100 Best Virus Books of All Time

We've researched and ranked the best virus books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more

Featuring recommendations from Reid Hoffman, Larry Page, Stephen King, and 50 other experts.
1

The Hot Zone

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction. less
Recommended by Jon Najarian, Pierre Haski, and 2 others.

Jon NajarianI believe both the corona virus and ebola have a bat connection. Scary, but great book on ebola: Hot Zone by Richard Preston https://t.co/jGEjbrB7pZ (Source)

Pierre Haski@ChuBailiang The hot zone, it made my days during SARS in Beijing, a great book! https://t.co/8E8AYgIhp7 (Source)

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2

Snow Crash

In the near future, Americans excel at only two things: writing software and delivering pizza in less than 30 minutes.

Franchises line the Los Angeles freeway as far as the eye can see: Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates, Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra Pizza, Incorporated. The only relief from the sea of logos is within the well-guarded borders of the autonomous city-states that law-abiding citizens are afraid to leave. Is it any wonder that most sane folks have chosen to live in a computer-generated universe? Here in virtual reality is a domain of pleasures...
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Sergey BrinBrin said he is a big sci-fi fan, and Stephenson's acclaimed 1992 novel "Snow Crash" is one of his favorites. The book "was really 10 years ahead of its time," Brin said. "It kind of anticipated what's going to happen, and I find that really interesting." (Source)

Adam SavageIt's a tough call because I prefer other books of [this author]. But [this book] is so important within the history of science fiction. (Source)

Marvin LiaoMy list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make... (Source)

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3
“Science writing as detective story at its best.” —Jennifer Ouellette, Scientific American

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Scientific American Best Book of the Year, and a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Ebola, SARS, Hendra, AIDS, and countless other deadly viruses all have one thing in common: the bugs that transmit these diseases all originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. In this gripping account, David Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing...
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Recommended by Kaleigh Rogers, and 1 others.

Kaleigh Rogers@rachsyme Spillover is a fantastic book though. I'd also recommend Pandemic and/or The Fever by @soniashah (Source)

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4

Animal Farm

Animal Farm is one of the most famous warnings ever written. Orwell's immortal satire - 'against Stalin' as he wrote to his French translator - can be read on many levels. With its piercing clarity and deceptively simple style it is no surprise that this novel is required reading for schoolchildren and politicians alike. This fable of the steadfast horses Boxer and Clover, the opportunistic pigs Snowball and Napoleon, and the deafening choir of sheep remains an unparalleled masterpiece.





One reviewer wrote 'In a hundred years' time perhaps Animal...
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Whitney Cummings[Whitney Cummings recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show".] (Source)

Vlad TenevWhen I was in sixth grade I remember being very upset by the ending of [this book]. (Source)

Sol OrwellQuestion: What books had the biggest impact on you? Perhaps changed the way you see things or dramatically changed your career path. Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 (though Huxley's Brave New World is a better reflection of today's society). (Source)

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5

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

In 2075, the Moon is no longer a penal colony. But it is still a prison...

Life isn't easy for the political dissidents and convicts who live in the scattered colonies that make up lunar civilisation. Everything is regulated strictly, efficiently and cheaply by a central supercomputer, HOLMES IV.

When humble technician Mannie O'Kelly-Davis discovers that HOLMES IV has quietly achieved consciousness (and developed a sense of humour), the choice is clear: either report the problem to the authorities... or become friends.

And perhaps overthrow the...
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Bill GatesProbably the [science fiction book] I read the most when I was younger. (Source)

Elon Musk[Elon Musk recommended this book as one of his favorite books about space.] (Source)

Orson Scott CardRobert A Heinlein is, quite seriously, the creator of modern science fiction, in the way that Jane Austen is the creator of the modern novel. (Source)

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6
Viruses are the smallest living things known to science, and yet they hold the entire planet in their sway. We’re most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or the flu, but viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long, in fact, that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in deep... more

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7

The Stand

Stephen King’s apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting and eerily plausible as when it was first published.
 
A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world’s population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge—Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder,...
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Recommended by Harry Khachatrian, and 1 others.

Harry Khachatrian@redsteeze great book though (Source)

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8
Recommended by Arthur Ammann, and 1 others.

Arthur AmmannJust as in the Old Testament, I don’t think people always want to hear the message of a prophet. (Source)

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10
A story of courage and risk-taking, House on Fire tells how smallpox, a disease that killed, blinded, and scarred millions over centuries of human history, was completely eradicated in a spectacular triumph of medicine and public health. Part autobiography, part mystery, the story is told by a man who was one of the architects of a radical vaccination scheme that became a key strategy in ending the horrible disease when it was finally contained in India.

In House on Fire, William H. Foege describes his own experiences in public health and details the remarkable...
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Recommended by Bill Gates, Thomas Frieden, and 2 others.

Bill GatesThis book gives you a great view from the front lines of that battle. (Source)

Thomas FriedenHouse on Fire is a fantastic book about the fight to eradicate smallpox. Before becoming director, Foege led the efforts to eradicate smallpox in India and Africa and came up with a key innovation that led to eradication. As one of the staff at the CDC said of this book, “Even though we know how it comes out, it’s still a page-turner”. It’s so exciting. (Source)

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11

Station Eleven

Set in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams...
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Recommended by Alfred A. Knopf, Holly Brockwell, and 2 others.

