Ebola
The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus
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Narrated by:
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Mel Foster
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By:
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David Quammen
About this listen
"A frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting that reads like a detective story." - Walter Isaacson
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 been devastated by a recent outbreak. Here he tells the story of Ebola - its past, present, and its unknowable future.
Extracted from Spillover by David Quammen, updated and with additional material.
©2014, 2012 David Quammen (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The Moth in the Iron Lung
- A Biography of Polio
- By: Forrest Maready
- Narrated by: Forrest Maready
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating account of the world’s most famous disease - polio - told as you have never heard it before. Epidemics of paralysis began to rage in the early 1900s, seemingly out of nowhere. Doctors, parents, and health officials were at a loss to explain why this formerly unheard-of disease began paralyzing so many children. Why did this disease start to become such a horrible problem during the late 1800s? Why did it affect children more often than adults? Why was it originally called teething paralysis by mothers and their doctors?
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Root Cause
- By Circlekay1 Gulfport MS on 10-24-19
By: Forrest Maready
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The Fever
- Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years
- By: Sonia Shah
- Narrated by: Maha Chehlaoui
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In recent years, malaria has emerged as a cause célèbre for voguish philanthropists. Bill Gates, Bono, and Laura Bush are only a few of the personalities who have lent their names - and opened their pocketbooks - in hopes of curing the disease. Still, in a time when every emergent disease inspires waves of panic, why aren’t we doing more to eradicate one of our oldest foes? And how does a parasitic disease that we’ve known how to prevent for more than a century still infect 500 million people every year, killing nearly 1 million of them?
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Solid but not amazing account of malaria
- By S. Yates on 04-11-16
By: Sonia Shah
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Inferno
- A Doctor's Ebola Story
- By: Steven Hatch MD
- Narrated by: Steven Hatch MD
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Steven Hatch first came to Liberia in November 2013 to work at a hospital in Monrovia. Six months later, several of the physicians Dr. Hatch had mentored and served with were dead or barely clinging to life, and Ebola had become a world health emergency. Hundreds of victims perished each week; whole families were destroyed in a matter of days; so many died so quickly that the culturally taboo practice of cremation had to be instituted to dispose of the bodies.
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Good story, spoiled by politics.
- By Roman Vogel on 07-22-17
By: Steven Hatch MD
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The Demon in the Freezer
- A True Story
- By: Richard Preston
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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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 number-one New York Times best seller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of USAMRIID, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
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Pretty interesting listening in a horrific way
- By S A on 09-19-03
By: Richard Preston
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Rabid
- A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus
- By: Bill Wasik, Monica Murphy
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The most fatal virus known to science, rabies kills nearly 100 percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. From Greek myths to zombie flicks, from the laboratory heroics of Louis Pasteur to the contemporary search for a lifesaving treatment, Rabid is a fresh, fascinating, and often wildly entertaining look at one of mankind’s oldest and most fearsome foes.
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Unexpected and Intriguing
- By Cynthia on 06-09-13
By: Bill Wasik, and others
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Pale Rider
- The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
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In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus travelled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted - and often permanently altered - global politics, race relations, and family structures while spurring innovation in medicine, religion, and the arts.
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A Predilection for Those in the Prime of Life
- By Cynthia on 02-12-18
By: Laura Spinney
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The Lost City of the Monkey God
- A True Story
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Bill Mumy
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
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Still Lost...
- By Mel on 01-12-17
By: Douglas Preston
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The Great Influenza
- The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
- By: John M. Barry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.
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Great book but very disturbing...
- By Tim on 01-15-09
By: John M. Barry
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Cannibalism
- By: Bill Schutt
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Eating one's own kind is a completely natural behavior in thousands of species, including humans. Throughout history we have engaged in cannibalism for reasons related to famine, burial rites, and medicine. Cannibalism has also been used as a form of terrorism and as the ultimate expression of filial piety. With unexpected wit and a wealth of knowledge, Bill Schutt takes us on a tour of the field, exploring exciting new avenues of research and investigating questions like why so many fish eat their offspring and some amphibians consume their mothers' skin.
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Ruined it at the end
- By Kimberly Ames on 12-07-17
By: Bill Schutt
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Superlative
- The Biology of Extremes
- By: Matthew D. LaPlante
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The world's largest land mammal could help us end cancer. The fastest bird is showing us how to solve a century-old engineering mystery. The oldest tree is giving us insights into climate change. The loudest whale is offering clues about the impact of solar storms. For a long time, scientists ignored superlative life forms as outliers. Increasingly, though, researchers are coming to see great value in studying plants and animals that exist on the outermost edges of the bell curve.
