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  • The Ghost Map

  • Written by: Steven Johnson
  • Narrated by: Alan Sklar
  • Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (29 ratings)

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The Ghost Map

Written by: Steven Johnson
Narrated by: Alan Sklar
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Publisher's Summary

This is a thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science, and the modern world.

The Ghost Map takes place in the summer of 1854. A devastating cholera outbreak seizes London just as it is emerging as a modern city: more than two million people packed into a 10-mile circumference, a hub of travel and commerce, teeming with people from all over the world, continually pushing the limits of infrastructure that's outdated as soon as it's updated. Dr. John Snow, whose ideas about contagion had been dismissed by the scientific community, is spurred to intense action when the people in his neighborhood begin dying. With enthralling suspense, Johnson chronicles Snow's day-by-day efforts as he risks his own life to prove how the epidemic is being spread.

From the dynamic thinker routinely compared to Malcolm Gladwell, E.O. Wilson, and James Gleick, The Ghost Map is a riveting story with a real-life historical hero. It brilliantly illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of viruses, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry. These are topics that have long obsessed Johnson, and The Ghost Map is a true triumph of the kind of multidisciplinary thinking for which he's become famous. This is a book that, like the work of Jared Diamond, presents both vivid history and a powerful and provocative explanation of what it means for the world we live in.

©2006 Steven Johnson (P)2006 Tantor Media Inc.

What the critics say

"An illuminating and satisfying read." (Publishers Weekly)
"A formidable gathering of small facts and big ideas." (New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about The Ghost Map

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I enjoyed this story, reader is well spoken. I willlikely listen again in a few months time

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Fascinating and well exceptionally well organized

Very interesting and timely story in view of the current COVID-19 epidemic. Great book all around!

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An excellent recounting of terror of Cholera in Victorian London

The first 3/4 of the book was 5/5 with epilogue becoming lost in medical geography missing the point of what Dr John Snow and colleagues did to move the modern public health movement away from well meaning but unsubstantiated theories of disease such as miasma toward a scientific and skeletal approach birthing the field of epidemiology and promoting the idea of contagion thru water and not just air or person to person. Imagine that that only occurred in the late 1800s. Overall a very good account of the Broad Street well outbreak and the politics around managing outbreaks.

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