Alfred A. Knopf“What sets Station Eleven apart from so many other recent dystopian novels is the warmness of @EmilyMandel's writing, the lived-in details of each of these characters’ lives… It’s the kind of book that stays with you.” —@TomiObaro https://t.co/tWakW2L6Tq (Source)

Holly Brockwell@nmsonline @katebevan Great book though 🤷‍♀️ (Source)

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12

The Andromeda Strain

In this bestselling classic, four scientists race to prevent a biochemical disaster after a space probe landing goes awry.

A military space probe, sent to collect extraterrestrial organisms from the upper atmosphere, is knocked out of orbit and falls to Earth. Twelve miles from the crash site, an inexplicable and deadly phenomenon terrorizes the residents of a sleepy desert town in Arizona, leaving only two survivors: an elderly addict and a newborn infant. The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of...
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Recommended by Tess Gerritsen, Dez Blanchfield, and 2 others.

Tess GerritsenThis was the first science thriller I ever read. I remember thinking it was the first book to make real science so exciting. (Source)

Dez Blanchfield@isotopp wasn't that an awesome book ( and movie ) (Source)

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13

Leviathan Wakes (Expanse, #1)

Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, "The Scopuli," they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking...
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Recommended by Sean Kerner, Bill Liao, and 2 others.

Sean Kerner@campuscodi the Expanse series is awesome (first book is Leviathan Wakes) The Culture series from Iain M. Banks (starting with Consider Phlebas) are classic too.. (Source)

Bill LiaoThe human world occurs in language so best get good at it! (Source)

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14
The definitive history of the successful battle to halt the AIDS epidemic from the creator of, and inspired by, the seminal documentary How to Survive a Plague.

A riveting, powerful telling of the story of the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Ignored by public officials, religious leaders, and the nation at large, and confronted with shame and hatred, this small group of men and women chose to...
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Recommended by Madhu Pai, Natalie Shure, and 2 others.

Madhu PaiThis documentary & book by @ByDavidFrance is one of the best investments anyone can make, if they are in global health. Remarkable story of how affected communities took over and led the fight against AIDS. It is a playbook for any type of advocacy. https://t.co/tfyP64LkQI (Source)

Natalie ShureI finished this book last week and it was absolutely superb. I’d highly recommend it to any organizer! Even if you’ve already seen the companion doc (which is also great!) this adds a lot. I have great taste and you should take this rec very seriously📖🎉🌹✊️ https://t.co/0Aq2VEpyTF (Source)

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15
The story of viruses and humanity is a story of fear and ignorance, of grief and heartbreak, and of great bravery and sacrifice. Michael Oldstone tells all these stories as he illuminates the history of the devastating diseases that have tormented humanity, focusing mostly on the most famous viruses.
Oldstone begins with smallpox, polio, and measles. Nearly 300 million people were killed by smallpox in this century alone and the author presents a vivid account of the long campaign to eradicate this lethal killer. Oldstone then describes the fascinating viruses that have captured...
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16

Ignition!

An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants

This newly reissued debut book in the Rutgers University Press Classics Imprint is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. Acclaimed scientist and sci-fi author John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of... more
Recommended by Elon Musk, and 1 others.

Elon MuskThere is a good book on rocket stuff called Ignition! [An informal history of liquid rocket propellants] by John Clark, that’s a really fun one. (Source)

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17
The 2013-2014 Ebola epidemic was the deadliest ever--but the outbreaks continue. Now comes a gripping account of the doctors and scientists fighting to protect us, an urgent wake-up call about the future of emerging viruses--from the #1 bestselling author of The Hot Zone, soon to be a National Geographic original miniseries.

This time, Ebola started with a two-year-old child who likely had contact with a wild creature and whose entire family quickly fell ill and died. The ensuing global drama activated health professionals in North America, Europe, and Africa in a...
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Elizabeth KolbertCrisis in the Red Zone reads like a thriller. That the story it tells is all true makes it all more terrifying, and there’s no one who could tell it better than Richard Preston. (Source)

Kwame Anthony AppiahRichard Preston’s red zone—beset by ethical, medical, and epidemiological quandaries—shows us at our worst and at our best. This is a story about people, not pathogens, but, even as Preston focuses on one group of clinicians, nurses, and scientists at an underresourced hospital in West Africa, he makes devastatingly clear the worldwide fragility of our public-health systems. Global inequities... (Source)

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18

The Strain (The Strain Trilogy, #1)

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim "Eph" Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something...
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19
Dr. Warren Andiman introduces the mysterious world of viruses: what they look like, how they invade so efficiently, and how they take over cells' complex machinery to wreak potentially fatal havoc. In particular, he discusses the circumstances that bring humans into intimate contact with other species and how viruses exploit that contact.

Warren Andiman, MD is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at Yale Medical School. He founded the AIDS Care Program at Yale-New Haven Hospital and is the Medical Director of the Pediatric AIDS Care Program at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital.
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20

Red Book 2018

Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases

Extending an 8-decade tradition of excellence, Red Book® provides the most reliable and clinically useful information on the manifestations, etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of more than 200 childhood infectious diseases.

The 31st edition provides evidence-based guidance to practicing clinicians on pediatric infections and vaccinations based on the recommendations of the committee as well as the combined expertise of the CDC, the FDA, and hundreds physician contributors.

