Last summer, I made it my goal to start reading one book a month so I could build reading into a habit, bringing it back into my life. I made a list of books I wanted to read, went online, bought them, and then began my journey reading just one book a month. I decided I would cycle from fiction and non-fiction books every month to mix things up a little bit. Just after finishing "The Illiad" by Homer, I picked up a book called "The Ghost Map" by Steven Johnson and once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.

I would have never guessed the 1854 London Cholera Outbreak would be so captivating and intriguing to me, but Steven Johnson's approach to the story indicated that there was a lot of drama involved in solving the mystery of what was spreading cholera around London and what the source was. He tells the story of John Snow and Henry Whitehead, as they fight to prove a radical theory of cholera transmission as if he was there watching them conduct their surveys and experiments. Johnson's attention to detail really helped me to immerse myself into the story and watch these men solve this mystery.

Steven Johnson structured "The Ghost Map" by first setting the scene of 1854 London. He describes how densely packed London was at the time (3 million people inside a 32-mile circumference) and how it was entirely possible for hundreds of people to be packed into one square block. It may not seem crowded by today's standards, but back in 1854, it was considered a marvel. The description of people's living standards was also included, and they would be considered horrendous compared to modern times.

He follows this description with chapters about the initial outbreak of cholera, how it spread, and then the two most important people who helped identify the source of the outbreak, John Snow and Henry Whitehead, and how they proved a new radical theory about cholera transmission. Johnson discusses the battle between the scientific community and John Snow and Henry Whitehead in trying to prove how cholera was transferred, as well as how much criticism they faced for supporting an idea that was deemed to be ridiculous. Johnson goes on to describe how tenacious Snow and Whitehead were in proving their theory, and how they would do everything in their power to prove their theory so they could save the lives of thousands.

Johnson ends his book with a call to action by describing how confirmation biases can potentially cause people to lose their lives and hinder progress in societal and scientific developments. He uses what happened during the 1854 London outbreak to illustrate how devastating an opinion can be and urges his readers to not make the same mistakes and to not let opinions cloud our judgment and keep us from the truth.

"The Ghost Map" is a fantastic read and I would recommend it to everyone.