Bird Flu - Archives
Bird Flu Books
Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
A
new book warns that the next bird flu epidemic could strike fast:
The next flu pandemic will wing its way through the world at break-neck
speed, hitching a ride on unsuspecting air travellers, speeding through
train tunnels, and racing through shorter distances on bicycles, according
to the author of a new book.
"Every year, one billion people travel by plane and in so doing provide
viral hitchhikers unprecedented opportunities," Calgary-based journalist
Andrew Nikiforuk told CTV.ca.
...He argues in his new book "Pandemonium" that our health is being
threatened by biological invaders moving at unprecedented speed.
Unlike past pandemics, the next one will break all speed records, he writes.
October 24th, 2006
New Bird
Flu Book
National
Public Radio has
an
interview with Dr Marc Siegel, author
of the newly-published
Bird Flu : Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic.
“Bird Flu” takes on
the issues that are injected with a sense of panic and dread, as many parts
of the world have grown to fear the spread of a deadly influenza outbreak in
recent years.
That outbreak, says
Siegel, is a distinct possibility. But he urges those who may be at risk to
trust in reason -- and ignore the hype -- in judging the risks they face.
In making his case
for an honest appraisal of those risks, Siegel cites progress in vaccine
work and improved living conditions world-wide as two improvements that
should make any epidemic far less deadly than that of 1918.
And Siegel urges
practical changes in policy -- in Asia and in the United States -- that he
says will make the world better prepared to resist a pandemic.
February 3rd,
2006
A Brilliant
Jeremiad
I
noted a couple of weeks ago that
The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu by Mike
Davis got a
scathing review at Tech Central Station (under the headline, “One Flu
from the Cuckoo’s Nest”). But now the
New York Times describes it as a “brilliant, concise jeremiad.” They
say that controversy sells books. It should do well.
November 28th,
2005
A Bird
Named Enza
Where are all the bird flu books? I asked last week. I got an email
from Dawn Meier
in Sheridan, Oregon:
I have had a "bird
flu" book out since 2003, before the current pandemic scare. Mine is not
full of advice, but a poignant story of one town and how they coped with the
influenza of 1918. Where are all the bird flu books? Just waiting to be
published.
I have tried to
peddle my book since 2003 and finally self-published “A Bird Named Enza.”
After I sold a few
hundred books, I put it online for free.
My only
accomplishment from this book is one high school here in Oregon that is
reading “A Bird Named Enza” as part of their English curriculum. I go speak
to the kids two times a year. These high school students are at least well
aware of current events by reading my book.
I have been trying in
the past year to find a publisher that will publish my book at a more
reasonable price than self-publishing on-demand prices of $12.95. I want
more schools to be able to afford to purchase the book. So the books are out
there, just not being considered for publication.
You can read “A Bird
Named Enza” here.
November
19th, 2005
Where Are All the Bird
Flu Books?
Some writers get lucky.
John Barry spent seven years writing
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History,
about the 1918 pandemic. At times, he says, he got so frustrated with the
project that he felt like quitting. It was published last year, and, soon
after, the world started talking about a new flu pandemic. When President
George Bush went on vacation in August he announced that Barry’s book was
one of those he was taking to read. Sales are buoyant.
Publishers
are quick to spot trends and to rush out books to meet them. So it would be
normal to expect a flood of new bird flu books. Where are they?
My guess is
that this is such a fast-moving story – new developments appear almost
daily, as this blog and others attest – that publishers fear any book will
quickly be out-of-date....continue
reading Where Are All the Bird Flu Books?
November 14th,
2005
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