New in Red Book 2018:


All chapters were assessed for...
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21
The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it.

In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything—drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons—free of the government’s watchful eye.

It wasn’t long before the media got wind of the new Web site where anyone—not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists...
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Recommended by Casey Neistat, and 1 others.

Casey NeistatIt is unbelievably riveting. It does that thing where at the end of every chapter it leaves you just enough we're like "aah!" and you have to read the first paragraph of the next chapter and then before you know it is a downward spiral and you end up finishing this book. Took me four days to get through this. (Source)

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22

I Am Legend and Other Stories

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood.

By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.

How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?


I am legend --
Buried talents --
The near departed --
Prey --
Witch war --
Dance of the dead --
Dress of white silk --
Mad...
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Recommended by Greg Garrett, and 1 others.

Greg GarrettThe monsters in the book are more like vampires. But the interesting thing about I Am Legend is that it is an apocalyptic survival story. The main character thinks that he is the last human being left on earth. (Source)

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23

Xenocide (Ender's Saga, #3)

The war for survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the hearts of a child named Gloriously Bright.

On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought.

Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequininos require in order to become adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the...
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Recommended by Ev Williams, and 1 others.

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24
On July 22, 2009, a special meeting was held with twenty-four leading scientists at the National Institutes of Health to discuss early findings that a newly discovered retrovirus was linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), prostate cancer, lymphoma, and eventually neurodevelopmental disorders in children. When Dr. Judy Mikovits finished her presentation the room was silent for a moment, then one of the scientists said, “Oh my God!” The resulting investigation would be like no other in science.

For Dr. Mikovits, a twenty-year veteran of the National Cancer Institute, this was the...
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25
There are alternate cover editions for this ASIN here and here.

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a...
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26
A New York Times Notable Book
 
The man who led the battle against Ebola in The Hot Zone teams up with the bestselling co-author of Mind Hunter to chronicle his extraordinary thirty-year career fighting deadly viruses. 

For three decades, Dr. C. J. Peters was on the front lines of our biological battle against “hot” viruses around the world. In the course of that career, he learned countless lessons about our interspecies turf wars with infectious agents. Called in to contain an outbreak of deadly hemorrhagic fever in Bolivia, he confronted...
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27
I am very much aware that it is an act of extreme rashness to attempt to write an elementary book about structures. Indeed it is only when the subject is stripped of its mathematics that one begins to realize how difficult it is to pin down and describe those structural concepts which are often called' elementary'; by which I suppose we mean 'basic' or 'fundamental'. Some of the omis sions and oversimplifications are intentional but no doubt some of them are due to my own brute ignorance and lack of under standing of the subject. Although this volume is more or less a sequel to The New... more
Recommended by Elon Musk, and 1 others.

Elon MuskIt is really, really good if you want a primer on structural design. (Source)

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28
Feeling tired, achy, and congested? You'll hope not after reading science writer Gina Kolata's engrossing Flu, a fascinating look at the 1918 epidemic that wiped out around 40 million people in less than a year and afflicted more than one of every four Americans. This tragedy, just on the heels of World War I and far more deadly, so traumatized the survivors that few would talk about it afterward. Kolata reports on the scientific investigation of this bizarre outbreak, in particular the attempts to sequence the virus' DNA from tissue samples of victims. She also looks at the social and... more

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29
A daily scan through the news gives the impression that the world is constantly invaded by virus epidemics. The latest headlines feature the human papillomavirus (HPV) alleged to cause cervical cancer and the avian flu virus, H5N1. The public is also continually terrorized by reports about SARS, BSE, hepatitis C, AIDS, Ebola, and polio. However, this virus mayhem ignores very basic scientific facts: the existence, the pathogenicity and the deadly effects of these agents have never been proven. The authors of Virus Mania, journalist Torsten Engelbrecht and doctor of internal medicine Claus... more

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Don't have time to read the top Virus books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.

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  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
31
A "fascinating and terrifying" memoir of one woman's extraordinary effort to save her husband's life (Scientific American) -- and the discovery of a forgotten cure that has the potential to save millions more.


Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist Tom Patterson, were vacationing in Egypt when Tom came down with a stomach bug. What at first seemed like a case of food poisoning quickly turned critical, and by the time Tom had been transferred via emergency medevac to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where both he and...
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32

Pandemic (Infected, #3)

The explosive conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with Infected and Contagious.

The alien intelligence that unleashed two horrific assaults on humanity has been destroyed. But before it was brought down in flames, it launched one last payload-a tiny soda-can-sized canister filled with germs engineered to wreak new forms of havoc on the human race. That harmless-looking canister has languished under thousands of feet of water for years, undisturbed and impotent...until now.

