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Summary: Excellent book; a must-read!
Review: Had heard about this book for quite some time but only just read it. Excellent! Much more terrifying than the murder mysteries I typically read because this is true stuff. Contemplating the 'what if...' is frightening. Definately shakes up a person's complacency. Preston certainly knows how to evoke visions of what he's describing - his words readily bring to the mind's eye what the African landscape looks like, what the Ebola victims suffer through and what their final days hold.
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Summary: loved it
Review: I absolutely loved this book. It made me decide that I will become a virologist when I get out of school. It sparked my passion for the field.
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Summary: A chilling book
Review: The Hot Zone is not of consistent high quality from cover to cover or from chapter to chapter but there are enough effectively terrifying accounts in the book to keep you turning the pages.
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Summary: Very thought provoking
Review: I couldn't put the book down. It was incredibly interesting and what made it even more strange was that it is non-fiction.
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Summary: A realistic, scary account of a deadly virus.
Review: It took me 6 months of looking at this book to finally pick it up and read it, and then I wondered why I waited so long! Mr. Preston is a very down-to-earth, readable author of non-fiction.The book itself made me MUCH more aware of what a virus is. This particular virus, Ebola and its various strains, is extremely scary in that each strain travels a different way. Where one strain only passes in bodily fluids and thus requires actually touching a victim, other strains are airborne - you only need to be in the same room as a "host" or victim and you've got it. I passed the book to a co-worker to read when I was done. Halfway through, she caught a stomach virus and wouldn't finish the book! That's how realistic and scary it is.
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Summary: a humbling tale of man's destiny
Review: This story of filoviruses was more educational than my microbiology book in college. Since i'm a microbiology major I truly appreciate the educational descriptions of viral syptoms and path of contraction. This is the scariest book I've ever read (and I hate to read) because it is all true. I checked out my micro text book and it only mentioned the events in a summay box. This book has truly expanded my awareness of hazardess epidemics.
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Summary: frightening
Review: what was truly frightening about this book wasn't the virus (though it is terrifying in itself), but was the infighting and politics and non-cooperation of the army, cdc, and the private company. if this had been a more dangerous virus, then much damage would have been done. the book itself was decently written, but don't buy it for the writing, but it for the education.
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Summary: Terrifying!
Review: This book was incredible, chilling account of the Ebola virus. After hearing so much about it in the news I decided to read it and several other Ebola oriented books. This was by far the best. Just make sure you don't have a weak stomach, my brother passed out on the floor while reading the first 50 pages.
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Summary: Stunning story told in a superb style
Review: While the story itself is fascinating, the opening of Preston's "The Hot Zone" is the best opening I've ever read, and I'm a writer myself, the author of four novels. His use of language hints at a writer with superior skills and with much to say. Some other reviewers fail to recognize that the book is not as much about the Ebola virus, but that the Planet Earth, tired of the prospect of five billion inhabitants, is trying to fight back and eliminate mankind. Aids, Ebola, they might be just the forerunners of an army of viruses with the goal of keeping the human population from exploding in ever-increasing numbers. Most of the books among today's bestsellers have nothing to say; but "The Hot Zone " is an exception. If nothing else, read the end, and memorize it if you can. I liked it so much that I've written it down and now I've included it here, I hope I won't get in trouble with the publisher for unauthorized duplication of copyrighted material. The following is a direct quote from Richard Preston's "The Hot Zone" "In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of people, the dead spots of concrete all over the planet, the cancerous rot-outs in Europe, Japan, and the United States, thick with replicating primates, the colonies enlarging and spreading and threatening to shock the biosphere with mass extinction. Perhaps the biosphere does not "like" the idea of five billion humans. Or it could also be said that the extreme amplification of the human race, which has occurred only in the past hundred years or so, has suddenly produced a very large quantity of meat, which is sitting everywhere in the biosphere and may not be able to defend itself against a life form that might want to consume it. Nature has interesting ways of balancing itself. The rain forest has its own defenses. The earth's immune system, so to speak, has recognized the! presence of the human species and is starting to kick in. The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by the human parasite. Perhaps AIDS is the first step in a natural process of clearance." End of quote
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Summary: This is GREAT! (If you don't have a weak stomach.)
Review: This was the most horrifying book I have ever read. Richard Preston writes this book with such reality that it is truly scary to think that the Ebola virus was actually in the United States! I am not one for graphic details, so I mainly just skimmed through the gory parts (and believe me, there are a LOT!), but once you get past those, the book makes you want to read it without putting it down. The best part is, even though this is a scientific book, you don't have to be overly smart to understand it because Mr. Preston explains every aspect of it. I am 15 years old and was assigned to read this for my Biology class and, even though I didn't really want to read it, I'm glad I did! It's GREAT!!
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