Very interesting until it becomes highly technical. I like science but not quie enough to finish. A must read for budding immunologists.

Brown provides an enlightening and intriguing look into influenza with this well researched and written book.

investigation, medical, historical-research, historical-places-events, historical-figures, pandemic

I'm not certain who will benefit most from this book. The very beginning could be quite off putting to the general public while paramedicals like me are entranced. Lots of it is easily comprehensible to most, while some sections might make some folks glassy eyed. Yet you ask why I recommend it to everyone.
Simple. Historians, research minded, descendants, patients, and those in paramedical fields will benefit from the research and perspectives laid out in this book. Whether you want to know how influenza traveled, why this particular strain is not freely active, how vaccines are developed, what treatments were used throughout history for the illness and if/when some were finally discarded, and just why the grandmothers were right about dosing with chicken soup, you will find your answers here.
I had the grandest time reading this one, and I have read a number of others, because of the logical way that sections are organized as well as some areas having a slightly different perspective than some others. I hope that many others will at least learn a lot from it.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Touchstone/Simon and Schuster Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

I read Influenza, by Jeremy Brown, in two days. Brown, an experienced ER doctor and Director of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes for Health, wrote his book to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of the terrible influenza outbreak in 1918.

In my opinion, this is a must-read book for anyone who has ever questioned getting a flu shot. The author reports that this disease, often thought to be mild and common, kills over 30,000 people in the U.S. every year. Just a year ago, in 2017, many young and seemingly healthy people succumbed. You don't have to be elderly or have a compromised immune system to be at risk.

I'm alarmed by the number of people who oppose having their children vaccinated. I'm an ordinary person--not a biologist, doctor or scientist--but I'm convinced by Brown's findings that this vaccine, at least, can make a difference.

His book is subtitled, The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History. If that doesn't grab your attention, it should. A cure for influenza, he tells us, is still elusive, and even the annual shot may not prevent the disease--but it may help.

Highly recommended.