The Poisoned Weed: Plants Toxic to Skin Book

An elegantly written book that is incredibly relevant even though it was only published in 1993! The book first starts out why new viruses emerge and provides case studies of AIDS (which has yet to be eradicated in 1993). We see the work of policy as well, with figures like Anthony Fauci making critical contributions to AIDS even before the coronavirus pandemic. We learn about contemporary viruses that have shaped our current world, including arboviruses and new flus. The arbovirus was very interesting considering it was written before the West Nile outbreak. I appreciated how the book seemed to touch at many facets of virology, including whether or not the viruses could cause chronic diseases (see page 247). Finally, the book closes in an incredibly interesting consideration of future pandemics. I think that overall the book balanced scientific writing for the layman audience, but leaned towards people with more background in STEM as it could be perceived as "dry" to a layman.