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Rating: 
Summary: Not great
Review: I was not impressed by this book. I admit I have, so far, only glanced at it. What I found was:- one factual error: Sherlock Holemns was based on Prof Joeseph Bell not Dr Charles Bell - a very cursory description of the history and recent outbreak of the Ebola virus. I would expect Time magazine to have a better article; - an exetremely cursory description of Hantaviruses. The Field Guide to Germs by Wayne Biddle does it better; - avarege descriptions of the histories of "classic" infectious diseases such as yellow fever. I recommend Plague, Pox & Pestilence by Kenneth F. Kipple (Ed.) for an excellent lay introduction to the topic.
Rating: 
Summary: The focus on historical impact makes this book worthwhile.
Review: It is a shame that the decisive impact of communicable diseases on history are typically underplayed in school books. This information needs to be known by every educated person. Dr. Oldstone's book provides both an account of medical progress and its context in social and cultural history. In meeting these goals, this book succeeds admirably. Dr. Oldstone writes well. His expertise shines in his understanding of critical events in scientific development, and his knowledge of the contributions of both well-known and obscure scientists indicates a mastery of the breadth of the field. This scholarship is enhanced by his personal interactions with many of the 20th Century's great virologists, many of them familiar names, including Salk, Sabin, Montagnier, Gallo and Enders, among others. Some of the best illustrations in the books come from Dr. Oldstone's own research.
The discussion of the impact of viral disease on wars and public life are both factual and pointed. Having recently read, Jared Diamond's important book, "Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies", I find Dr. Oldstone's exposition of many of the same stories support Diamond's conclusions while providing important additional information. I have read many other discussions of the disastrous impact of smallpox virus on Native Americans, but Oldstone goes beyond reporting victimization to point out that the Chiefs of the Five Nations were astute enough to be among the first to adopt Edward Jenner's discovery and vaccinate their own people, while in Europe resistance to this new approach continued. The Chiefs sent Jenner a letter and a ceremonial belt in thanks for his discovery.
It is fascinating how the social responses to lethal epidemics have not changed over the centuries, even into the 1990's (panic, cover-up, attempts to turn away fleeing refugees). The horrendous yellow fever epidemic of 1878 in my home town, Memphis, Tennessee, is described in some detail, particularly pointing out the selfless devotion of the physicians, nurses and religious orders who chose to stay, 60% of whom did not survive.
There are, however, some weaknesses. The third chapter, on immunology, is written very densely. Unlike the other chapters, there is no historical development, just a statement of the facts. Since this chapter contains information important for understanding later chapters, it should have been better developed with historical anecdotes to increase interest. The book is limited to a selection of viruses, but the reason for their inclusion and not others is unstated. Some very poorly-understood (but very dangerous) viruses are included, while others of great interest to a general audience (rhinoviruses = cold viruses) are absent. Research on many of these viruses and the eradication of poliovirus continues to advance, so that the information in this book should already be supplemented with readings from current science news. The editing by Oxford University Press is erratic and flawed. There are many typos and omissions. For example, in Chapter 13 the work of Zigas and Gajdusek on Kuru is first located in New Zealand, later (correctly) in New Guinea. In the same chapter I read that meat contaminated with Mad Cow disease was mislabeled and sold in St. Petersburg, but that turns out to be St. Petersburg, Russia, not Florida, as I first guessed. Many dates are absent, which makes it hard to get a sense of the rate of progress. The index is very sparse. For example, although rabies is mentioned in the text, there is no index entry for that virus. The description and explanation of ultrafiltration devices and other material is repeated several times in various chapters. The Works Cited contains numerous identical references to the same papers, for example the historic 1989 paper of Loeffler and Frosch on hoof and mouth disease.
Overall, the problems amount to an irritation. I recommend this book as an introduction to the field.
Rating: 
Summary: Don¿t give up on this one too soon
Review: This is an good book that unfortunately starts out in a very forbidding manner with a difficult (at least for me) introduction to the principles of virology in Chapter 1 followed by the principles of immunology in Chapter 2, but then gets very readable. The material on smallpox and yellow fever is fascinating. Oldstone leaves it unclear whether mad cow disease is caused by a miss-manufactured prion protein or by a virus: Others books, including Richard Rhodes' Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague (1997), clearly cite the cause as being faulty prion protein production in the brain. This is not for the squeamish. I confess that there were twenty or so pages on polio that I skipped, not wanting to relive that sadness, although of course the defeat of polio is one of the great triumphs in the history of medicine. Incidentally, the title owes something to the classic Rats, Lice and History, by Hans Zinsser, first published in 1934, a book that has enjoyed a well-deserved and remarkable commercial success not easily duplicated.
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