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[bookelfe]

Sometimes I read a book and I'm like "that book was super informative! That . . . is not actually the information I was looking for. Better prose would have been helpful."

That is how it went for me with The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. What I wanted: a social and cultural history of the Spanish flu and how

Comments

[bookelfe]

Hahaha yeeeeeah. I mean, you know, I'm fine with a researcher not being able to cover all of everything. Global is a lot, it's hard to cram it all into one book! Just, you know, if you're only interested in part of the world, tell me that instead of pretending you're covering the important bits and it's just not even worth mentioning the rest.

[bookelfe]

I would love to read a "global" book that focused on somewhere besides the USA or Europe and gave the West a passing 'and also this' mention! It would be so refreshing.

(Although to be fair I fully believe these books do exist, just in languages I do not read.)

[bookelfe]

I liked all the morbid gory history stuff! Plagues are fascinating. . . . I mean terrible, but fascinating!

But yeah, he seemed to feel the need to attempt heights of literary power that were not really within his repertoire. Just the facts, please, sir!