The Ghost Map: the story of London’s most terrifying epidemic– and how it changed science, cities, and the modern world by Steven Johnson 2006
This page-turner chronicles the spread of cholera in 1850’s London and profiles the doctor who tried to persuade a skeptical medical establishment that the disease was spread by contaminated water.
Bretz’s Flood: the remarkable story of a rebel geologist and the world’s greatest flood by John Soennichsen 2008
Although his ideas were initially ridiculed, geologist Bretz eventually convinced the scientific establishment that eastern Washington’s topography was formed not by glaciers but by an enormous flood.
Justinian’s Flea : plague, empire, and the birth of Europe by William Rosen 2007
Rosen traces the huge impact of a tiny organism that carried the bubonic plague in the 6th century, leading to 25 million deaths in the Roman Empire and contributing, he argues, to the empire’s fall.
Lost Discoveries : the ancient roots of modern science, from the Babylonians to the Maya by Dick Teresi 2002
This fascinating, accessible multicultural history of science explores the ancient and medieval contributions of many non-European peoples to the fields of math, astronomy, chemistry and technology.
The Great Warming: climate change and the rise and fall of civilizations by Brian Fagan 2008
An acclaimed archeologist reconstructs centuries-old weather patterns, exploring the huge impact that rising temperatures had on the world’s civilizations.
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