The Ghost Map

Book Description

Critics

• A Drink of Death

  Several days ago I picked up a serious magazine and found Steven Johnson, among a panel of experts, discussing literacy in the age of video games. He offered some mischievously counterintuitive thoughts, similar to those in his 2005 book about popula ... (read full critics)

  nytimes published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

• The Ghost Map By Steven Johnson

  In his latest book, The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson ( Everything Bad Is Good for You) examines a 10-day cholera plague in London in the late summer of 1854 to demonstrate, among other things, how science progresses through close observation and collabo ... (read full critics)

  bookpage published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

3 Reviews

• 

  tedious...extremely so

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  wilkinsjordan said on Apr 19, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  As on-the-edge-of-your-seat gripping as any great fictional medical mystery.

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  SWReader said on Nov 14, 2009 | Add your feedback

• 

  50-75 pages too long

  Ghost Map would have been a decent "whodunnit" if left to a tightly written story around the context (which he does a decent job of), facts (symptoms), investigation, confrontation (Snow vs Whitehead vs Government), and resolution. However, Johnson felt the need to pad the book with a conclusion st ... (continue)

  Ghost Map would have been a decent "whodunnit" if left to a tightly written story around the context (which he does a decent job of), facts (symptoms), investigation, confrontation (Snow vs Whitehead vs Government), and resolution. However, Johnson felt the need to pad the book with a conclusion starring an inane monologue on city planning - or something, it was grim reading and when he felt the need to define "URL", I was ready to call it a day.

  The Washington Post called Ghost Map "a true page turner". For all I know, that reviewer may just have wanted to get to the end. I found the subject to be of interest, but the execution to be lacking. Ghost Map contained snippets of good reading surrounded by seas of doldrums.

  I abandoned Ghost Map 30 pages before the end (yes, the conclusion and epilogues were really that bad), and I still felt I'd read 30 pages too many. Had this been tightened up a lot by good editors, I would recommend Ghost Map. It wasn't, so I can't.

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  Andyberschauer said on Jul 14, 2009 | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Paperback 320 Pages
• Edition: Reprint
• ISBN-10: 1594482691
• ISBN-13: 9781594482694
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade
• Pub date: Oct 02, 2007
• Dimensions: 1355 mm x 903 mm x 129 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Others

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