Summer books of 2019: Health
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris, by Mark Honigsbaum, Hurst, RRP£20/WW Norton, RRP$29.95
A gruesome round-up of the pandemics that have plagued us over the past 100 years, ranging from the Spanish flu that killed 50m to Ebola and Zika. Honigsbaum, a medical historian, shows how unknown pathogens are finding new ecological niches. A lively but less than reassuring read for those on exotic travels.
War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line, by David Nott, Picador, RRP£18.99
On his first humanitarian trip to war-torn Sarajevo in the 1990s, Nott, a Welsh surgeon, survived a deadly sniper attack. His exhilaration at escaping fuelled an addiction to danger, a sense of invincibility and a 25-year working tour of the world’s most dangerous conflicts. A searing memoir that reflects on the horrors of war and the beauty of life.
Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again, by Eric Topol, Basic Books, RRP£25/$17.99
Medicine today is shallow, argues Topol, a US doctor and healthcare futurist. Patients lose out in a world of insufficient time, data and context. He prescribes how AI and machine learning can revolutionise the field: if machines can take over some tasks such as diagnosis, doctors can go back to showing deep empathy
Anjana Ahuja is a science commentator
For a look at the best summer books across genres, go to ft.com/summerbooks2019
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