Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Weekend reading: The Hot Zone

I read this years ago and triggered strong germaphobe OCD reactions. Going to download it to Kindle and read again for shits and giggles.

"The first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I've ever read in my whole life ... and then is gets worse. That's what I keep marveling over: it keeps getting worse. what a remarkable piece of work. I devoured it in two or three sittings, and have a feeling the memories will linger a long time."
                                                                                                                              
 -Stephen King

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hot-Zone-Terrifying-Origins/dp/0385479565

4 comments:

Cederq said...

Yet you have two daughters and are still a germaphobe... interesting...

Anonymous said...

I was not long out of grad school when Peter Piot went to Zaire knowing only this was ugly. I was part of a group that followed the saga at the time. (My specialty was in aerobiology and biological responses to level 2 viruses)

Peter came home alive and today runs the British School of Tropical Medicine.

The book followed some years after Peter came home. Yup, read it too. Yup, only one of a bunch of damn scary books about some damn scary agents. I can say almost nobody here has a clue just how bad these level 4 agents can get. So much we still don't know.

Winston

fjord said...

Spillover by David Quamman if you really want nightmare reading.


Germs Gone Wild by Kenneth King
and
Biohazard by Ken Alibek

fjord said...

Note:

When I read Germs Gone Wild a few years ago, my impression was that the author was over exaggerating/sensationalizing the ineptitude and incompetence of the germ handlers.

Now I don't think so.