Thanks to @netgalley and @Simon&Schuster for an arc in exchange for an honest (late) review.
This book is an insightful view of the last 25 years of pandemics from Donald McNeil's perspective while he was a regular reporter on The New York Times’s popular podcast The Daily. Because of his prescient work, The New York Times won the 2021 Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service.

I took a long time reading this because it forced me to confront my ptsd from 2020 and moving forward. We all had different versions of the same story, I was forced to see how I was as this information came out. However, I am better for reading this. Learning how the US government handles information like Covid, AIDS, Monkey Pox etc while understanding other cultural moments to consider was well layered by McNeil.

I only rated this a 3.5/5 (rounded to 4) because its nonfiction and hesitated even rating it. I did give it a rating though because there are so many comments, quotes, facts, and perspectives that are well done in this book. It is not supposed to be preachy but also tries to add a call to action through out. How can we prepare for the next pandemic (and why they will never end) as a community, are wonderful points posed for ongoing discussion

I was really impressed by this book! I thought it would just cover COVID-19, but it actually goes into a lot of detail about different pandemics from the last 25 years. The author writes in a way that's easy to understand, even though sometimes there's a lot of information to take in all at once. What I really liked about this book is how the author shares their own thoughts and lessons learned from these pandemics, especially COVID-19. They talk about what could have been done better and what we should keep in mind for the future. This makes the book not just informative, but also really makes you think about what comes next. In short, this book is packed with useful information and insights. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about pandemics. I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars for being such an eye-opening read.

This book was really interesting- I loved hearing his experience and getting a behind the scenes look at how these are reported. I felt like could use a bit more editing to connect the individual stories to an overall story. Each anecdote is well written, and this is likely due to his long career as a journalist but the connection between them was lacking.

There were also sections where his bias showed. This could be ok , but given the work is about his experience as a science reporter it was strange to see it pop up given it was surrounded by such objectivity.

I would recommend it - I think it was really interesting and showed a behind the curtain look at how these stories unfold but I don’t know that I would reread it

Real Rating: 4.75* of five

"The innocent too often died" in plagues...that is one of those evocative sentences that sound good until you start unpacking them. Does this excuse the public-health indifference around the fate of the incarcerated, as we presume them to be guilty? (Of what, and why, let’s leave for another book review.) Of course not...at least I hope those reading my reviews agree that this is not acceptable...but it illustrates a fact of the author’s writing such a book reveals.

How we talk about plagues, and public health in general, is deeply fraught and will, no matter how carefully phrased, offend and insult someone.

What Author McNeil chose to do with that realization was write the facts of plagues...origins, spreads, containments...in the context of a long career’s take-aways about what works, what doesnt, and how to effectively stop the inevitable rise of some highly infectious and contagious disease from becoming another pandemic. I tell you upfront, you will hate the answer. It involves infringing, to an astonishing degree, your liberties.

The author has covered the topic for an adult human lifetime. He has seen what effective responses look like. The US did not mount an effective response to COVID, and many died who need not have done. I live in an assisted-living facility with many, many smokers. Over thirty of the residents...out of two hundred-ish...died. Many, including me, got sick. Many of those, though not me, went to the hospital to treat their infections. We were lucky it was not a lot worse because the leaders locked us down, passed out masks like candy, made social-distancing rules that they enforced, and still people got infected.

But we live in a state where those measures were put in place quickly and enforced. Fewer died, and got seriously ill, because the patchwork of regulations and responses worked in our favor. That was good luck, which was in short global supply. But we live in a state where those measures were put in place quickly and enforced. Fewer died, and got seriously ill, because the patchwork of regulations and responses worked in our favor. That was good luck, which was in short global supply. There were even then other challenges concurrent with COVID, eg monkeypox, that never became pandemics despite having the makings of such. One big reason is the public-health response was faster, more openly communicated, and more united. This limited the pathogens’ natural ability to spread.

What the author says to us is that solipsistic selfish behavior in defense of your little "liberties" is fatal in the context of a pandemic. Sometimes Life is not fair, but to save the lives of others you must be ready and willing to accept the loss of unlimited, unrestricted personal "liberty." Sarcastic tone implied by quotes very much intended.

Author McNeil is a bona fide expert on this subject. He knows from being there what is needed to stop a pandemic from arising. I sometimes found his explications, deeply grounded and reported with clarity, to be repetitive, so can not offer a perfect five-star rating. I devoutly hope that some who did not read The Daily during 2022 will still find this book and respond to his "I was there, I saw it happen," account of pandemics past, and re-evaluate their stances on responding to the absolutely inevitable and guaranteed recurrence of a pandemic.

A boy can dream.

