I read the book Epidemics & Plagues. The book is all about the diseases, how it got started, where it killed all those people, and how it ended. It talks about all the stages of plague or disease and describes how it feels. The first stage is when bacteria get into your body, and it attacks the body, and then finally becomes a disease. If the disease is contagious and it spread too many people and kills a lot of people then it becomes an epidemic.

The book also says stuff about all the deadly diseases that killed people back hundreds of years ago and the ones happening now. The disease happening today is because of the bacterium that is spreading from the developing countries. Then there are the people from the developing countries that came with the diseases which later spread and causes major deaths. Because poor places like Africa have little money it can’t support the bacteria infested areas so that’s why poor places are infested and can spread infests.

The forty-six diseases, epidemics, and or plagues are caused by one simple organism, bacterium. The disease causing bacteria first got to us when our ancestors first domesticated animals. Germs and the other disease causing organisms went from animals to farmers then on to other people and then brought the first disease on man. Then once it spread becomes an epidemic, once it spread around the world it becomes a pandemic, and finally once people think it’s a punishment from the one and almighty god it becomes a plague.

There are many things I learned from this book like the diseases that killed people all around the world and still is. Most diseases came from animals like bird flu which is now mutating in to a human disease, the same thing is going on with mad cow disease it’s also mutating and has a big impact on the modern life. Out of all the nasty germs and such, my favorite thing I read about and learned about is how the people gat rid of the dead and infested bodies. They got rid of the people by throwing them in plague pits (a pit that is dug for the plague victims to be thrown away to), illegally burn the bodies, and most unlikely bury them in churchyards.

This book should be for the older people, who aren’t scared, and for those that are grossed out easily. Mostly every page in this book has something to do with death. (That is so messed up). So that brings out my point in being a critic of this book.