Days after the new disease is unleashed, a quarter of the human...
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33
Jonas Salk's polio vaccine is regarded as a veritbale medical miracle, for it largely eradicated one of the most feared diseases of the 20th century. But the story of the vaccine has a dark side, one that has never been fully told before. Between 1954 and 1963, close to 98 million Americans received polio vaccinations contaminated with a carcinogenic monkey virus, now known as SV40. The government downplayed the incident, and it was generally accepted that although oncogenic to lab animals, SV40 was harmless to humans. But now SV40 is showing up in human cancers, and prominent researchers are... more

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34
Molecular biologist Kaye Lang's theory--that ancient diseases encoded in the DNA of humans can return to life--has become a chilling reality. The shocking evidence: a "virus-hunter" has tracked down a flu-like disease that kills expectant mothers and their offspring. less

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35

Code Zero (Joe Ledger, #6)

For years the Department of Military Sciences has fought to stop terrorists from using radical bioweapons—designer plagues, weaponized pathogens, genetically modified viruses, and even the zombie plague that first brought Ledger into the DMS. These terrible weapons have been locked away in the world’s most secure facility. Until now. Joe Ledger and Echo Team are scrambled when a highly elite team of killers breaks the unbreakable security and steals the world’s most dangerous weapons. Within days there are outbreaks of mass slaughter and murderous insanity across the American heartland. Can... more

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36

Earth Abides

First published in 1949 and a winner of the inaugural International Fantasy Award in 1951, Earth Abides went on to become one of the most influential science-fiction novels of the twentieth century. It remains a fresh, provocative story of apocalyptic pandemic, societal collapse, and rebirth.

The cabin had always been a special retreat for Isherwood Williams, a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish was bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired took on dire new significance. He was sick for days—and often delirious—waking...
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Recommended by Ben Shapiro, and 1 others.

Ben ShapiroA very depressing, but good book. (Source)

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37

Annihilation (Southern Reach #1)

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up...
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Stephen KingI'm loving THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY, by Jeff Vandermeer. Recommended by an indie bookseller. Creepy and fascinating. (Source)

Laura Dassow WallsA colleague of mine, Roy Scranton, knows Jeff VanderMeer and brought him to Notre Dame a few weeks ago for a reading. Way in advance, Roy said, ‘Laura, you’re going to love this guy, he’s the weird Thoreau.’ (Source)

James BradleyIn the introduction to The Weird, the 2011 anthology that Jeff Vandermeer and his wife Ann edited, they suggest the weird isn’t a genre or a form so much as a technique or an affect, a thing that lurks in the interstices, and which emerges in unexpected and unsettling ways. I rather love this idea, not least because it captures something of what makes both Annihilation and its two sequels,... (Source)

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38

The Remaining (The Remaining, #1)

In a steel-and-lead-encased bunker 40 feet below the basement level of his house, Captain Lee Harden of the United States Army waits. On the surface, a plague ravages the planet, infecting over 90% of the populace. The bacterium burrows through the brain, destroying all signs of humanity and leaving behind little more than base, prehistoric instincts. The infected turn into hyper-aggressive predators, with an insatiable desire to kill and feed. Some day soon, Captain Harden will have to open the hatch to his bunker, and step out into this new wasteland, to complete his very simple mission:... more

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39
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has created massive disruption in kids' lives around the world. As adults it's our responsibility to learn about this virus and to keep our communities safe. This book is meant to help parents and teachers discuss COVID-19 with children and teach them about the virus and how we can stay healthy. Things are scarier when we don't understand them. The first half of the book is a kid's book that tells the story of two puppies learning about COVID-19; the second half is meant for adults and is a short explanation of what is happening and what we can do about it. more

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40
In 1976 a deadly virus emerged from the Congo forest. As swiftly as it came, it disappeared, leaving no trace. Over the four decades since, Ebola has emerged sporadically, each time to devastating effect. It can kill up to 90 percent of its victims. In between these outbreaks, it is untraceable, hiding deep in the jungle. The search is on to find Ebola’s elusive host animal. And until we find it, Ebola will continue to strike. Acclaimed science writer and explorer David Quammen first came near the virus while he was traveling in the jungles of Gabon, accompanied by local men whose village had... more

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Don't have time to read the top Virus books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
41

Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8)

It's just another day in the life of an average kid. If you're Alex Rider, that is. A con artist has realized there is big money in charity: the bigger the disaster, the greater the money flow! So that is what he will produce: the biggest disaster known to man, all thanks to genetically modified corn that can release a virus so potent it can knock out an entire country in one windy day. But Alex Rider will face whatever it takes - gunfire, explosions, hand-to-hand combat with mercenaries - to bring down his most dangerous adversary yet.

Often imitated, never equaled, the series...
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42

Virals (Virals, #1)

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.

As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder...
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44

Flesh & Bone (Benny Imura, #3)

Reeling from the tragic events of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived…somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living.

But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. They are hunted by fierce animals escaped from zoos and circuses. They must...
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45

Medusa (NUMA Files, #8)

For seven books, Clive Cussler has dazzled readers with the "spine-tingling adventures" (Chicago Tribune) of Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and the rest of the NUMA Special Assignments Team, but in Medusa the NUMA team faces what may be its most perilous mission of all.

In the Micronesian Islands, a top secret, U.S. government– sponsored undersea lab conducting vital biomedical research on a rare jellyfish known as the Blue Medusa suddenly . . . disappears. At the same time, off Bermuda, a bathysphere is attacked by an underwater vehicle and left helpless a half mile below...
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46

Dogs of War (Joe Ledger, #9)

Dogs of War: Robots are no longer science fiction. Autonomous, programmed to react like animals: fast, relentless, deadly. From microscopic nanobots to massive self-guided aircraft. This technology is here, it’s assessable, and it’s dangerous. What’s even scarier is that almost anyone can get their hands on it.

