Epidemics and Plagues

by Richard Walker

Kingfisher Knowledge is a groundbreaking series for readers hungry for information on today's hot topics. Lively, engaging text, packed with information, accompanies stunning photographs that enhance each chapter. Amazing, state-of-the-art digital artwork guides readers into the fascinating heart of the subject. This learning adventure does not stop there - information panels throughout lead the reader to further discovery. Each chapter offers website links, book lists, places to visit and career information. "Epidemics & Plagues" takes an in-depth look at epidemics and plagues past and present, finding out about the big killer diseases and what happens when they spread rapidly and affect large numbers of people. It conveys the sad yet gripping histories of the Black Death of 13th-century Europe, the Great Plague of London, the devastating smallpox epidemics of 18th-century America and the flu epidemic that followed the First World War. It peers under the microscope at the agents tha

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epidemics and Plagues is a non-fiction science book, full of facts about the origins and developments of epidemics and plagues around the world, throughout the course of time. It was an interesting read, full of great pictures to supplement the easy-to-understand text. The author includes magnified pictures of different viruses, which capture the mind because of their beauty juxtaposed with the reality of their ugliness. Mr. Walker also includes modern-day photographs depicting disease-spreading conditions that people endure throughout the world we live in today, alongside old paintings from the times spoken of in the book, such as the Bubonic Plague or "Black Death" of the Middle Ages. He includes many interesting snippets of information next to the intriguing pictures which help to bring the awful reality of disease and pestilence into sharp focus. An excellent introductory science book, that makes one want to learn more about the field of epidemiology. I came away with a deeper sense of gratitude for the living conditions I enjoy, and appreciation for the scientists and doctors who make it their life's mission to ease the suffering of others by eliminating the diseases that cause so much distress and hardship in the world.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my kids. It helped us understand the current pandemic in historical context. It’s helpful to remember that human societies have been through this kind of thing many times before.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout the course of human history, plagues and epidemics have never rested. When new epidemics appear people try to unravel its mysteries, but most of the time people were unsuccessful. Epidemics first of all is totally separate form plagues, epidemics are the widespread of an easily spread disease. For instance in the 1900s the U.S encountered the deadly disease polio. There were different types of polio, but polio targeted muscles and mostly the respiratory system, sometimes polio could paralyze and person. However polio mainly affected young children, but one of our presidents was scarred for life, losing the ability to use his legs. (Franklin D. Roosevelt.)Meanwhile, plagues are easily transmitted bacterial diseases that generally cause fevers and other severe damage to the human body. An example of a plague would be the Black Death or plague during medieval Europe. The disease was actually transmitted to humans from rats and fleas, since during the time people lived in dense areas and unsanitary conditions, although people though that God was punishing them for their sins. There were way more epidemics and plagues than that, but moving to the good news some of the epidemic and plagues were able to be cured and secured. Polio vaccines invented by Jonas Stalk help prevent polio while the Black Death wasn’t exactly cured or prevented it ran out of people to kill and vanished. As you can see there are many plagues and epidemics in history and the world today, not all of them can be prevented or solved easily, but we should all try to do our best to prevent and stamp out diseases.
I enjoyed this book actually, I know, I know nobody likes non-fiction but this was an exception. It was really boring at first because it talked about diseases and bacterial thingies. Then the specific diseases appeared that what really grabbed my interests. I learned that black death is called that because the victim’s skin turns dark crisp and dies, unfortunately nothing whatsoever was very blissful. Then again if you want to know more about them and how to prevent them then this is an novel for you.

[Alisha Funkhouser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walker, R. (2006). Epidemics & Plagues. Boston, MA: Kingfisher.

Informational

School Library Journal Review

This book is packed full of information on plagues, diseases, and epidemics. It is easy to read and contains many pictures. It breaks down into three major chapters. Each chapter has sections dedicated to something particular. For example, chapter 1 is about death and diseases, so there are sections about powerful pathogens or germs, how people can get infected, and also how are body can fight germs and bacteria. Chapter 2 is about plagues and pestilences or diseases. It covers major plagues like the Black Death plague and diseases like syphilis, smallpox, and leprosy. It gives facts about each plague or disease and how devastating they were to specific populations. Chapter 3 gives details about diseases today. It gives information on vaccines, how public health differs around the world and how that affects each area, and it also sheds light on how diseases will affect the future.
What I really enjoyed about this book was that it was easy to retain the information. Every page had several different pictures (some real pictures, some computer generated, and some real paintings), with a caption giving more facts and information about that topic. I also really liked that after each chapter there was a summary section that gave links to websites with more information, different types of careers that are related to that chapter, and places to travel for more information.
I would use this book in my classroom. I would take advantage of the websites that it gives and do a scavenger hunt between the book and the websites. It could also be used for some Social Studies lessons like Medieval times or studies of different countries like India and relating disease to how it affects their culture.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epidemics and Plagues by Walker Richard is a frightening book because it is a serious book, but the topic is treated with a detached tone. It is a book which is quite short, only sixty-four pages, but it is filled with a lot of information. It begins with an introduction as to what is considered an epidemic or plague. This information is quite surprising, as you will find out. The book includes many bits of information regarding well known epidemics such as the black death, malaria, and more. Again, for being such a small book, it really gets it’s point across. Unfortunately, that becomes a problem because of the lack of emphasis on the given plague or epidemic on each page. There are many pictures, which give a little bit of concept and visual representation of what happens with diseases.

loI would give this book a three and a half stars. Even though it achieves its purpose, the book is too short for my liking. The lack of detail leaves me very skeptical as to whether there is sufficient information. It also only discusses major epidemics, like the listed Black Death and Malaria. I know that there are more plagues that were worse, such as the Spanish Flu that weren’t really discussed. It would also be interesting to see minor, serious breakouts investigated. There is only one page briefly describing colds and flus, which is not very helpful. This is due to the fact that, as the book stated, there are many strains of flu and cold, and it would have been better to have one page for colds and one page for flus, especially because of how different they are. Overall, it is an ok book, I would definitely not recommend it as a book for serious research, but mainly as a one hour light reading.