Pick of the Day: Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure

MURPHY, Jim & Alison Blank. Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure. 144p. bibliog. index. maps. notes. photos. reprods. Clarion. July 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-618-53574-3; ebook $18.99. ISBN 978-0-547-82268-6.
Gr 5-9—Starting with the dramatic cover photo of a row of girls lying in their hospital beds, Murphy and Blank unwind the tangled history of tuberculosis, a disease that continues to kill millions every year. The writing is crisp and clinical. Readers will be surprised to learn that kings believed that a single touch of their hand would cure the peasants and that one of the more radical treatments for TB included removing multiple ribs from a patient’s chest. At times gruesome and somewhat somnolent when describing the peaceful sanatoriums, the book clearly details all the many unsuccessful attempts to cure this infectious disease. The authors also describe how close modern medicine has come to eradicating it. Students researching diseases or medical breakthroughs will find this book both informative and interesting. Helpful, too, are the pronunciation tips that are included when the authors discuss the complicated names of the bacteria and illnesses. The book is liberally illustrated with photos, drawings, and prints that vividly complement the text. The selected bibliography and source notes serve also as excellent examples of useful citations.—Denise Schmidt, San Francisco Public Library