The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Modified Science, Cities, and the Fashionable World

Mapping the Path of Death
This is the third book in a row that I’ve read about epidemics (the last two being about influenza and the plague!) and was positively the most engrossing. It is a non-fiction page-turner, an account of the efforts of Dr. John Snow to convince the scientific establishment in Victorian London that a devastating epidemic of cholera that was fast destroying a neighborhood in Soho was caused not by “miasma,” or bad air, but by the crystal clear, clean-smelling water that came from the pump on Broad Street. Snow was eventually joined in his efforts by a local minister, the Reverend Henry Whitehead, who at first set out to prove Snow wrong, but who came to realize that he was right. These two men, in an age before computers and computer graphics, employed their heads, feet and hearts to compile the data that would eventually map the source of the disease. They interviewed countless people in the neighborhood and organized the data so as to reveal that Snow’s theory was valid. Snow never lived to see what really caused cholera (a water-borne bacteria), but he was proven right — that what people were drinking was making them sick. Steven Johnson provides a startingly realistic look at the filthy city that was London in the 19th Century. In the days before modern sewage treatment, human waste was literally dumped onto the street, into neighborhood cesspools, or into the Thames. Small wonder that people living there and dealing with the rotten smells of the city believed that those noxious odors were making them sick.Johnson mixes science with sociology and the result is a fascinating saga of how one man fought against the establishment with faith in himself and his theory. Dr. Snow was a respected physician who was one of the leaders in developing methods for administering anesthesia (in fact, Queen Victoria asked for his assistance in the delivery of her 9th child!). His reputation was therefore at stake when he stubbornly fought to prove that cholera was being spread by water.He spent countless hours gathering information and he mapped the area where the epidemic occurred, even tracing paths taken by people who came from several blocks away to visit the pump on Broad Street.His mapping methodology is still in use today, albeit in a more sophisticated form. The cartography of disease is an ever evolving science, but most of its advocates and practitioners give Snow the respect he is due.The only weakness I saw was in the last few chapters when Johnson gets a bit mired down with urban infrastructure theories, DNA-based weapons, etc. I think that the global theories perhaps could form another book, but they don’t seem to really tie this one up neatly enough. (The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars!)However, having said that, the story preceding his concluding chapters is well worth the read. The cholera epidemic of 1854 was a terrible thing that ultimately resulted in changes not only in the prevention of disease, but in the infrastructure of the city of London. The changes necessitated by the desire to prevent disease forced the city to adopt new sewage treatment techniques and ultimately resulted in an extensive sewer system that was a model for many others.This book clearly illustrates the positive changes that often ultimately result from disasters, and the responses that mankind must make to persevere.

This book was a fascinating look at the tragedies that led to the modernization of sewage treatment in London. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, but was blown away at the senseless deaths. It was a very interesting look at the intersection between historical health science and city planning.

Étude tout simplement brillante. L’auteur nous offre une plongée passionnante dans la quête du docteur Snow pour comprendre les modalités de diffusion du choléra ainsi que tous ses efforts, accompagné du révérend Whitehead, pour convaincre les différents (et nombreux) acteurs politiques locaux du bien-fondé de sa théorie. Enfin, ce livre est aussi l’occasion de voir naître la première carte géographique s’appuyant sur le big-data.