Steven Johnson’s “The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World” examines the disastrous Cholera epidemic that struck London-- one of the world’s first urbanized centers-- in the summer of 1854. It delineates the rapid movement of the Vibrio cholerae bacteria through an area lacking proper infrastructure to accommodate a population branching into the millions, and relays the importance of scientific understanding through Dr. John Snow and Reverend Henry Whitehead’s work to identify the underlying cause of the disease (Johnson, 2006). Dr. John Snow is now referred to as the father of modern epidemiology, for his ground-breaking work in identifying the cause of Cholera.
…show more content…
“The real innovation lay in the data that generated that diagram, and in the investigation that compiled the data in the first place. Snow’s Broad Street map was a bird’s-eye view, but it was drawn from true street-level knowledge” (Johnson, 2006, p. 273). What was on the map itself wasn’t nearly as important to history as what went into gathering the information to make the map. “Snow’s map—with Whitehead’s local knowledge animating it—was something else entirely: a neighborhood representing itself, turning its own patterns into a deeper truth by plotting them on a map...a brilliant work of information design and epidemiology, no doubt. But it is also an emblem of a certain kind of community” (Johnson, 2006, p. 273). Although Snow’s map was unable to influence the leaders of his time, it definitely influenced the world on a larger …show more content…
Developed societies are responsible in improving public health systems in the developing world. “The sanitary conditions of Delhi could directly affect the conditions of London and Paris” (Johnson, 2006, p. 69). Increasing levels of globalization have left every country susceptible to lethal diseases that may have originally been restricted to a specific region. Apart from the ulterior motive of protecting ourselves, it is every developed societies’ moral role to help those (developing nations) who cannot help themselves. Especially, since the cure to lethal diseases is often rather simple-- “cholera has a shockingly sensible and low-tech cure: water” (Johnson, 2006, p. 74). We live in a world where clean water is a basic human right for people of a developed society, but a blessing--and perhaps difference between life and death-- for those of a developing society. If something can easily be improved, why not improve
“The real innovation lay in the data that generated that diagram, and in the investigation that compiled the data in the first place. Snow’s Broad Street map was a bird’s-eye view, but it was drawn from true street-level knowledge” (Johnson, 2006, p. 273). What was on the map itself wasn’t nearly as important to history as what went into gathering the information to make the map. “Snow’s map—with Whitehead’s local knowledge animating it—was something else entirely: a neighborhood representing itself, turning its own patterns into a deeper truth by plotting them on a map...a brilliant work of information design and epidemiology, no doubt. But it is also an emblem of a certain kind of community” (Johnson, 2006, p. 273). Although Snow’s map was unable to influence the leaders of his time, it definitely influenced the world on a larger …show more content…
Developed societies are responsible in improving public health systems in the developing world. “The sanitary conditions of Delhi could directly affect the conditions of London and Paris” (Johnson, 2006, p. 69). Increasing levels of globalization have left every country susceptible to lethal diseases that may have originally been restricted to a specific region. Apart from the ulterior motive of protecting ourselves, it is every developed societies’ moral role to help those (developing nations) who cannot help themselves. Especially, since the cure to lethal diseases is often rather simple-- “cholera has a shockingly sensible and low-tech cure: water” (Johnson, 2006, p. 74). We live in a world where clean water is a basic human right for people of a developed society, but a blessing--and perhaps difference between life and death-- for those of a developing society. If something can easily be improved, why not improve