About the Author

Hans Zinsser taught bacteriology and immunology at the universities of Stanford and Columbia before going on to teach at the Harvard University Medical School. As well as researching extensively into cholera, allergies and rheumatic fever, he was a pioneer in isolating the micro-organism that causes a form of typhus. To Zinsser, scientific research was high adventure and the investigation of infectious disease, a field of battle. He died in 1940.

Reviews

"A fascinating blend of scientific and historical research, humour and stimulating opinion on almost every subject of interest to this contemporary world."

"A superb book . . . a classic work"

"In the course of his darting and discursive narrative his imaginations take him into strange places in human souls and philosophies."