2. The Demon in the Freezer - Richard Preston

Richard Preston is one of the very best writers of biological terror and emerging infectious diseases. He does not hold a Ph.D. in Virology, but in English. Originally a writer for the New Yorker, he turned a 1992 article into the best seller, The Hot Zone. The Hot Zone was the initial book of trilogy that he would later name the "Dark Biology" series, due to the nature of the content. The Demon in the Freezer is the third book of this series.

The Demon in the Freezer mostly deals with the story of smallpox, a disease not often spoken of today outside of scientific circles. Smallpox is terrifying. It is efficient, easily spread, and highly contagious. It is also a human specific virus, capable of only infecting humans. We are the carrier and the target of this virus. Smallpox is thought to have been responsible for more deaths than the black plague. It was responsible for taking down world powers, such as the Aztec and Inca empires in Central and South America. It was used as a tactic of warfare to target those who assisted the enemy. Simply put, smallpox is the badass of the infectious disease world. Smallpox also holds the distinction of being the only infectious pathogen ever eradicated. Total eradication of smallpox was achieved in 1979 on a small island off the coast of India. Preston does a nice job of summarizing the events leading up to the process of eradication, including some of the small outbreaks that occurred leading up to the final outbreak of smallpox.

The other main player of this book is a pathogen often feared, especially post 9/11. Anthrax. An unknown person or persons addressed and mailed envelopes of anthrax to a several well-known people, including two senators and Tom Brokaw. Many were sickened and some died as a result of this attack. The anthrax attacks remain the only bioterror attack on U.S. soil. This book covers the anthrax attacks and the subsequent investigation by various government agencies in detail, including the analysis of the anthrax and the futile search for the people behind the attacks.

Also included in this book, somewhat tied into the investigation of the anthrax attacks, is the numerous bioterror weaponization programs that used to be carried out by various governments, including Iraq, Russia, and the U.S. This section is tied in quite well with the anthrax investigation, due to the possibility of the anthrax used coming from another country's bioterror program.

The Demon in the Freezer covers a wide variety of topics, ranging from Smallpox to the work done in shadowy rooms by men and women in space suits who can die with one small error. The book is not hard to follow, with all of the scientific terminology detailed in very clear terms. It is somewhat disjointed due to all of the material that it does try to cover. Preston explains things clearly, with language so vivid it's impossible to not see images of the things that you are reading about. As with his other books in this area, there are some details of weapon engineering and other things that he does leave out simply because there are some things that should not be detailed in a mass market book.

I throughly enjoyed the book. The topic that is covered is very real and is very terrifying. For anyone with a passing interest in virology, bioterror, or enjoyed The Hot Zone, I highly recommend this book.

1. No Shortcuts to the Top - Ed Viesturs with David Roberts

Mountaineering is one of those things that I would never, ever be able to do. Regardless, I love to learn more about it. While Everest is the tallest mountain, hundreds of people had stood at it's top. Far fewer have done it without the assistance of supplemental oxygen. The holy grail of mountaineering is a special, almost insane challenge: to climb all 14 8,000-meter peaks. One list I found counts 14 people worldwide who have climbed, reached the summit, and returned safely to the base camps. For this type of challenge, the use of oxygen or not is irrelevant. It's dangerous, borderline insane, has a small window of opportunity each year, and requires multiple years and possibly multiple trips to the same mountain to complete. One American has completed this task, without the assistance of bottled oxygen: Ed Viesturs. No Shortcuts to the Top is his story of this quest.

The book opens with a nightmare scenario involving Ed and his friend, Scott Fischer, on K2 in 1992. The pair take a tumble while climbing and have to use a technique called "self-arrest" in order to stop their descent into a deep crevasse. From there, the book chronicles how Ed, a Illinois kid of immigrant parents, developed a love of mountains and climbing; interspersing this with tales of mountaineering adventures. He eventually gives up a veterinary practice to become a full time mountaineer. The book also covers the 1996 Everest disaster, while is excellently written about in Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air. Annapurna, one of the world's most dangerous mountains, becomes something of a secondary character in the book.

No Shortcuts to the Top is not the typical mountaineering book. It's not steeped in technical terminology about mountaineering. It is well written, engaging, and the inevitable losses of life that occur in high-altitude environments are always heart-stopping. Overall, it was a wonderful book. It was a very entertaining look into a world that most of us will never get nor want to experience.