61 books
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19 voters
Smallpox
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Or look at the status of women, about which finally the planet is coming to its senses in our own time. Or even things like smallpox and other disfiguring and fatal diseases, diseases of children, that were once thought to be an inevitable, God-given part of life. The clergy argued, and some still do, that those diseases were sent by God as a scourge for mankind. Now there are no more cases of smallpox on the planet. For a few tens of millions of dollars and the efforts of physicians from a hund
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― The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
― The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
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Ask the Aztecs and the Incas whether or not they would have liked to have access to vaccines. Oh, wait, you can't. They're dead. Vaccination is one of the best things that has happened to civilization. Empires toppled like sandcastles in the wake of diseases we do not give a second thought to today. If taking a moment to elaborate on that point will make this book unpopular with a large group of antivaxxers, that’s okay. This feels like a good hill to die on. It’s surely a better one than the In
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― Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them
― Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them