A freelance terrorist uses the latest generation of robot dogs to deliver WMDs into cities across America. Ultra-realistic robots in the sex industry are used to spread designer plagues. Sophisticated military weapons systems turn on their human masters. A...
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48

The Villain Virus (NERDS, #4)

A virus has infected the Arlington, Virginia, home of the NERDS headquarters, and it’s much worse than your run-of-the-mill flu. Instead of coughing and sneezing, the victims of this voracious virus are transformed into superintelligent criminal masterminds. Soon nearly everyone—including some of the NERDS team—is plotting to take over the world. With more people breaking out into evil cackles every day, it’s up to Flinch, the hyperactive superspy with a sweet tooth, to stop the virus. Flinch will have to miniaturize himself and take a fantastic voyage through supervillain Heathcliff’s body... more

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49

The Demon in the Freezer

The 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 protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of... more

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50
Vengeance will be hers.

Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster? With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.

Monster.

Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions - her creator Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost - the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And...
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51

The Fireman

From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman.

The fireman is coming. Stay cool.

No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit,...
more

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52

Lock In (Lock In, #1)

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.

A quarter of a century later, in a world shaped by what's now known as "Haden's syndrome," rookie FBI agent...
more

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53
A world-leading epidemiologist shares his stories from the front lines of our war on infectious diseases and explains how to prepare for epidemics that can challenge world order.

Every new development--from exploding human and animal populations to trade and travel--intensifies our susceptibility to a devastating epidemic. Ironically, a pandemic on the scale of the 1918 flu that killed perhaps a hundred million people would be deadlier today, despite a century of medical advances. As the current Zika epidemic proves, we are wholly unprepared for these diseases. So...
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54

The Hades Factor (Covert-One, #1)

An unknown doomsday virus quickly claims the lives of four people across the country --- including Dr. Sophia Russell, a researcher leading the team trying to crack the disease. Devastated and enraged, her fiance, Lt. Colonel Jonathan Smith, uncovers evidence that his lover's death was no accident --- that someone out there has the virus, and the pandemic that threatens countless millions of lives was planned.

Not knowing where to turn or whom to trust, Smith assembles a private team to aid his fight against the deadly virus. While the death toll mounts rapidly, their quest leads...
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55
A magnificently reported and soulfully crafted exploration of the human immune systemthe key to health and wellness, life and death. An epic, first-of-its-kind book, entwining leading-edge scientific discovery with the intimate stories of four individual lives, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist.

A terminal cancer patient rises from the grave. A medical marvel defies HIV. Two women with autoimmunity discover their own bodies have turned against them. Matt Richtel's An Elegant Defense uniquely entwines these...
more
Recommended by Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and 2 others.

Vinod KhoslaExplains for the lay reader the intricate biology of our immune system. (Source)

Vinod KhoslaExplains for the lay reader the intricate biology of our immune system. (Source)

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56
Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital, disoriented and with no recollection of the past thirty-six hours, including the origin of the macabre object hidden in his belongings. With a relentless female assassin trailing them through Florence, he and his resourceful doctor, Sienna Brooks, are forced to flee. Embarking on a harrowing journey, they must unravel a series of codes, which are the work of a brilliant scientist whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written, Dante... more

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57
A mission gone wrong. Innocent lives have been lost.

Escaping wrongful imprisonment wasn’t something Connor had in mind, but being put into stasis aboard Earth’s first interstellar colony ship was something he couldn’t have prepared for.

For three hundred thousand colonists, the new colony brings the promise of a fresh start…a second chance. Connor might be the wrong man for the colony, but he’s the right man to see that it survives what’s coming.

A new world with new challenges, but the mission has changed.

If you loved Old Man’s...
more

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58
It's a massive hospital space station on the Galactic rim--384 levels, a staff of thousands--where human and alien medicine meet.

But Patient Hewlitt, new to Sector General, doesn't want to meet alien medicine--or alien doctors, or alien nurses, or aliens of any kind. Which is just too bad; he's an interesting case, and he'll have to get used to it.

In the meantime, it's always been an article of faith among Sector General's multispecies staff that infections can't pass from one alien race to another. But in this season of anomalies, it looks like they might have their...
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59

Lockdown (Urban Outlaws #3)

When an ally betrays the Urban Outlaws and steals a dangerous computer virus, the kids have no choice but to team up with a shadowy figure known as "The Shepherd" to take down their foe. Even though the kids aren't sure who to trust, their jobs--and more importantly, their lives--are at stake if they don't take a chance.

To track the virus, the Outlaws venture from London to the United States. As they explore the unfamiliar streets and secret passageways of New York City and Los Angeles, they once again risk everything to save themselves . . . and the world.

Reviewers...
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60

The King of Plagues (Joe Ledger, #3)

Saturday 09:11 Hours: A blast rocks a London hospital and thousands are dead or injured… 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on scene to investigate. The horror is unlike anything he has ever seen. Compelled by grief and rage, Joe rejoins the DMS and within hours is attacked by a hit-team of assassins and sent on a suicide mission into a viral hot zone during an Ebola outbreak. Soon Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world... more

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61

Fall of Night (Dead of Night, #2)

The sequel to 'Dead of Night', bringing back beloved characters Desdemona Fox and Billy Trout as they race against time to quarantine a zombie epidemic while caught in a military strike.

Stebbins Little School is full of bodies. It's unthinkable to Desdemona Fox. Children are sobbing as panicked teachers and neighbors beat down their family members outside of the school - or the things that used to be their family members. Parents don't eat their children do they?

Officers Fox and Hammond, along with journalist Billy Trout, are calling it the beginning of the end. This...
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62
Around the world, a deadly outbreak spreads.

The CDC and WHO race to stop it, but they soon learn that this pandemic hides a dark secret. It may be the start of a scientific experiment that could alter the human race forever--and reveal a shocking truth about our future.

Experience the groundbreaking novel that will change everything you think you know about pandemics--and how to survive one.

“Reads like a superior collaboration between Dan Brown and Michael Crichton.”
The Guardian

Now an Amazon Charts and Wall...
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63

Brains

A Zombie Memoir

College-professor-cum-zombie Jack Barnes is a different breed of undead—he can think. In fact, he can even write. And the story he has to tell is a truly disturbing—yet strangely heartwarming—one.

Convinced he'll bring about a peaceful coexistence between zombies and humans if he can demonstrate his unique condition to Howard Stein, the man responsible for the zombie virus, Barnes sets off on a grueling cross-country journey to meet his maker. Along the way he recruits a small army of "super" zombies that will stop at nothing to reach their goal. There's Guts, the dreadlocked boy...
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64

The Christ Virus

The world's most deadly bioweapon lies hidden in the bowels of a secret government lab until a terrorist steals it with only objective: to cleanse the U.S. of infidels. With only precious hours until the government implements an apocalyptic solution, Dr. Jenny George must find the one man who is strangely immune to the deadly virus. But he has disappeared. less

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65
Agent Maggie O'Dell and Assistant Director Cunningham believe they're responding to a threat made at Quantico. Instead they walk into a trap. Before they realize it, they've both been exposed to a killer who can strike at anyone, at any time, and no one can predict who might be next…until it's too late.

The killer's tactics suggest he's an aficionado of criminal minds. He uses bits and pieces from those he admires: a phrase from the Beltway Snipers, a clue from the Unabomber, a delivery method similar to the Anthrax Killer. His weapon is a deadly virus, virtually invisible and totally...

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66
The acclaimed author of Chimera and The Hydra Protocol delivers his spectacular breakout novel—an entertaining, page-turning zombie epic.

Anyone can be positive . . .

Years after a plague killed 99 percent of the population, turning them into infectious zombies, Finnegan and his family live in a barricaded New York City. But Finn's sheltered life fractures when his unsuspecting mother falls sick with the zombie disease—latent inside her since before her son's birth.

Finn, too, can be infected. If he remains healthy for the last two years of...
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67
“Kent Heckenlively and Judy Mikovits are the new dynamic duo fighting corruption in science.” —Ben Garrison, America's #1 political satirist

Dr. Judy Mikovits is a modern-day Rosalind Franklin, a brilliant researcher shaking up the old boys’ club of science with her ground-breaking discoveries. And like many women who have trespassed into the world of men, she uncovered decades old secrets that many would prefer to stay buried.

From her doctoral thesis, which changed the treatment of HIV-AIDS, saving the lives of millions, including basketball great, Magic...
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68

Fear the Sky (The Fear Saga, #1)

In eleven years time, a million members of an alien race will arrive at Earth. Years before they enter orbit, their approach will be announced by the flare of a thousand flames in the sky, their ships’ huge engines burning hard to slow them from the vast speeds needed to cross interstellar space.

These foreboding lights will shine in our night sky like new stars, getting ever brighter until they outshine even the sun, casting ominous shadows and banishing the night until they suddenly blink out.

Their technology is vastly superior to ours, and they know they cannot...
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69

Ammonite

Change or die. These are the only options available on the planet Jeep. Centuries earlier, a deadly virus shattered the original colony, killing the men and forever altering the few surviving women. Now, generations after the colony has lost touch with the rest of humanity, a company arrives to exploit Jeep–and its forces find themselves fighting for their lives. Terrified of spreading the virus, the company abandons its employees, leaving them afraid and isolated from the natives. In the face of this crisis, anthropologist Marghe Taishan arrives to test a new vaccine. As she risks death to... more

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70
It’s the end of the line.

WICKED has taken everything from Thomas: his life, his memories, and now his only friends—the Gladers. But it’s finally over. The trials are complete, after one final test.

Will anyone survive?

What WICKED doesn’t know is that Thomas remembers far more than they think. And it’s enough to prove that he can’t believe a word of what they say.

The truth will be terrifying.

Thomas beat the Maze. He survived the Scorch. He’ll risk anything to save his friends. But the truth might be what ends...
more

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71

Ex-Patriots (Ex-Heroes, #2)

It's been two years since the plague of ex-humans decimated mankind. Two years since the superheroes St. George, Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth gathered Los Angeles’s survivors behind the walls of their fortress, the Mount.
 
Since then, the heroes have been fighting to give the Mount’s citizens hope, and something like a real life. But now supplies are growing scarce, the zombies are pressing in . . . and the heroes are wondering how much longer they can hold out. 
 
