The Ghost Map Analysis

Summary

The Ghost Map was a historical piece of literature that was used to explain the V. cholera epidemic in London. The book, written by Steven Johnson, tells about how the water and the lack of proper sewage systems lead to a disease that killed many citizens and lead to panic for Londoners. Dr. John Snow, an anesthesiologist, began to research what played a role in the deaths and how it could be cured and stopped. He discovered that the disease was a waterborne disease after a series of interviews with London people in specific regions of London who managed to survive the plague. Mr. Snow learned that the survivor where drinking water from specific wells before they got sick so he went and gathered water samples, “Cholera wasn’t

As the days went by and the number of deaths began to increase, the Board of Health in London began to improve people’s living conditions by creating the indoor restroom, This, however, caused more problems for the people of London, due to the lack of a proper sewage system, “London needed a citywide sewage system that could remove waste products from houses in a reliable and sanitary fashion,...,The problem was one of jurisdiction, not execution,”(Page 117). London didn’t have a place where the sewers could lead off to which keep the disease spreading when people used the restroom. After months of battling the type of disease London was faced with, Mr. Snow convinced the Board of Health to remove the water pump that was on Board Street. By getting rid of this pump, Mr. Snow helped stop major outbreaks from recurring, “The removal of the pump handle was a historical turning point, and not because it marked the end of London’s most explosive epidemic,..., It marks a turning point in the battle between urban man and Vibrio cholera, because for the first time a public institution had made an informed intervention into a cholera outbreak based on a scientifically sound theory of the disease.”(Page 162- 163). This marked the end of the London epidemic and how the world of science

This surprised me because usual, historical pieces are not very interesting. Also, the mystery is a scientific mystery and are typically full of facts and not much of a plot. However, the Scotland on Sunday review said that “The Ghost Map is a rattling scientific mystery: but in the hands of Steven Johnson it becomes something much richer.” The opinion of the reviewer had a way of matching the overall tone of the book. Even though this book did have a lot of factual information, the story had a way of keeping me interested in the story. I also learned more about the epidemic that devastated London in the early 1850s. The information given about the epidemic was new to me and made me wonder about other epidemics that affected the world or other parts of the continent. Seed said that “In early September 1854, cholera tore down London’s Broad Street, killing more than 10 percent of its inhabitants in less than two weeks… Johnson takes a fresh look at this famous story and makes a case for the ways in which it fundamentally changed not only science, but the world.” The author does seem to display a neutral bias toward the subject. He didn’t show any form of favoritism towards anyone but was interested in only in displaying the facts and providing information about the London epidemic. As I read the book, I felt bad for the people in London. I felt that due to the ignorance of the Board