The Wisdom of Plagues is an interesting layman accessible nonfiction monograph on his experiences in science reporting by Donald G. McNeil Jr. Released 9th Jan 2024 by Simon & Schuster, it's 384 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. It makes it so easy to find information with the search function.

Although much the language of pandemics as well as most people's interactions and awareness of pandemics are inevitably tied to Covid-19 and the media and reporting of that specific occurrence, there have been many (many!) other contagions and Mr. McNeil does a good job of integrating sociology, media, awareness, and education in general as well as to his experience covering science beats for the last 25 years. There's quite a lot of introspection and supposition on the part of the author, a lot of "what if" and "how to use this knowlege", and "what could be in store?". It's illuminating to read. Coming from a science background, and understanding a lot more about the biological mechanics involved and quite little about humans and their herd psychology, very much of this info was completely new.

The book is divided into four distinct sections: initial reflections (how he got where he is), what if (covid, monkeypox, etc), human factors, rules and regulations and how they can mitigate and impact future pandemics (and if nothing else is set in stone, that fact is, that there *WILL* be a next time).

Although it's written in accessible and easy to understand language, it is rigorously annotated and the chapter notes and bibliography are likely worth the price of admission on their own merits.

Five stars. This would be a superlative choice for public and tertiary institutions of higher learning, home use, and for fans of popular scientific writing.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I do read a lot of nonfiction books about diseases and most of them are from the point of view of medical professionals and/or scientists. This author has a journalistic background, so can provide a unique outlook on what he has witnessed in regards to how diseases have affected the world in recent times.
Unlike almost everyone else, McNeil predicted that Covid was going to be really bad. He got to watch in real time as so many factors went into play to cause an enormous number of unnecessary deaths in the US.
McNeil talks about other instances and diseases too, sharing details of the diseases themselves and how governments react. While he has advice on how to do better, it seems like such a huge amount of misinformation to overcome in order to protect people.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this important book

Donald G. Mcneil, Jr., is a retired reporter who spent the bulk of his career focusing on issues of global health. The Wisdom of Plagues is his attempt to pull together clear, accurate accounts of some of the global health crises he's witnessed and to explain the lessons he hopes we will learn from them so that we can face future health crises more productively.

In particular, he wrestles repeatedly with the question of individual rights/freedoms vs. the common good. One example he uses is the difference between the handling of AIDS in the U.S. and its handling in Cuba. He argues [this will be controversial, so prepare yourselves] that Cuba, which systematized mass testing and required the relocation of those testing positive for AIDS to dedicated health facilities, did a better job of responding to the epidemic than the U.S., which insisted on only voluntary testing and no tracking of individuals who tested positive. In the case of COVID-19, he compares the disjointed responses across the U.S. to China's quick ability to "lock down" cities and/or regions where the virus was present.

What he's calling for is a more systematic and rigid public health system that is empowered to require things of the public—like masking or being vaccinated. In fact, he argues that the U.S. public health system should be as powerful and well-funded as the pentagon, given that it is a crucial part of national security.

I have a great deal of empathy for his concerns. Wearing masks protects others more effectively that it protects the individuals actually wearing the masks, which is one of the reasons I saw the anti-mask fervor in the U.S. as a demonstration of how little we care for others in our community. Individuals felt their right to avoid the discomfort of masking outweighed the possibility that they could be infecting others, particularly if they were asymptomatic carries. But I also understand the other side of the equation. In California during the AIDS epidemic, we had a ballot proposal that would have registered and potentially quarantined people with AIDS.

Perhaps the lesson is that anything, even if we believe it's "right," can be weaponized.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

There was so much interesting and new information in this book. While it was certainly a little difficult to read, feeling like I was thrust back into those early days of the pandemic filled with uncertainty and confusion, many things were put into perspective. The information is presented very well, factually and understandable. An informative read and important for perspective.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had to read this in bits and pieces because it starts out with a personal recap of the first days of covid. I had just received my Consumer Health Information Specialist certification to go with my masters degree so I was heavily invested and terrified in the early days ( I am still terrified).
Although I did like the few weeks of fake lockdown we had here in town. People stayed home, more or less, and we all relaxed for a few weeks. I could do that part again. Now everyone who hasn't died has had it multiple times and we are seeing long term issues, not to mention our immune systems are destroyed. I will add that I got it for the first time while reading this amazing book.
Anyway, so in the beginning the author recalls warning people and people not listening.
I just felt that in my soul.
The book then dives into the history of pandemics and why we have them. It is so good. There were bout 90 lines in this book that I want to plaster all over the internet and the city. It is brilliant.

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed it overall, and will more than likely purchase this for my public library.

There’s a lot of interesting information in this book that is pertinent to our times. I learned a lot. I don’t normally read nonfiction that this was very interesting to me.