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Diseases Without Borders: Plagues, Pandemics, and Beyond
From the infamous Black Death to the 1918 flu to COVID-19, disease outbreaks have always marked human history.
But where they spread, how they spread, and how fast they move have all changed. As humans became more mobile, started trading goods and information across the globe, built bigger cities, increased their greenhouse gas emissions, and had more contact with wildlife and farm animals, disease began to spread easier and faster than ever before. At the same time, humans got better at preventing and combating outbreaks. But no prevention or treatment is perfect for every disease. When new outbreaks occur, people have to work together to figure out what causes the disease, how to prevent its spread, and how to treat it.
In Diseases Without Borders, explore several major diseases that have crossed international borders throughout time, including their causes, symptoms, treatments, and modern status, and what major factors contribute to their spread. Then consider an important What can we learn from the past and present to help predict and contain diseases in the future?
But where they spread, how they spread, and how fast they move have all changed. As humans became more mobile, started trading goods and information across the globe, built bigger cities, increased their greenhouse gas emissions, and had more contact with wildlife and farm animals, disease began to spread easier and faster than ever before. At the same time, humans got better at preventing and combating outbreaks. But no prevention or treatment is perfect for every disease. When new outbreaks occur, people have to work together to figure out what causes the disease, how to prevent its spread, and how to treat it.
In Diseases Without Borders, explore several major diseases that have crossed international borders throughout time, including their causes, symptoms, treatments, and modern status, and what major factors contribute to their spread. Then consider an important What can we learn from the past and present to help predict and contain diseases in the future?
- GenresNonfiction
120 pages, Library Binding
Published April 7, 2026
About the author
Marc Zimmer
13 books8 followersMarc Zimmer is the Jean C. Tempel ’65 Professor of Chemistry at Connecticut College and the author of Glowing Genes (2005), the first popular science book on jellyfish and firefly proteins; Illuminating Diseases (2015); and three books for young adults. His writing has appeared in USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, and he has been interviewed and quoted in the Economist, Science, and Nature. His book Solutions for a Cleaner, Greener Planet has been longlisted for the 2020 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
The State of Science will be released on July 20 2020.
The State of Science will be released on July 20 2020.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
August 31, 2026
Most of this has been covered before but this one still is a very readable and accessible text that brings the concept of the COVID pandemic for younger readers back to the history of other plagues and pandemics in understanding the physical and social science behind dealing with deadly diseases.
Plenty of images, text features, and narrative around the topic. Consumable.
Plenty of images, text features, and narrative around the topic. Consumable.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review