How Contagion Works
Science, Awareness, and Community in Times of Global Crises--The Essay That Helped Change the Covid-19 Debate
1 of 1 copy available
"Lucid, calm, informed, directly helpful in trying to think about where we are now... The literature of the time after begins here." —Evening Standard (UK)
In this extraordinarily elegant work written from lockdown in Italy as the crisis deepened day to day, Paolo Giordano, the internationally bestselling writer of The Solitude of Prime Numbers with a PhD in physics, shows us what this outbreak really is about: human interconnectedness.
Illuminating the big picture of how the disease spreads with great simplicity and mathematical insight and placing it in the context of other modern crises like climate change and xenophobia, Giordano reveals how battling the pandemic is ultimately about realizing how inextricably linked all our lives are and acting accordingly.
Both timely and timeless, How Contagion Works is an accessible, deeply felt meditation on what it means to confront this pandemic both as individuals and as a community and empowers us not to show fear in the face of it.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 14, 2020 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781635576856
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781635576856
- File size: 670 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 8, 2020
In February 2020, novelist and scientist Giordano (The Solitude of Prime Numbers) began recording his thoughts about the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. This illuminating work begins with the author explaning his lifelong fascination with mathematics, and how essential math is to understanding and dealing with a pandemic. He focuses first on how a nonlinear spread can be so rapid, and why it's essential to reduce interpersonal contact. He emphasizes patience as a challenging but essential skill while waiting for a vaccine, particularly because this virus is adept at finding new hosts. Of the conflicting advice and confusing statistics and forecasts rampant in the media coverage of the coronavirus crisis, Giordano says it's owing to the science of the disease, which is well understood by scientists but not by the general public. Information from governments and experts, he says, is essential for combatting anger, distrust, and unfounded conspiracy theories. Finally, the author expands beyond the current pandemic to discuss other global catastrophes and how individuals and communities can learn to recognize early warnings and ultimately adapt and change. VERDICT Concise explanations of the science and statistics are balanced with poignant reflections on human nature and the way forward in this important, timely work.--Richard Maxwell, Porter Adventist Hosp. Lib., Denver
Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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