by Richard Preston
2002 non-fiction about biological weapon agents smallpox and anthrax, and the American governmental defensive measures toward them. The book is mostly an account of the Smallpox Eradication Program, a discussion about smallpox’s status as a potential bioterrorism agent, and the controversy about th...
From Goodreads: “The bard of biological weapons capturesthe drama of the front lines.”-Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navyThe first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of pro...
I remember Preston's previous book, The Hot Zone about Ebola, absolutely blowing me away. A non-fiction book that was more terrifying than any thriller by Michael Crichton. This didn't impress me the way that other book did, even if it did suck me in and engross me--it read incredibly fast, the kind...
nuutopening: n the early nineteen seventies, a British photo retoucher named Robert Stevens arrived in southFlorida to take a job at the National Enquirer, which is published in Palm Beach County. At the time,photo retouchers for supermarket tabloids used an airbrush (nowadays they use computers) to...
This, the story of smallpox in modern times (with a little anthrax for spice), is tautly written, like a thriller. Which it sort of is, only scarier because it's true. Preston is a good writer, he picks out memorable things about people, and he gets a free pass from me forever after referring to a d...
Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. I expect the end of the world, the people part of it in any case, is likeliest to be the result of loose pathogens. In Demon in the Freezer, published in 2002, Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event takes a look at two of th...
this was fascinating, and well researched, but not well written. and it seemed like he was in a race to get it published and have the story out - the book ends before almost everything he's writing about is resolved. a disappointment after the hot zone but still covers really interesting ground.
I purchased this book for myself in e-book format to see how they work; quite well much to my surprise, at least in the RocketBook format.Preston, author of the virus-based thriller Hot Zone examines the factual biological threat of smallpox, otherwise known as variola. There are poxviruses that exi...
I read this in one go from Charlotte to Seattle. It was excellent, and it raises more questions in my mind than it answers (which is a good thing). Highly recommended.