I just finished reading The Great Influenza, by John Barry. This is a fascinating look at the 1918 flu pandemic: the researchers who tried, and for the most part failed, to identify and fight the virus, the conditions that fostered the massive spread of contagion, and even the dangers of a wartime propaganda machine. There are implications for today, of course, as avian flu H5N1 continues to infect humans and may adapt to us at any time. To the author’s credit, though, there is not a lot of fear mongering, just a brief few pages in the end about the possible looming pandemic and what steps we may take to limit its death toll. The only thing I didn’t like in the book was the author’s insistence on foreshadowing while unraveling the story, in the style of VH1’s Behind the Music. After the break, we will see how Lewis’ failure to isolate the influenza virus marked a downward slide from which he would never return. But in all, it’s well worth a read.