Charles Kenny (1)
Autor/a de The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease
Per altres autors anomenats Charles Kenny, vegeu la pàgina de desambiguació.
Sobre l'autor
Charles Kenny is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development; a former senior economist at the World Bank; the author of two previous books about human progress, Getting Better and The Upside of Down; and a contributor to such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Time, The Atlantic, mostra'n més The Economist, and Foreign Policy. He has taught at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has a PhD in development studies from the University of Cambridge. mostra'n menys
Obres de Charles Kenny
Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding--And How We Can Improve the World Even More (2011) 62 exemplars
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought (St. Andrews Studies in… (2006) — Editor — 12 exemplars
Etiquetat
Coneixement comú
- Gènere
- male
- Nacionalitat
- USA
- Llocs de residència
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Professions
- economist
Membres
Ressenyes
Potser també t'agrada
Autors associats
Estadístiques
- Obres
- 8
- Membres
- 197
- Popularitat
- #111,410
- Valoració
- 4.1
- Ressenyes
- 3
- ISBN
- 30
- Llengües
- 2
The good news is that recent history suggests "humanity’s response to the new threat can be rapid and effective if we so choose. And that reassures us that humanity in the twenty-first century is in a considerably better position in the fight against infection than earlier generations. Because for most of humanity’s time on the planet, effective responses never came." For most of history plagues and diseases were the leading cause of death. Today it is heart attacks and strokes.
As Kenny points out, humanity is very resilient even in the face of even the most incredible stress created by large scale epidemics, pandemics and plague outbreaks. People lived through numerous epidemics over the years- the Black Death, typhus, measles, small pox, without resorting to social chaos and throwing morality aside. Agriculture and civilization set off a global firestorm of disease, especially once urbanization started. Before we started taking sanitary practices seriously, the only effective way to exposure to diseases was to quarantine the sick or refuse their entry to your area. Then, once we understood hygiene, it became possible to have more urbanization, which was further helped by medical advancements (sterilized medical treatment, antibiotics, vaccinations, etc.) and the understanding of how to combat infectious diseases.
As our world is becoming more globally connected, it is now more important to address our vulnerabilities to new emerging infectious diseases and potential plagues. For example, we need to address the overuse of antibiotics which has led to a strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The global reaction to Covid-19 showcases the need for international cooperation on several different areas.
As someone who has read many books of various infectious diseases, plagues, and epidemics it should be noted that this is not meant to be a complex or complete history of infectious diseases. It is a nice overview for the general reader who wants more information on the subject and the text flows smoothly from one chapter to the next. It is a well-rounded overview written for the lay person. For more information, Kenny has a bibliography of his sources or look at the notes included in the text for subjects you might want to pursue further. Kenny is the director of technology and development at the Center for Global Development.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribner.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/01/the-plague-cycle.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3752979795… (més)