Gripping New Book Details Origins of AIDS, SARS, Ebola and Other Diseases that Jumped from Animal Hosts

Higgs here, with an announcement about another interesting event that I can't attend, but you should. Tuesday (10/16), at the Academy of Natural Sciences, author David Quammen, will talk about his new book Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. My human and I have been reading it together and highly recommend this book. The subject matter is important, and the writing is suspenseful and gripping. This is science writing at its best.

The first chapter details the horrors of the mysterious "Hendra" virus – a disease that appears to have jumped from bats to horses to humans in Australia.

Here's what the Academy has to say:

 David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo, will discuss his new book SPILLOVER: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. He will also be signing copies.

 $5 nonmembers, free for Academy members
To register:  http://spillover.eventbrite.com/
Tickets also available at the door.

David Quammen's new book SPILLOVER: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, traces the science and history of major diseases that originate in wild animals and pass to humans, such as Ebola, SARS and AIDS. He tracks this subject around the world and recounts adventures in the field—netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo—with the world's leading disease scientists. In his talk, Quammen will explain how "spillover" diseases emerge and discuss what might be the next big pandemic. Quammen is the award-winning author of The Song of the Dodo and other books and is a contributing writer for National Geographic.

Read more here.