If you’re interested in reading about epidemics, then this is the book for you! Each short chapter presents a different disease and the epidemic that quickly followed their discoveries. While the true patient zero for any of the diseases are unknown, the patient zeroes presented here are people who are well-known to be early accidental spreaders of the disease they contracted.

I picked up this book because I’m a huge fan of Lydia Kang. While I know this is non-fiction, I thought the concept was interesting, especially since we’re living through a pandemic. Each chapter covers a disease, where it likely originated from or how long it was around before it was first detected, who got it, how it spread, and what damage it caused. The book is also sprinkled with photographs and different facts related to epidemics that is related to the chapter they’re featured in.

I have to say that it was interesting to learn that pandemics are usually handled pretty badly in varying degrees. I knew our species has a history of repeating ourselves, but it hits harder when you realize we’re repeating history yet again in real time. This was a very interesting read, and I’m looking forward to seeing more non-fiction books come from Lydia Kang.

Absolutely fascinating reading! This book takes very complex technical topics and explains them in a very accessible, interesting way. Along with discussions of various diseases, there are very compelling side sections about the various social, geographical, political, and historical contexts and effects of the various diseases. It's quite comprehensive and leaves the reader with a fairly deep (for the layman) and well-rounded understanding.

FYI - not a book for the squeamish. There are lots of detailed pictures and illustrations, which are helpful and useful--if you have a strong stomach.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

This is a must read! The authors do an excellent job of giving historical perspective for each of the diseases as well as explaining what causes the disease and how it is treated/managed today. I learned so much from this book - it's written in a way to make even some of the more complicated medical/science concepts easy to understand. The only downside of reading this was that it made me realize just how many deadly diseases are still hanging around and how easy it could be to experience another pandemic or epidemic in my lifetime - I will probably keep a mask with me at all times from now on. I wish we could get all anti-vaxers and anti-maskers to read this so that they can better understand how these things stop diseases from spreading and help to get us on the road to recovery. I got this as an e-book, but will definitely purchase it in paperwork so that I can easily refer to it in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for providing me with a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliant and timely book! Separated into sections with different themes woven through - including spotlighting different disease pandemics, cures fake and real, and the Patient Zeros (the start of the pandemics) - this is a wonderfully easy book for anyone to pick up and read. The chapters are short, snappy, and fully contained, and it’s written so it’s easily accessible for the non medical population. There’s also loads of pictures throughout the book as well as various boxes with short stories related to the chapter they appear in. I thought the authors did a good job of staying neutral, especially with some of the politicisation of pandemics that has happened in recent history.

Some of the pictures can get a little gruesome and the stories aren’t for everyone - those who are delicate or aren’t a fan of medical stuff may struggle - but this is a wonderful and interesting look at pandemics throughout history up to today.

Was a great book that included mostly basic diseases, but a few that I hadn’t heard of. I was hoping there was more I didn’t know. Still good.

Should a book be read about the most terrible viruses / bacteria that plague humanity during a pandemic? Undoubtedly, yes! Even if going without a mask afterward becomes unthinkable? Still, yes.

Not only was this was one of the best non-fiction books I've read in recent years, it was also one if the best books I've read in general. In addition to being a great read I also learned an incredible amount and shared a wealth of newly acquired knowledge with my family. Who doesn't like to hear true stories about biological warfare over a nice home-cooked dinner?
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with even a moderate interest in medicine or history. I honestly did not expect a subject with such gravity to be so entertaining. As an added bonus,, the photos, works of art, and the colored sidebars, gave a great insight into historical medicine.

Thank you to NetGalley, Workman Publishing Company, Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen for this ARC

Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read an arc version of this book!

This book is gorgeous--even if the content is a bit icky at times (such is the nature of disease and viruses). The writing makes it feel like you’re in a super in-depth conversation with some humor and lots of information, which makes the content more digestible. The images are, at times, disgusting (think: pustules, rashes, parasitic worms, etc.) and not for super squeamish folks, but I think it makes the book more shareable in a way. I can imagine students loving to read this during independent reading time and wanting to share the book’s content with one another. I want to add this book to my classroom library, and I could see it becoming a quick favorite (also, this book is enormous! But the images make it so much more accessible to learn about autopsy, mad cow disease, and everything in between).

THIS,.BOOK.IS.AWESOME. You do not have to be a medical professional to enjoy it. If you want to learn about previous epidemics and how they were (mis)handled, this is a great book. It's very easy to read and has a lot of good illustrations of viruses, depictions from history and other tidbits.

I liked this book so much while I am grateful for my ARC, I plan to purchase it when it comes out. I am a nurse and some of the information contained in this book was old news to me, but I liked the way the authors talk about the patient Zero, the descriptions of the diseases, some of the history behind them and there is a chapter on the creation of various vaccines and another on biological warfare. I learned new medical information from this book.

I really cannot recommend this enough if you have interest in epidemiology, work in the medical profession or just like to read books about things that can sometimes be gross (don't read the parasite chapter while eating unless you have a strong stomach). Medical and nursing students might find this particularly fascinating.

I would give this 10 stars if I could.

This was easily understood by someone outside of the realm of medicine, science and diseases. I felt it was made for someone who truly has a desire to understand diseases. Each patient zero disease was given the back story, what occurred, what was accidentally learned, its past usage and finally all the issues science and time proved that showed how dangerous the item truly is/was.

A very quick and interesting nonfiction book about diseases. I know nothing about the human body or health-related issues, so this book was so fascinating and gripping.

Compulsively readable, fascinating and informative, Patient Zero answers all the questions you might have about diseases and even those you don’t know you have.

Subtitled “A Curious History of the World’s Worst diseases” Patient Zero covers everything from Ebola to the Plague, Measles to Cholera, Covid-19 and more. The information is organized into three sections: Infection, Spread and Containment. Biological weapons are discussed as is the devastating effect that diseases carried by European explorers, including missionaries, had on the native populations of North and South America. For each disease, there is a Patient Zero, the first person known to contract the disease or the last person to die from it. There are many hidden gems here. For instance, when the fluid from cowpox lesions was applied to arm scratches, people were protected from smallpox. The Latin word for cow is vacca giving us the words vaccine and vaccination. There’s an anecdote about polio victim President Franklin Roosevelt. In 1938, he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. People were asked to contribute dimes to fund research for a cure. The organization is now the March of Dimes and Roosevelt’s picture is on the dime.

Patient Zero, full of facts, is a work of non-fiction,that reads like a fast-paced thriller. There is so much to learn that I would like a sequel! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Workman Publishing Company, Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen for this ARC.