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Fascinating survey of amazing biology
- By Nerd's-eye view on 12-06-19
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Pretty interesting listening in a horrific way
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What listeners say about Ebola
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Catherine Bateman
- 03-26-18
Good book. It was very informative and descriptive.
This book is educational and very interesting. It answers the question of how and when Ebola started and how it spreads
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tana
- 12-20-23
Fascinating and Educational
I will jump for anything by David Quammen. His work is always an adventure into his research. This one hits the mark by answering all the what, why, where questions on a topic fairly current that everyone still ponders about this scary virus. Also, good narration.
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- Mary K. O'connor
- 12-25-22
Interesting tho dated
Super interesting book about Ebola from 1976-2014. Speaks of different strains of Ebola, lethality & health care challenges as these virus spread to cities. Also touches on Marburg (the other filovirus) and other various bat reservoir viruses. Brief mentions of about SARS, Hanta, Lyassa, MERS & Covid-“from China”. Presents different hypotheses about presentation and age of Ebola. Takes a couple of swipes at Preston’s “The Hot Zone” as being scientifically inaccurate yet a scintillating read. I submit that different strains of Ebola present slightly differently and Ebola Zaire (now called by a different name) was the most lethal and had more hemorrhagic symptoms.
Extremely captivating explanation of why bats are considered the reservoir for many viruses.
Truly enjoyed this book & recommend it to any who is interested in Ebola. Narrator kept referring to “USAMARIID” by stating each initial every time the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases was referenced. It is my understanding that USAMARIID colloquially referred to as “U-sama-rid”. Other than that, narrator did a great job.
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1 person found this helpful
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- N. Krstova
- 01-03-18
David Quammen + Science = The best time ever!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, and I have. And I will. This book is for the ones that like science, adventure and mystery. It tracks down the causes of Ebola and how it may have spilled over in the human population. I can also wholeheartedly recommend this book to people that are into conspiracy theories, because even though the author follows a natural event, it seems like nature and evolution are conspiring against the human race, haha. All jokes aside, I would recommend it because it lays out a fascinating story of how ebola travels, it's mechanisms of infection and what are we doing as human species to combat it. Also, it reads like a mystery novel - the more you read the more questions you have.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Ebola?
There was too many to count. But if you thought that 2014 is the first time Ebola was on US soil, think again. I will say no more.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes. And I did.
Any additional comments?
I also found out that Ebola was a part of original book that tracks the events of spillover of viruses and diseases from the animal kingdom to humans called Spillover. I read that book and I would recommend it as a step further in Quammens writings.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Nathan
- 09-30-20
wonderful book
Loved the book. fascinating. covers up the history of Ebola. written beautifully as a detective story..
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- S. Yates
- 03-23-18
Concentrated and accessible
Quammen remains a science writer par excellence when covering pandemics and zoonosis. His Spillover remains a masterpiece, covering a wide range of diseases that jump from animals to humans, examining the paths they take, how the diseases evolve and how they impact humans and animals alike, and the scientists and medical professionals who study and combat such diseases.
In Ebola (published 2014), Quammen has excerpted the portion of Spillover (originally published in 2012) dealing with Ebola, and updated it with information and events from the intervening years. Namely, this iteration was written in the throes of the 2014 Ebola outbreak (or, more accurately, the 2013 outbreak that managed to spread internationally in 2014). In it, he covers what is known of Ebola, and also what frustratingly remains hidden, including the reservoir species that houses Ebola when it isn't crossing over into primates (from gorillas and chimps, to humans). As he does in Spillover, in this slim volume he spends a great deal of time and thought to the impact this disease has on animals, rather than only caring about the human costs.
All in all, an excellent summing up of the history of Ebola, and what we know and what we still have to learn. Even better, for those who have yet to read Spillover, this provides entrée into Quammen's work and should whet the appetite for more.
My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that the narrator does not seem to be aware that USAMRIID is generally pronounced yoo-sam-rid.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Sheri
- 06-29-15
Very informative
Interesting and very clearly written. The back story is worthwhile on it's own.
If Ebola evolves to not kill the host so fast, we are in trouble.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Taylor J
- 01-23-17
Content is almost verbatim in "Spillover"
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, it was a well-researched nonfiction book with an interesting premise and lively, journalistic storytelling.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Ebola?
Realizing that it was contained almost verbatim in "Spillover", and regretting that I ended up listening to "Ebola" first. I ended up listening to the ~4 hours of content twice.
What about Mel Foster’s performance did you like?
Not too dramatic but also not a drone.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes.
Any additional comments?
If you think that you might like to read "Spillover", just buy that and don't waste your time with this book. However, if you really just want to learn about Ebola virus, read this one, and not "Spillover".
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- Linda
- 12-03-22
Amazing information
I am in healthcare. It is the clearest explanation about viruses and their survival in the human body. Well done.
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