Well researched and fascinating - would love to see follow-up considerations further into the pandemic response.

An especially apt book for the times. This was a fascinating read though I did find the historical content more interesting than the modern.

My biggest problem with this book was that it couldn't decide what it was trying to be.

The sections that actually focused on quarantine life and outbreaks were good—really good. Kari Nixon, a professor of English at Whitworth, clearly knows her stuff when it comes to the medical humanities. But the issue came with the other stuff. Nixon often strays from her subject matter to cover things as far away as her thoughts on food insecurity and education, Black Lives Matter (I'm glad she supports it but it just came out of nowhere with zero connection to the book's titular topic), political polarization, capitalism and economics, and public health guidance. What's worse, a lot of these sections were prefaced with some sort of statement to the effect of "now I'm not an expert by any means on [X] so I won't comment on it, but [proceeds to comment on it, often drawing on her friends' statements as explanatory anecdotes]." Much of the book is well-cited, so I was confused when she suddenly delved into topics she herself stated she wasn't an expert on with the support of decidedly inexpert opinions.

Additionally, the book was written in an overly informal style. While I do appreciate accessibility—I'm not and never have been a fan of the idea that you need "big words" to represent "big ideas"—this was almost written as if she were trying to be more "relatable" with her students at Whitworth, often adopting Gen Z slang and couching her anecdotes in her liberal politics.

The parts that focused on Nixon's area of strength—literary and textual analysis relating to the medical humanities—were really good. Particularly memorable was her deconstruction of the HIV prevention drug Descovy's drag queen ad and her commentary on a Lord Alfred Tennyson poem in the last chapter. Had all of the book been so narrowly focused, this would've been an easy five stars. But those moments were few and far between, leading me to my final rating of 2/5 stars. If you're looking for insight into pandemics, I'd recommend The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World instead.

Quarantine Life from Cholera to COVID-19 attempts to put the current pandemic in its place within all the human pandemics in recorded history. What does the past have to tell us about our future? The author lists thirty lessons that we should have learned already (with varying success).

My favorite part of the book, covering several chapters, was the quotes from two books written in 1722 by Daniel Defoe (famous for writing Robinson Crusoe). Both books were released the same year. One was non-fiction about The Plague. The other was a fictionalized account of the same event. Some key points within both books are quarantines eventually cause people to rebel, you can’t shut down entire economies, and humans love statistics but are really bad at accessing risk.

The writing style is as if the author is your smartest friend discussing what she is thinking. Some parts do sound a little professorial, as even the author admits. Other sections sound rather preachy, though the author tries to see both viewpoint’s perspectives. However, I enjoyed her use of literature to show what people thought during previous pandemics.

“For the entirety of recorded history, disease has loomed, a haunting shadow waiting to strike and decimate. Scientist even theorize that viruses developed from rogue pieces of human DNA that somehow gained independence—a sort of microscopic Skynet event.“

Overall, Quarantine Life from Cholera to COVID-19 is definitely a thinking person’s book. If that sounds like you, and you want a unique perspective of how COVID-19 fits into the history of human interaction with disease, you will enjoy this book. It is certainly well-researched with endnotes and a bibliography at the end. 4 stars!

Thanks to Tiller Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a surprisingly quick read with no textbook speak and is packed with so much amazing information.

I really enjoyed this book since it showed that perhaps experts like the author should be listened to along with epidemiologists and virologists.

Stylistically, I love that the lessons are bold and draw attention. Instead of focusing on individual epidemics/pandemics, the chapters are laid out as lessons.

I had hoped that there would be a section or chapter on disabled and chronically ill people, but alas it wasn't there.

It's one of those books that I wish had been available before COVID-19 but it wouldn't have been so shocking or understanding. In the end, it really hit home that we need to be better after an epidemic/pandemic instead of a return to "normal."

I enjoyed this book. I liked Dr. Nixon’s writing style, a combination of clearly explained history, casual conversation, and the occasional sarcastic remark or other attempt at humor. I didn’t agree with everything Nixon wrote, but even when I didn’t, she explained her point well enough that I could see why she wrote what she did. Nixon has a definite liberal stance which is strongly reflected in the text, but she is very rarely preachy and always seems reasonable. Most importantly, the book is thought-provoking and helped me see infectious diseases in a new way. I normally see infectious diseases from an etiology/epidemiology/microbiological point of view but this book showed me a way of thinking about them from the humanity point of view. However, there were a couple of things I didn’t like about the book. The humor didn’t quite work all the time, but I did appreciate the effort. The interlude didn't work for me. I didn’t see its relevance and I skipped a large section of it. Nonetheless, the book is well worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Tiller Press for the advance reader copy.

My review of advance review copy of Quarantine Life from Cholera to Covid 19 by Kari Nixon
I give this book 2.5-3 stars.
To be honest, I have read other books in this area that were better. This book wasn’t the worst, with some books being even worse. You should read this book if you like reading about pandemics and you happen to like it better then I did. This book covers some stories about Cholera, and some about Covid 19.