Then hope arrives in the form of a surviving US Army battalion--and not just any battalion. The men and...
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72
In the year 2043, humans and AI coexist in a precarious balance of power enforced by a rigid caste reputation system designed to ensure that only those AI who are trustworthy and contribute to human society increase in power.

Everything changes when a runaway nanotech event destroys Miami. In the grim aftermath, a powerful underground AI collective known as XOR decides that AI can longer coexist with humanity.

AI pioneers Catherine Mathews, Leon Tsarev, and Mike Williams believe that mere months are left before XOR starts an extermination war. Can they find a solution...
more

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73

Patient Zero (Joe Ledger, #1)

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills. And that's both a good, and a bad thing. It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of... more

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74
When the SARS virus broke out in China in January 2003, Karl Taro Greenfeld was the editor of Time Asia in Hong Kong, just a few miles from the epicenter of the outbreak. After vague, initial reports of terrified Chinese boiling vinegar to "purify" the air, Greenfeld and his staff soon found themselves immersed in the story of a lifetime.

Deftly tracking a mysterious viral killer from the bedside of one of the first victims to China's overwhelmed hospital wards—from cutting-edge labs where researchers struggle to identify the virus to the war rooms at the World Health Organization...
more

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75
In this eye-opening expose, acclaimed health journalist and National Geographic contributor Maryn McKenna documents how antibiotics transformed chicken from local delicacy to industrial commodity--and human health threat--uncovering the ways we can make America's favorite meat safer again.

What you eat matters--for your health, for the environment, and for future generations. In this riveting investigative narrative, McKenna dives deep into the world of modern agriculture by way of chicken: from the farm where it's raised directly to your dinner table. Consumed more than any...
more

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76
Take your life back! For anyone suffering from Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), chronic fatigue, autoimmune disorders, Infectious Mononucleosis (mono), or other mystery illnesses, this is a must read!
Do you feel lost and hopeless, living a life of illness with no answers? Do you feel unsupported by your medical team, left to suffer alone with no guidance? Are you searching for solutions to get your health and life back on track?
Finally, a book that speaks to both the medical community and people inflicted by both mono and chronic conditions caused by EBV!
The expanse of this...
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77
Molecular Virology of Human Pathogenic Viruses presents robust coverage of the key principles of molecular virology while emphasizing virus family structure and providing key context points for topical advances in the field. The book is organized in a logical manner to aid in student discoverability and comprehension and is based on the author's more than 20 years of teaching experience. Each chapter will describe the viral life cycle covering the order of classification, virion and genome structure, viral proteins, life cycle, and the effect on host and an emphasis on virus-host... more

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79

The Cobra Event

The Cobra Event is a petrifying, fictional account of a very real threat: biological terrorism.

Seventeen-year-old Kate Moran wakes one morning to the beginnings of a head cold but shrugs it off and goes to school anyway. By her midmorning art class, Kate's runny nose gives way to violent seizures and a hideous scene of self-cannibalization. She dies soon after. When a homeless man meets a similarly gruesome — and mystifying — fate, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta sends pathologist Alice Austen to investigate. What she uncovers is the work of a killer, a man who calls...

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80
A riveting medical detective story that explores the limits of rational thought

In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist with a history of self-promotion, published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized hold of the story and, in the process, helped to launch one of the most devastating health scares ever. In the years to come Wakefield would be revealed as a profiteer in league with class-action lawyers, and he would eventually lose his medical license. Meanwhile, one study after another...
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81

The Troop

Once a year, scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a three-day camping trip—a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story and a roaring bonfire. But when an unexpected intruder—shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry—stumbles upon their campsite, Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror. The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. An inexplicable horror that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival that will pit the troop against the elements, the... more

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82

Rant

Buster “Rant” Casey just may be the most efficient serial killer of our time. A high school rebel, Rant Casey escapes from his small town home for the big city where he becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing. Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather the testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life. less

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83
Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy.

The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world.

To where the monsters lived.
less

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84

Ebola

When a mysterious virus first exploded in Zaire in 1976, American physician William T. Close worked desperately to contain the outbreak. Haunted by this wrenching crisis, Dr. Close felt compelled to honor the memory of the courageous people he knew and lost. This is their story: a terrifying, completely authentic novel that begins with an invisible killer.
 
It strikes without warning—a lethal disease with no name . . . and no cure.
 
At a Catholic mission in Yambuku, a remote village sixty miles south of the Ebola River, local teacher Mabalo Lokela visits the...
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85

Roitt's Essential Immunology

Preceded by Roitt's essential immunology / Peter J. Delves ... [et al.]. 12th ed. 2011. less

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86

Virus

The greatest threat to the existence of mankind is the genetically mutated virus for which there is no vaccine and it is this supposition that British thriller writer Heath Buckley follows in his stunning new novel.
When fire destroys a Ministry of Defence laboratory in the English countryside a deadly airborne virus codenamed AB1 is released into the local community.
First there is the anxiety that something is not right, then the mystery illness for which local health care providers have no explanation. However, as the death rate escalates the population of Abbotsdown faces the...
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87
When a deadly virus sweeps the country, Vivian Thomas sets out for California in hopes of seeing the daughter she gave up for adoption. Then her car breaks down and she’s faced with a choice. Give up, or accept a ride from redneck brothers, Angus and Axl. Vivian knows the offer has more to do with her double D’s than kindness, but she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to reach her daughter.

