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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) virion. Photo by CDC on Unsplash

55 Books About Infectious Diseases

April 30, 2020 //  by Justine Dees

If the coronavirus pandemic has got you more curious about infectious diseases, then this is the reading list for you. Here are 55 books, both fiction and nonfiction, about infectious diseases, pandemics, and epidemics. These books were recommended by people who responded on Twitter and LinkedIn — mostly microbiologists, epidemiologists, and science enthusiasts — when I asked what were their favorite books about infectious diseases.

This post contains affiliate links — see my disclosure policy.

Nonfiction infectious disease books

A Planet of Viruses – Carl Zimmer

America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 – Alfred W. Crosby

And the Band Played On – Randy Shilts

Biohazard – Ken Alibek

Deadliest Enemy – Michael T. Osterholm, Mark Olshaker

Eleven Blue Men – Berton Roueché

Five Quarts – Bill Hayes

Flu – Gina Kolata

Get Well Soon – Jennifer Wright

Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond

How To Survive A Plague – David France

Influenza – Jeremy Brown

Inside the Hot Zone – Mark G. Kortepeter

Killer Germs – Barry E. Zimmerman, David J. Zimmerman

Microbe Hunters – Paul de Kruif

Mountains Beyond Mountains – Tracy Kidder

My Own Country – Abraham Verghese

New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers – Robert S. Desowitz

Pale Rider – Laura Spinney

Pandemic – Sonia Shah

Plagues and Peoples – William H. McNeill

Pox Americana – Elizabeth A. Fenn

Rats, Lice and History – Hans Zinsser

Secret Agents – Madeline Drexler

Spillover – David Quammen

Superbugs – Matt McCarthy

The American Plague – Molly Caldwell Crosby

The Coming Plague – Laurie Garrett

The Demon Under the Microscope – Thomas Hager

The Ghost Map – Steven Johnson

The Great Influenza – John M. Barry

The Great Mortality – John Kelly

The Invisible Enemy: A Natural History of Viruses – Dorothy H. Crawford

The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat – Eric Lax

The Next Pandemic – Ali S. Khan

The Perfect Predator – Steffanie Strathdee, Thomas Patterson

The White Death: A History of Tuberculosis – Thomas Dormandy

Typhoid Mary – Judith Walzer Leavitt

Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases – Paul A. Offit

Virus Hunter – C.J. Peters, Mark Olshaker

Virus: An Illustrated Guide to 101 Incredible Microbes – Marilyn J. Roossinck

Dark Biology Series (4 books – 3 nonfiction, 1 fiction) – Richard Preston

Fiction infectious disease books

A Prayer For the Dying – Stewart O’Nan

Blood Music – Greg Bear

Death in Venice – Thomas Mann, Michael Cunningham

Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez

The Andromeda Strain – Michael Crichton

The Cry and the Covenant – Morton Thompson

The Decameron – Giovanni Boccaccio

The Plague – Albert Camus

The Plague Tales – Ann Benson

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague – Geraldine Brooks

Which one will you read first?

Category: Books About Microbes, Infections, Microbes & HealthTag: epidemic, infections, pandemic

About the Founder

Hey there!

I’m Justine Dees, a PhD microbiologist, huge microbe enthusiast, and my passion is to share the wonders of the microbial world — especially how microbes impact our daily lives — through simple, easy-to-understand articles with as little jargon as possible.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julie

    April 30, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    Surprised not to see World War Z in the fiction list. One of my favorites that covers everything from infrastructure to communication to con-artistry that evolves around an unknown infectious agent 🙂

    • Justine

      April 30, 2020 at 12:20 pm

      Thanks for the addition, Julie! Here’s a link to World War Z by Max Brooks for anyone who is interested: https://amzn.to/2VOaZ3H

  2. Jeff Murray

    May 1, 2020 at 8:20 am

    I was just talking about Tyfoid Mary with a co-worker recently and the parallels with the Covid 19 epidemic. Good list!

    • Justine

      May 1, 2020 at 9:47 am

      Oh yeah, I can definitely see the parallels with asymptomatic carriers. Glad you like the list!

  3. ปั้มไลค์

    May 16, 2020 at 5:49 am

    Like!! I blog quite often and I genuinely thank you for your information. The article has truly peaked my interest.

  4. Jennifer

    May 22, 2020 at 5:04 am

    Favorite infectious disease fiction:
    The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

    • Justine

      May 22, 2020 at 10:56 am

      Hi Jennifer, thanks so much for adding your favorite ID fiction book. Here’s the link for anyone who is interested: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

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