Le Regole del Contagio L'Età Virale e le epidemie Come Nascono, Come si Diffondono, Come Scompaiono by Adam Kucharski

Le Regole del

Contagio L'Età Virale e le epidemie Come Nascono, Come si Diffondono, Come Scompaiono in english The Rules of Contagion Why Things Spread - And Why They Stop by Adam Kucharski is an amazing book published by Marsilio.

What is a contagion? This word is just used in medicine? Nope.

Thanks to the author, we will navigate in many fields, from the net, to social situations for "lighting" some episodes of contagion apparently distant from the world of medicine and viruses; they can be cases of suicides, delinquential situations, the tragedy caused by Lehmann and Brothers and other companies in 2008, but also private episodes involving only a person but that then, put virally, ended up for being known by everyone, with national and international resonance; creation of viruses and dangerous malwares.

Yes, this world is not exactly the one the Spanish Flu knew in 1918-1919, more closed, less interconnected and where news spread pretty lazily thanks to the fact that there was still the first world war and censorship in most countries; contagion in the internet era is practiced in a daily base and people are "infected" with simplicity, metaphorically of course. 

Fake news is an exaple of contagion, but also sharing pictures because asked. I guess you read in the past phrases like this one "Let's post in your profile the pic of your favorite cartoon;" of course it could be a movie star, singer etc; the most viral one recently, the profile pic with inserted the motto #IORESTOACASA during the lockdown.

We become infected and influenced when we are on the net because of the benevolent "influence" that a certain little behavior has in the psyche of people.

Illnesses are another story, and for example as remarks the author, it is difficult a comparison of a contagion caused by a virus as this pandemic flu is, and a viral situation propagated via the net. 

In the net  time is crucial for "infecting" people; an influenza pandemic caused by a virus in general is more lazy at first, taking its own time for finding, (imagine the virus as a "catcher of bodies"), susceptibles ones where to start its deadly long trip in the world. 

Once found and infected them, there is the phase of transmission of the virus thanks to these first individuals. 

Transmission of viruses are diversified.The HIV is catched via blood, or sexual transmission; a pandemic flu like the Covid-19 has a percentage of infection pretty high, and so social distancing, avoiding closed places, wearing masks, washing hands often are the best things to do.

Kucharsky will vividly described the existence of Ross; he wanted to become a man of letters; he ended up to be a doctor; a special one because studied the interaction that there was between mosquitos and malaria; he understood that leaving stagnating water all alone meant to mosquitos a dangerous proliferation in grade of attacking the body of people transmitting dangerous and fatal illnesses; he fought most of his existence spreading the message that the elimination of mosquitos in a massive way would have avoided new severe outbreaks of malaria and people would have seen the disappearance of the illness in the interested area or a big reduction. Ross will anticipate the times and will be soon followed by other researchers. 

It's a book, this one that will present you a complexity incredibly fascinating. If you want to understand much better the hidden part of the world where we live in, this book is for you! Plus, Kucharski, let me add this, is a real wonderful mind! Kucharski has the ability of telling stories captivatingly, with love, dedication and attention. 

Highly recommended.

I thank Marsilio for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori