Outbreak!: 50 Tales of Epidemics that Terrorized the World

by Beth Skwarecki

From ancient scourges to modern-day pandemics!

Throughout history--even recent history--highly contagious, deadly, and truly horrible epidemics have swept through cities, countrysides, and even entire countries. Outbreak! catalogs fifty of those incidents in gruesome detail, From ancient outbreaks of smallpox and plague to modern epidemics such as SARS and Ebola, the stories capture the mystery and devastation brought on by these diseases. It's a sickeningly fun read that confirms the true definition of going viral .

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Medicine, Medical, Health, Disease

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covered a whole host of different diseases and afflictions from different eras and times throughout history. I loved that the chapters were succinct and informative and was a great book to dip in and out of. I also liked that they included the same diseases but separated into different chapters depending on when and where it appeared, with chapters working up to the most recent outbreaks.

Theres plenty of great information and not an overwhelming barrage of info and facts but it’s broken down into manageable chapters making it easy to read and easier to digest.

Great all round book on many epidemics and diseases throughout history!

[Wendy Bumgardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you are an armchair epidemiologist or just want a scary read, this book explores 50 different epidemics from 10,000 BC until 2014. Each outbreak includes a summary page and three to five pages of detail - perfect bite-sized chunks for reading a little at a time or doing a longer dive.
The prose is clear for the lay person but technically accurate for those who have a background in microbiology, as I do. It was refreshing to see this balance. It was also entertaining without being lurid.

I was familiar with many of these outbreaks as I've done a lot of reading on them, but Skwarecki provided many new details I didn't know, plus disease outbreaks I had not read about before. I thought each outbreak had just the right amount of information. Often it inspired going to the internet to read more about the period.

This is a book I highly recommend.

[Isabelle reads a book a day because she has no friends · Rating 5 out of 5]

“SARS cases are now gone from the wild, but public health officials still worry about the potential for a fatal, highly contagious coronavirus to star in another epidemic.”
Well... you were right about that one, guys.

I learned all about diseases I never knew existed! This was a highly entertaining read for me...is that demented?
The chapters were very short and concise (which I appreciated) and the book covers a wide variety of viruses, plagues, and epidemics. I learned a lot and the information was presented in a clean, easy to understand way. There were certain parasites, worms, and amoebas galore that I wanted to learn a little bit more about, and the end of the book has an excellent reference section directing me to even more books.
I published my highlights if anyone is interested in previewing what’s within the pages. My mind is still a little blown.

[Stu Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, pop science look at famous epidemics throughout history. It's short chapters, with maybe 3-4 pages an outbreak. Well focused on the science.....it's a light, but interesting read

[Jennifer deBie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all. Skwarecki devotes a few pages each to 50 different epidemics through the centuries, from the almost-funny-but-not-really dancing plague in 16th century France, to leprosy in the 12th century, to the seemingly endless rounds of smallpox, to, hauntingly since this came out in 2016, a line in the SARS (2003) chapter that reads "SARS cases are now gone from the wild, but public health officials still worry about the potential for a fatal, highly contagious coronavirus to star in another epidemic."

The writing was on the wall, funny how we missed it.

Anyway, a good overview of myriad plagues and epidemics across history without bogging the reader down on any single one. An excellent jumping off book for people looking to figure out which gnarly plague they want to read about next.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well-written and very interesting. It chronicled diseases and epidemics from long, long ago up to the present. I enjoyed the clear and concise writing style. The information was very thorough and included many diseases and outbreaks I knew about and many that were new to me. It was also quite fascinating to be able to see the progression of science and medicine over time in response.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick little read that will make any layman believe that the COVID-19 pandemic was in our forecast for some time.

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah not bad but it didn't blow me away!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tales" is stretching it. These are useful capsule descriptions of historical outbreaks and while entertaining it isn't very meaty. I also found it thinly sourced. But I knew this all going in--was just looking for something quick and dirty to satisfy my public health/disease outbreak sweet tooth.

[Liam S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outbreak! by Beth Skwarecki is a book filled with different tales of epidemics throughout the world. There is no continual plot throughout the book but rather 50 different tales of epidemics chronologically. The book starts in 10,000 B.C.E telling us the story of Malaria in Africa and ends in the year 2014 showing us Ebola in West Africa. The book not only taught me more about dangerous bacteria but also about the perils of virus, parasite, prion, amoeba, bio weapon, and contagious mental disorder. What I loved about this book is the brief descriptions prefacing the 3-4 page narrative on the target disease. "Woman were dying in droves from infections after childbirth. The drastic and simple solution: telling doctors to wash their hands." or "Mary felt perfectly healthy, but still managed to infect other people with Typhoid Fever. She was one of many healthy carriers of the disease, but the only one imprisoned as a result." I cannot find any criticisms with this book as it was highly informative and very fun to read. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys scientific stories or learning about different outbreaks throughout human history.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief (2-3 pages) coverage of epidemics since B.C.E. with the agent responsible, percentage of death in a given population, whether a cure was found, the prevailing medical theory at the time. Good for general interest, but not for reference as there are no citations, just a list of books for further reading at the end.

It occurs to me that the study of medicine is very slanted towards western theories even when the coverage of epidemics has proven that they were wrong for a very very long time. Yet despite the fact that vaccines have been used in the east for decades before - we still attribute its discovery to Edward Jenner, despite him learning it from someone else (it's covered in the book).

[Ubah Khasimuddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little book that gives you snippets about some of the world's deadliest or largest epidemics throughout time (as far back as recorded history). Because there are 50 epidemics in the book, each chapter only gets a few pages, so the bibliography in the back is essential if you want to dig deeper into any of the cases.
The author makes the reading very easy, good for those who don't like reading but need something to read, like high school students who are not fans of reading; also everything is broken down to lay man's terms to understand what the epidemic does to the body and how it does it.
I will say after reading this book I am much more cognizant of properly washing my hands and never ever walking in water (except the ocean) barefoot)!

[Asuka · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent! She goes through 50 major outbreaks through the history, usually with an interesting anecdote. It makes you realize how vulnerable we are, and how easily another major outbreak could wipe a large number of us out. I am EXTREMELY grateful for medical community, scientists, and those who took insane risks to solve the mystery of contagious diseases and came up with vaccines, treatments, and cures. I wish people who are against vaccination would read this and see what these epidemics have done to humans in the history, and how amazing it is today that most children survive childhood.

[Kristie Saumure · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I found the essays to be a touch short and didn't get into as much depth as I would have liked, but I quickly adapted to this format and came to like it by the end. As you'd expect, I enjoyed some of the Outbreak chapters more than others. Among my favourites were The Dancing Plague, Beri Beri, Pellagra, Diptheria (my overall favourite), MRSA and Anthrax. Others like Measles, Cholera, Polio, and Typhoid were good, but I already knew a fair bit about their back stories. The dark humour of having favourite outbreaks does not escape me.

[Linde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books I’ve read during Orilium

1. A Wolf Called Wander - class: shapeshifting, calling: faewild cartographer
2. The Night Before Christmas - quest
3. Where Dreams Descend - class: inscription, calling: faewild cartographer
4. Parron Europa - class: animal studies, calling: alchemist
5. The City of Brass - class: alchemy, calling: faewild cartographer
6. Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Faries - class: astronomy, calling: Faewild Cartographer
7. A Dowry of Blood - quest
8. Fantasia V - quest
9. Outbreak!: 50 tales of epidemics that terrorized the world

[John Soria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ick! I'm pretty sure this book added nothing to my life but fear and nightmares. In truth, I was hoping for more elaboration on the process of each outbreak. I'd also like to have known more about the research process. I find old records fascinating, and would have liked to hear more about them for those older outbreaks. All in all, I'm glad I read this book, even though mental images of some of those diseases will stay with me forever.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skwarecki managed to cover repeated outbreaks of the same disease—like smallpox—with very few repetitive parts. Each chapter is only a few pages long. The book covers the diseases (causes and effects) and the social/political/environmental factors that led to their spread, although obviously in a very condensed way. I appreciated the recommended reading section at the back of the book, for other books that offer a deeper dive into the out reals covered in this book.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read for medical anthropologists and historians.
Sad to see so much death from diseases that could be taken care of by simply washing ones hands. Even in this day and age...

"Researchers estimate that if everybody washed their hands, including outside of hospital settings by washing after using the bathroom and before eating, 1 million deaths per year ... could be prevented." (Skwarecki, 2016, p.131)

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like reading about this sort of thing, then this is right up your alley! The chapters are short giving basically a decent overview of each Epidemic. Nothing too in depth but just enough to pique the interest and get you looking up more horrible and terrifying diseases, if you're the morbid sort of person that is.

[Emrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent book! It covers a ton of information and still manages to be interesting and page-turning rather than dense and dull. I'm glad the author included all kinds of epidemics (such as non-contagious vitamin deficiencies) to also give a general overview of the evolution of our understanding of disease and medicine.

[Elizabeth Zerkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each little epidemic is summed up within about 4 pages like little bedtime stories. It talks about the pathology of the disease, how it was spread, how they treated it, and the significance of that outbreak.

This book was made in 2016 and my favorite part is that it covers SARS and says that, "THREAT LEVEL TODAY: Low. SARS has not been seen since 2004."

[Leo Saumure · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for quick reading sessions. Each disease is about 3-4 pages long, some go into better detail than others. My favourite disease was probably vCJD. In the span of about four pages they did a really good job of describing the prion disease as well as a good primer on how proteins fold!

[Mareike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read, even for a trained microbiologist! Highly recommended for everyone who is interested in the historical background of the world’s worst epidemics, covering SARS, Ebola, Smallpox, bubonic plague, Aids, Syphilis and many more.

[Silly Goose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beth Skwarecki (year 2016) on page 235: and maybe there will be this thing called coronavirus coming to destroy us all, who knows

Me: what do you mean? What do you—what do you mean? Beth, what do you mean?

[Chelsea Covey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great read. It's well written and gives just enough information to intrigue but not bore.

[Joonas Fellman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mielenkiintoisia tarinanpalasia pandemioista. Ei onneksi tarvitse valtavaa lääketieteellistä osaamista tästä nauttiakseen, ja onneksi on Google.

[Bethskw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this. It's great. 😀

[M VS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, and very informative!

[Jenifer Ruff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did a lot of skimming and skipping on this one.

[Doug McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 word review = poor mealtime reading, vomiting, Guinea worms, bleeding.