environment.

The Ghost Map is an endlessly compelling and utterly gripping account of that London summer of 1854, from the microbial level to the macrourban-theory level-including, most important, the human level.

About Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson is the author of Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software,
which was named as a finalist for the 2002 Helen
Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism and
was a New York Times Notable Book of 2001, as well
as a "best book of the year" in Discover, Esquire, the
Washington Post, and the Village Voice. His other books include the national bestseller Everything Bad Is Good For You, The Invention of Air, and Where Good Ideas Come From. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street
Journal, the Nation, the New Yorker, Harper's, and the Guardian, and he has appeared on television programs including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He holds a B.A. in semiotics
from Brown University and an M.A. in English from
Columbia. Steven lives in New York City with his wife
and two sons.


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