The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson was published on October 19, 2006. Steven Johnson has written nine books in total, writes for papers such as The New York Times, and has won "Best Book of the Year" award for his book: Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. The Ghost Map is a historical narrative about the discovery of how cholera spread throughout London in 1854. The book follows multiple scientists and theories about how the Broad Street Pump water was infecting people all around Golden Square in London. After visiting the Broad Street Pump people fell sick and died suddenly. Symptoms these people had included vomiting, ongoing diarrhea, and a strong thirst. Johnson wrote, "hundreds of residents had been seized by the disease within a few hours of one another." As the disease began to kill more and more people, scientists began to create theories of why and how cholera was taking so many lives. John Snow investigated and created a theory about how cholera was waterborne. Henry Whitehead believed cholera was spread by its smell – this theory is considered miasmic and those who believed this theory were called miasmists. While the majority of people believed in the miasma theory and continue to drink the water from the pump, Snow's waterborne theory was actually the correct theory.

Steven Johnson is an author known for his books on science, technology, and personal experience. Johnson wrote this book in a way that people from different audiences can enjoy reading it. The audience for this book can include scientific readers to people who are just looking for a page turner with a lesson. The book was very informative and accurately presents the information while also being very entertaining. He keeps his audience involved in the book by making little, sarcastic comments every so often. The book is definitely worth reading because it is enticing but in the end you will be able to explain the outbreak of cholera in London to anyone.

The Ghost Map was interesting, well-organized, and credible. The book is well-organized because the first chapter sets the stage by elaborating on the history of London's sewage system. The story continued on by explaining how the spread of cholera began and what happened during the outbreak. In the later chapters of the book, Johnson explains the different theories and how the theories affected the outbreak. Some parts of the book did take a while to get to the point that Johnson was trying make; however, the slow parts of the book are the parts that elaborate more on the main points.

In my opinion, it is very strange that it took so long for the people in London to believe the waterborne theory. When the evidence all pointed to waterborne people still believed cholera was transmitted through smell – which to me makes no sense. When there are two options to choose from (as in this case), not everyone chooses between the two choices. I think Johnson should have wrote about whether or not there was a third theory that a small group of the population believed. Beyond the appealing scientific information, Johnson was able to appeal to my emotional side as well. It is really hard to read about how many people and kids died from cholera especially baby Lewis who was the first to die from cholera. The Ghost Map was an illuminating book that offered a good amount of information and entertainment.

 

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