Rating: 
Summary: Excellent medical history book for the non-initiated
Review: As a professor of epidemiology and health research and an avid reader of medical thrillers (fiction and non-fiction), I was pleased to read Kolata's book on the 1918 flu epidemic and the subsequent work on flu research. I have also read Crosby's and Collier's books, both extremely well researched accounts of the 1918 epidemic. Kolata's book was different in that she produced a story that was compelling yet always understandable, especially in her descriptions of complicated scientific procedures. No prior knowledge of epidemiology or molecular biology is needed to enjoy the story being presented. Some of my scientific colleagues may fault Kolata for her "People" style of writing, but I found the book to be an engaging, easy read about a topic which most people know little.
Rating: 
Summary: A scientific murder mystery
Review: Easy to understand, engrossing and a real page turner, this book sheds light on a catastrophic world event that was for the most part, incredibly, historically ignored. The author skillfully weaves technical information into a suspenseful and puzzling story that is hard to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: a newspaper reporter's quicky
Review: Readers deserve better from an author than what Gina Kolata, who works for the NY Times, provides. She takes a reporter's easy way and substitutes a few interviews and personal details about current researchers for any depth of research into the history of the 1918 epidemic-- the purported subject of the book-- or the science involved. As intereesting as the subject is iherently, skip this one. You've got more important things to do with your time-- or you should.
Rating:
Summary: Short on history, shorter still on science, sloppy writing
Review: "Flu" needs some serious editing, beginning with Kolata's annoying repetition of words and phrases. I lost count of the number of times "haunt", "haunted" or "hauntingly" is used (Kolata has a penchant for the pathetic). "He spends his spare time with his wife and young children ..." she writes in one sentence, only to begin the very next sentence with "In his spare time, he composes music ..." Just what does he (virologist Tautenberger) do in his spare time - compose music with his family? Is it relevant anyway? More significantly, Kolata's discussion of the extraordinary virulence of the 1918 influenza is muddied and contradictory. In her concluding chapter she states categorically, and with no further explanation, "There is no reason to believe that pigs gave it to humans ..." Later in the same chapter one reads, "... the 1918 flu resembled a bird flu but it could not have come directly from a bird - it had to have been adapted and modified first by growing in humans or pigs." For a more enlightening discussion of this theme see the brief chapter on influenza in Prof. Michael Oldstone's "Viruses, Plagues, & History", where the concept of "antigenic shift" is introduced. "Flu" is short on history and shorter still on science. The writing is sloppy and sophomoric. Nonetheless, Kolata's portraits of some of the researchers studying influenza are interesting, and far worse books on the disease have been written ("The Plague of the Spanish Lady" comes to mind).
Rating:
Summary: Very Informative
Review: Kolata's book was very easy to read, depicting the phsyical, social, and political ramifications of the killer flu very well. This book doesn't deal with just this one particular virus. It goes on to explain, in detail, flu epidemics which followed the 1918 pandemic and the threat of a new killer strain. I thought the expeditions to retrieve lung tissue samples in Alaska and Norway were particularly interesting as well as frightening. Suppose those men had accidentally set the virus loose again by digging up those corpses?
Rating: 
Summary: Rave reviews for Gina Kolata and FLU
Review: "Kolata's tale moves at a rapid pace, with vivid prose and graphic scenes . . . Flu is a masterly recounting of medical history, providing perspective on how scientists are driven to pursue intriguing problems, marshal intellectual and technological prowess, and persist until answers are obtained. We can be drawn to a good mystery story, even if the villan has not yet been caught."--Dr. Jerome Groopman, The Boston Sunday Globe"Kolata reports this story with all the fervor of Coleridge's ancient mariner, gripping her readers in the book's first paragraph and not letting go until her tale is told. She has assembled a terrific corpus of material to work with, featuring careful scientists, scene-stealing amateurs, medical breakthroughs, academic infighting and bureaucratic snafus."--John R. Alden, The Philadelphia Inquirer "[Kolata] commands the intelligent curiosity, well-honed reporting techniques and smooth prose style of a top science reporter."--Beryl Lieff Benderly, The Washington Post "A gripping yarn . . . of scientific intrigue."--Chris Gay, The Wall Street Journal "Adept . . . effective . . . Kolata has found an apt subject for her skills as microbiologist, journalist and agitator."--Floyd Skloot, San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle
Rating:
Summary: Gina Kolata's "Flu" is an absolute must-read!
Review: Gina Kolata makes science fun! Her writing is intricate and detailed and the chrononology of the epidemic is easy to follow. This true story is a true thriller. The flu pandemic of 1918 was one of the worst in the history of the world, yet so few people know it even existed. The book is interesting as well as educational. And reading "Flu" makes me want to change professions and study microbiology and cell science. Believe me, it doesn't matter if you are interested in science or not, this book is riveting and will demand your attention from start to finish!
Rating:
Summary: Historically flawed with little insight into the basics.
Review: You will get a lively tale including plenty of irrelevant journalistic chit-chat. But you will not understand why flu is a menace. The flu virus is so dangerous because it can undergo sudden and profound shifts in its makeup, rendering existing vaccines ineffective. These shifts occur by high frequency exchange and rearrangement of viral gene segments, a mechanism that was first suggested by F. M. Burnet and described by George Hirst. Burnet and Hirst were pioneers and giants in the influenza virus field. They are not even mentioned in this book. More balanced history could have made a far more insightful story.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling -- and true -- story
Review: I thought the book was fascinating. I wish the author had spent more time describing the effect of the 1918 flu on American society -- most of the book deals with the search for the virus that caused the flu -- but it is nonetheless a fascinating and frightening book.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting information, but poorly written
Review: I'm fond of reading about things like epidemics, parasitology, and other creepy subjects, so I snapped this up as soon as I saw it. The information in it is OK, but the writing is poor, almost amateurish. Phrases are repeated, words are misused (note to all: "decimate" does not mean "obliterate"), the flow of the prose is stilted; with material this exciting, it's sad that the author makes it seem tedious.
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