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Summary: The Safest Way to get First Person info on Ebola!
Review: This book is really awsome! It goes in depth about the disease but it is also about how it it is handled in different cases around the world. Richard Preston provides an interesting look at the military's bioterrorism "section" a useful bit of information, especially now. You see, he acually went to Africa so he is a reliable source. He also includes about three or more cases about Ebola and describes it very well.[Believe me I almost had to run to the restroom, very good descriptions!] If you want a well written informative non-fiction/fiction book READ THIS!!
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Summary: A little less filler please
Review: Hit and miss effort by Mr. Preston. The melting down and all around descriptions are the virus running amok are very interesting. However, the effort to tug at our heart strings is sloppy and manipulative and loses the focus of the book for the most part.Some of the writing seems a bit forced and therefore doesn't flow very well, but some is dead on... oh well just my opinion
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Summary: Awesome book!
Review: I first heard about this book when I was a junior in high school..my chemistry teacher had told us about this book and before you know it, pretty much everyone is reading the book!:) This book is nonfiction, about the ebola virus..and it is very interesting and not boring at all. (since I always tend to think nonfiction is boring..lol) Reading this book gives you the chills at times, because it's for real..it all really happened, it's not just your regular book! He writes about how the ebola "reston" (the name the experts that first saw it decided to call it..since it was found in Reston, va..suburbs of d.c...pretty scary huh? scarier cause reston happens to be like 30 minutes from where i live..) was found in a monkey warehouse in reston, va! this strain of ebola was found to be airborne (which the other ones weren't) and thankfully not life-threatening to humans, only the monkeys...meaning, people can't catch the ebola reston (but it's still under highest security level still)I guess this particular strain of ebola was so similar to ebola zaire (which has a high mortality rate) so that pretty much everyone was... their pants!lol they didn't know it wasn't ebola zaire..
anyways, i hope that wasn't confusing to some people reading this..but basically, it's a very suspenseful and horrifying at times because it is real! for all you people that are fascinated by viruses and microorganisms, read this book! you won't regret it!
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Summary: The fact that it's real is scary enough.
Review: This book scared me because it is based upon reality.
The events that took place in this book are real, and when you read what some of these viruses can do, it will scare you to.
With everything going on now; AIDS, Anthrax, etc. this is a must read.
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Summary: Much more terrifying than any fiction book I've ever read
Review: In his high- suspense, terrifying non- fiction novel, The Hot Zone, Richard Prestons delivers quite a thriller practically from page one. Once I opened this book, I could not put it down. I found myself reading it almost everywhere I went. But what makes it so great, one might ask? Well, the scariness of the novel, for one thing. The prospect of a lethal virus using a primate as a host is enough to make anyone jump out of their skin, especially since the book is non- fiction. And another thing: the unexpectedness of this novel makes you want to read more. You never know where the author is going to take you in his quest to explain the three lethal viruses (Ebola Sudan, Marburg, and Ebola Zaire) discussed in this book. Of course, for those of you who get scared easily, The Hot Zone is definitely not for you. But for the rest of you readers out there, I highly recommend that you give this book a try. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Lousy writing
Review: Not a bad book- the subject matter is innately fascinating, but Preston's writing is so poor that I was constantly distracted. In his attempt to be "novelistic" (is that a word?) he loads his scenes with imagined details- what a victim was thinking for example. He is fond of repeating himself ad nauseum, expecially with oh so clever metaphors like "It was a slate wiper, a population thinner, etc."
The single worst line in the book sounds like an intentional joke. "They wanted to do experiments on Ebola, but they didn't want ebola to do experiments on them." If you can explain what that line means, please let me know.
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Summary: The Hot Zone: Precautionary or Prevailing
Review: The book I have just finished, which was Virus Ground Zero helped to clarify some things within the Hot Zone which warned us of the coming viruses. The egregious effects of the ebola virus displayed within the Hot Zone book caused me to seek more enlightenment on the topic, so I chose to read Virus Ground Zero. This was a more than sufficiant counter to the warnings given within the Hot Zone. The Hot Zone, however was a very interesting book which caused me to seek knowledge that I, otherwise would not have gained. This book to me was not only interesting on the topic of The Center for Disease Control, but concurred that we should choose a proactive means in preventing the spread of diseases. Moreover, I feel that you should read the Hot Zone so that you can gain some background knowledge on the topic of the CDC and their procedures in the Hot Zone. I also recommend reading Virus Ground Zero as a counter, or The Coming Plague as a similar yet different book.
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Summary: left my stomach turning or having me sigh in relief
Review: The chilling true story of an Ebola virus outbreak in a suburb close to Washington, near where I currently live. This was a very good book, that educates while entertaining. Preston built up to climaxes several times through the book which either left my stomach turning or having me sigh in relief.
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Summary: Best Book Ever
Review: This is the greatest book ever written, well at least in my opinion. It is a very in-depth novel that makes you completely aware of all that is really lurking in the world. It's also very informative on different viruses and their effect on the body. But a word of warning for the reader- it will make you think about things in a different light (like how millions of particles of a virus can fit in the period at the end of this sentence). Another great aspect to this book is that is all true; that makes it even more intriguing. Buy this book if you want a great read, but you most likely won't be able to stop until you finish it (and I'm not a heavy reader, so coming from me, that's a major thumbs up).
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Summary: Hot Zone Review
Review: Hot Zone, by Richard Preston was a very intriguing book that would be more ideal to an audience that understood effects of Ebola. The reason being the book uses words and phrases that only people that know about the virus and its' sisters would understand. People that like biology would also enjoy the book a lot more because they would know what the book is about too. I felt that the book had a strong plot because it starts out with information about Ebola and its' sisters, which develops the rising action to the climax. Then the book gets really good from the climax the resolution when something bad happens. The conflict of the story is really clear and so a person cannot get too confused on what is going on in the book. Even thought the book is non-fiction the characters were very well described and it helps a person out when reading the book what the significance is of the character being there in a certain situation in the book. I also got a feel of what the characters we going through by the descriptions used in the book. My overall emotion was I was kind of scared to hear that something like Ebola is out in the world and can kill 9 out of 10 victims within a few days of getting it. Basically the book to me was very well written and always exciting to read. Along with that I gain more knowledge from the book and it made me more aware of what it out in the world. I recommend the book to anyone interested in viruses and anyone wandering about the world around them. The end of the book I felt it was really freighting to what happened in the situation with the Ebola virus.
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