This is a nice overview of the history of influenza and its different strains, treatments, outbreaks, etc. I'm super late on getting around to this book, but I thought now was the perfect time with COVID going on, and it hits particularly hard with the current pandemic. I've seen a lot of other reviews talk about how they went into this book expecting it to be about the 1918 Flu Pandemic and were disappointed, but the book doesn't present itself as being SOLELY about the 1918 pandemic, so I don't really know what they were looking for to get that impression. Overall, a quick read and a good intro to learning about how scary influenza really is!

Influenza is a quick, interesting read on the history of the flu, where we are today in our fight against it, and how prepared we are should an epidemic strike in the future. I came away from this having learned so much about this common disease that has killed countless throughout history and continues to do so today. It feels like a particularly appropriate time to read this book as the world is currently dealing with COVID-19.

Thank you Text Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

Being fascinated with medical books I eagerly read this book. This once thought of as a ‘minor virus’ or perhaps ‘unpleasant inconvenience in Winter’ by myself and possibly others, has now changed considerably. I was fascinated and fearful to read about this virus that is still as powerful as it was in less medically advanced ages.

I read this book with enthusiasm and great interest as it explored historical flus, vaccinations and current research to find a cure for this deadly virus.

Influenza is a absolutely fascinating book on the history and possible future of the influenza virus. The author has clearly done a lot of research and has written a interesting book.

Excellent look at the past present and future of influenza

I loved this book. Author Dr. Jeremy Brown tells a great story about the past, present and future of influenza. The book reads like a novel and I found it hard to put down. There is, inevitably, science in this book but Dr. Brown uses a conversational tone to explain everything thoroughly. And as an ER doctor, he is also able to show his personal perspective. He talks about vaccines, treatments, and the responses of government to flu pandemic threats and I found this very informative. Dr Brown is also free with his well-thought-out, blunt opinions. This book is well worth reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
The beginning was absolutely brilliant. I was immediately gripped and begging for Autumn to be okay; it was a perfect way to start and a truly incredible story.
This book was consistently interesting throughout and I feel that's quite successful as this is not something I would typically see myself enjoying. It had everything I needed to be able to follow and understand, being sufficiently informative without coming across as patronising.
This brought up a number of ways in which the flu did and still does affect the world which I never would have considered could have such a huge impact.
There were also countless fascinating hypotheses introduced and fully explained (such as that of the relation between the flu and the Super Bowl), however I also appreciated Dr Brown's admittance that there is an awful lot that we do not know.
Finally I thought the epilogue was an absolutely perfect ending to a brilliant book. I loved the comparison between pessimistic and optimistic views relating to the flu and I thought the whole book was just tied off exactly as it should have been. I am glad I read this book!!

A fascinating read! I learned about the flu virus, past pandemics, what we've done to combat the flu and what we still need to learn. Hopefully, one day there will be a cure for the flu!

Love this book. I have been curious about plagues and epidemics and the flu is especially interesting because there is so little reliable understanding of it. The flu can seem trivial compared to big bad diseases, but the flu has can take out more than all of them. But how?

In a very conversational and accessible way, the author discusses what we know and what we don't and how that can influence ( pardon the pun) the variation and spread of the virus. His explanation of what a virus is and how it works is really excellent.

This is a great read, informative, and a pleasure to read. I recommend it highly
Thank you, netgalley, for the chance to read it in return for an independent review.

Note: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

ER doctor Jeremy Brown explores a century of flu in Influenza: The Quest to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History. From the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which didn't even start in Spain to the 2009 H1N1 "pandemic", which, to be precise, wasn't really a pandemic, the author gives a very thoroughly researched account of the history of the influenza virus and humanity's relationship with it. He focuses on the 1918 strain, describes the journey of its discovery, "decryption", and the dangers associated with it.
He digs deep into the politics and economics behind influenza and unearths ugly truths and controversies about antiflu medications.
The author highlights the challenges we're facing today concerning the significance of statistics, the problems with predictions and the mess made by mutations.
He describes remedies that didn't work back then, like bloodletting and remedies that don't particularly work now, like antiflu medicine and how even though we've come so far, we still don't have a working solution for the influenza issue.
Overall it's a very well written and easily understandable book packed with interesting information around the "deadliest disease in history" and how after 100 years of research the possibly "best cure" is still chicken soup and bed rest.

I would recommend this book (only as resource to provide another perspective) to the medical students of today but would not consider it an addition to the curriculum.

More substantial research must be done before this controversial topic is put to rest.