PATHOGENESIS

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKA TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEARA SUNDAY TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR Powerfully argued Fascinating and pacy Sunday Times Book of the Week Superbly written sure to please readers of Yuval Noah Harari or Rutger Bregman The Times Full of amazing facts Observer The book shines when it brings cutting edge science to bear Financial Times A dizzying range of material The Economist A humbling story for humankind SpectatorChallenges some of the greatest cliches about colonialism A revelation SATHNAM SANGHERA Thrilling and eye opening LEWIS DARTNELL Science and history at its best MARK HONIGSBAUM Unpicks everything we thought we knew Mind blowing CAL FLYNIn this revelatory book Dr Jonathan Kennedy argues that germs have shaped humanity at every stage from the first success of Homo sapiens over the equally intelligent Neanderthals to the fall of Rome and the rise of Islam How did an Indonesian volcano help cause the Black Death setting Europe on the road to capitalism How could 168 men extract the largest ransom in history from an opposing army of eighty thousand And why did the Industrial Revolution lead to the birth of the modern welfare state The latest science reveals that infectious diseases are not just something