Interesting but meanders

I enjoyed this book. As Timothy Winegard mentions, this is more of a history book than a science book, however what little science there is, is clearly explained. Winegard shows a good sense of humor in his writing, but otherwise I found his writing slighted stilted and lacking the conversational tone I like in science writing. I also found that the book took long irrelevant detours through history, so there were pages I just glossed over. For the reader looking for more specific information on mosquito-transmitted diseases, I recommend Molly Caldwell Crosby’s “The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic That Shaped Our History” and Sonia Shah’s “The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years.” However if the reader is more interested in the broad sweep of history, then The Mosquito is a fine book.