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Title: The Invisible Enemy: A Natural History of Viruses
ISBN: 0198564813
Author:
Dorothy Crawford
Publicate Date: 2003-04-03
Publish: 2003-04-03
List Price: $19.99
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $11.18
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $6.86
Amazon Merchant Price: $17.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Excellent! A book to be read by everybody
What a great book to finish this year. This is the history of viruses, those nanoparticles wrapped up in protein, a history of smallpox, polio, herpes, hepatitis, flu, Human T Leukaemia Virus, HIV and others little viruses that have made difficult our existence. But this book is more than that, a book to understand how this virus operate, their relation with cancer, how we have combated them via immunization, vaccines and antivirals, and the amazing advances in dealing with them, including the use of viruses to deal with cancer.
There is much more to understand about viruses, the purpose of them, an effort that perhaps allows to understand life itself. This is a book to be read by everybody, a book that should have a spanish version and be given to high school/University students. Prevention is the first step.
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2: Fascinating, less complicated introduction to the current issue of emerging viruses
Probably the only reason I gave this a four star is because the book was a repeat basically for me of information I'd already read more completely somewhere else. That's not to say I didn't think this book was interesting. The Writer is British, and most all the books I read were from American writers. Her writing is impeccable as per usual with the British, but also there is a distinctly different point of view.
I would highly recommend this book for people who want a good introduction into the area of virology. It applies to everyone, since emerging and man-made viruses are such a threat at this point. The book doesn't overdo the scientific jargon you find in textbooks, and makes the science accessible to everyone who reads the book. It addresses most of the past big problems, introduces some emerging problems like Ebola...but this is very general. That can be a good thing...I just wanted some more information than what I got.
Karen Sadler
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3: Understanding viruses
"The Invisble Enemy" is a very good overview of the world of viruses. Virologist Dorothy H. Crawford has written a book that is scientific, but it is also interesting, enjoyable, and very readable. In fact, I became so immersed while reading the book that I felt that I was reading a historical novel and not a book on the science of viruses. But that is what is so enjoyable about this book - Ms. Crawford weaves together interesting tales, scientific data and her thoughts on viruses in a way that helped me to understand these primitive proteins and their impact on the history and evolution of the human race.
Throughout the book there is information about the history of a variety of killer viruses such as yellow fever and polio and the vaccines that were developed to eradicate them. There is also information about the origins of HIV - how HIV infects a cell and the ways that HIV drugs interfere with the replication process. Also information is included on hepatitis A, hepatitis B and a little information on hepatitis C. There is also an overview of the emerging killer viruses such as ebola, hanta virus, and the bird flu.
After reading this book I came away with a better understanding of viruses and their remarkable ability to survive.
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4: Nice book
This is a nice book about viruses. The book is slightly technical, but reading it while able to access wikipedia should do it, if you want to understand each detail.
Recently I came across a theory came which says that viruses played a crucial role in the evolution of humans. After reading this book the above theory made sense to me.
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5: amazing
I assumed this would be another text book style read consisting of sterile,bare bones info. I was very pleasantly surprised. This book is increadible. It reads like a novel and yet the info is present in every sentence. The author is clearly beyond knowledgable about the topic. I would recommend this book to anyone . Truely amazing!
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