I’ve mentioned at various times in the past The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett. This is not a new book, but it is an excellent scholarly and accessible accounting of the situation with respect to emerging diseases at the time of its publication in 1995.

One of the most interesting stories covered here is the reaction in the US to the Swine Flu, during the Ford administration. I was reminded of this when we had our tiny outbreak of Ebola. I’m sure you’ve been following the whole anti-vax thing over the years. I believe that the anti-vax philosophy in the US has its roots in the Swine Flu debacle, though I’ve never seen that addressed by the usual suspects who speak and write about that problem. Anyway, I just noticed that Garrett’s book is in Kindle form for 7.99 (though cheaper in used form in print, if you look around.

For a mere two bucks you can get the Kindle version of The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story. This is the same author as The Hot Zone, and explores small pox. This 2002 book is a bit out of date vis-a-vis recent developments in genetic research, and is probably a bit sensationalistic, but if your library of sensationalistic disease related non-fiction is missing this volume, now is is your chance!