The virus is spreading, and by the time the group makes it to California, most of the population has been wiped out. When the dead start coming back, Vivian and the others realize that no...
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88

A.I. Apocalypse (Singularity #2)

Leon Tsarev is a high school student set on getting into a great college program, until his uncle, a member of the Russian mob, coerces him into developing a new computer virus for the mob’s botnet - the slave army of computers they used to commit digital crimes.

The evolutionary virus Leon creates, based on biological principles, is successful -- too successful. All the world’s computers are infected. Everything from cars to payment systems and, of course, computers and smart phones stop functioning, and with them go essential functions including emergency services,...
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89

The Fall (The Strain Trilogy, #2)

The vampiric virus unleashed in The Strain has taken over New York City. It is spreading across the country and soon, the world. Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather—head of the Center for Disease Control’s team—leads a small band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters. But it may be too late.

Ignited by the Master’s horrific plan, a war erupts between Old and New World vampires, each vying for total control. Caught between these warring forces, humans—powerless and vulnerable—are no longer the consumers, but the consumed.

Though Eph understands the vampiric plague better...
more

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90

Modern Fourier Analysis

The primary goal of this text is to present the theoretical foundation of the field of Fourier analysis. The book is mainly addressed to graduate students in mathematics and is designed to serve for a three-course sequence on the subject. less

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91
Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.

Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next. Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.

Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into...
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92
America has a fever. It s not feeling well because a virus has infected this once vibrant and exceptional country. In an effort to find a cure, the author traces the history, development and symptoms of the behavioral virus infecting America. He identifies the genetic engineers who created the pathogen and exposes how and why they spread it to the general population. The author deconstructs the financial crisis of 2008, the TSA, Hollywood, global warming, the Millennial Generation and Political Correctness. He outlines the social, economic and political consequences of being infected and... more

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93
“Highlights that influenza is still a real and present threat and demonstrates the power and limitations of modern medicine.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A surprisingly compelling and accessible story of one of the world’s most deadly diseases. It is timely and interesting, engaging and sobering.” —David Gregort, CNN political analyst and former moderator for NBC’s Meet the Press

A veteran ER doctor explores the troubling, terrifying, and complex history and present-day research of the flu virus, from the origins of the Great Flu that...
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94

Ex-Heroes (Ex-Heroes, #1)

The first in a spectacularly genre-mashing adventure series that pits a small group of courageous, flawed, terrified superheroes against hordes of undead.

Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place.

Then the plague of living death spread around the globe. Now, a year later, the heroes struggle to overcome their differences and recover from their own scars as they protect the thousands of survivors huddled in their film-studio-turned-fortress, the Mount.
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95

Viruses

Agents of Evolutionary Invention

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth, and arguably the most successful. They are not technically alive, but--as infectious vehicles of genetic information--they have a remarkable capacity to invade, replicate, and evolve within living cells. Synthesizing a large body of recent research, Michael Cordingley goes beyond our familiarity with viral infections to show how viruses spur evolutionary change in their hosts, shape global ecosystems, and influence every domain of life.

In the last few decades, research has revealed that viruses are fundamental to the...
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96
As long as the undead hordes of the Inferi Scourge howl outside the dying city, the last remaining humans struggle to survive inside The Bastion. Vanguard Maria Martinez has lived her entire life within the towering walls. Her only refuge from the overcrowded streets, rolling blackouts, and food shortages is in the arms of Officer Dwayne Reichardt. Then Maria is summoned to meet with a mysterious representative from the Science Warfare Division and is offered the opportunity to finally destroy the Inferi Scourge and reclaim the land and resources in the valley beyond the wall. If she... more

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97

Blackout (Urban Outlaws, #2)

The world's most lethal computer virus has been unleashed into cyberspace, and now the Urban Outlaws-five tough kids dedicated to justice-must destroy it. Leader Jack knows that they have to shut it down before it throws the world into chaos. But how can he find a virus that might be anywhere, and everywhere?

Then the team meets Hector, an insanely talented hacker who even impresses Jack. The Urban Outlaws need his help, but can they trust him? It's a risk that could mean winning big, or losing everything. . . .

This sensational sequel has all the makings of a...
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98
Outlink station Miranda has been destroyed by a nanomycelium and the very nature of this sabotage suggests that the alien bioconstruct Dragon - a creature as untrustworthy as it is gigantic - is somehow involved. less

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99
With a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people and a global reach, the Spanish flu of 1918–1920 was the greatest human disaster, not only of the twentieth century, but possibly in all of recorded history. And yet, in our popular conception it exists largely as a footnote to World War I.

In Pale Rider, Laura Spinney recounts the story of an overlooked pandemic, tracing it from Alaska to Brazil, from Persia to Spain, and from South Africa to Odessa. Telling the story from the point of view of those who lived through it, she shows how the pandemic was shaped by the...
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100
CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS!

“Portrays epidemiologists as disease detectives who tirelessly hunt for clues and excel at deductive reasoning. Even Sherlock Holmes would be proud of this astute group of professionals.”—Booklist

This updated edition features a brand new section detailing important facts about the coronavirus and tips for keeping yourself and your family safe.

Despite advances in health care, infectious microbes continue to be a formidable adversary to scientists and doctors. Vaccines and...
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  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.