The Ghost Map

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson
Riverhead Books, 2006, 299 pages.

This book is tells the intriguing tale of a devastating epidemic of Cholera let an medical doctor and a priest down paths of discovery that eventually lead to the prevention of further outbreaks in London.

It the first section of the book it details the grow of the city and how that growth has lead the city into problems regarding waste disposal. London had two million people living in the city at that time and the inadequate understanding of the dangers of waste disposal and how diseases were transmitted directly enabled the cholera bacteria to thrive.

The common idea of the time, both by the educated and uneducated, was that diseases spread through the air in noxious vapors. Dr. John Snow, a doctor that had already revolutionized the use of ether and chloroform as anesthesia, happened to live in the area of a large outbreak of cholera and starts to investigate the sources of infection. He rules out dangerous vapors and brings a multidisciplinary approach to the problem.

At the same time Reverend Henry Whitehead, who ministered in the area of the outbreak, had started his own investigation into the same matter. Luckily Dr. Snow and Rev. Whitehead happened to be placed on the same board of inquiry into the matter and helped solve the mystery.

An engrossing book that tells an amazing tale with lessons that can be brought to bear on how each of us approaches problem solving in our own lives.