Plague and pestilence

Florence Nightingale realised that statistics were a powerful tool in measuring the health of populations. But people were studying disease patterns long before her time. In Investigating Disease Patterns: The Science of Epidemiology (Scientific American Library $32.95, ISBN 0 7167 5058 9), Paul D. Stolley and Tamar Lasky trace the evolution of epidemiology from the days when most illnesses were God’s wrath made manifest to today’s more scientific approach. The result is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated story.