E) CONCLUSION

Zimmer's "Air-borne" provides a solid historical foundation for understanding the field of aerobiology. Generally, the importance of this science is just beginning to be understood - but it is vital that we learn it and how to protect ourselves and one another accordingly.

16/16

They noticed things that I hadn't and their curiosity reinforced my engagement with the book. (They are also both really cool and I loved getting to know them!) 10/10 would recommend setting up your own book club for this and other books! :->

15/16

D.2 - Reading this book was made SO much richer by sharing the journey with two other members of my local still COVIDing group. To keep each other on track, we met three times to discuss what we were reading (we divided the book into 3 rough sections).

14/16

... investigations of microbial life in the atmosphere and attempts to build germ warfare programs (both directly to humans and indirectly to agricultural products). That said, it was all pretty interesting!

13/16

D) OTHER NOTES:

D.1 - At times I was frustrated by how broad Zimmer's scope for this book was; instead of focusing on airborne human disease, his approach was the entire history of aerobiology, including (in great detail) ...

12/16

C.5 - There's a lot of other valuable info ... like the potential for some disease to be wind-borne, the vast microbial content in forest fire smoke, etc.

11/16

... while it seemed (for example) to minimize the spread of the flu in classrooms as early as the 1940s, it couldn't stop children from getting sick from exposures at home, on busses, or in the community (and thus opened it up to debate about its effectiveness in general).

10/16

C.4 - Zimmer spends a fair number of pages discussing the history of experiments into the potential efficacy of UV light in reducing disease transmission. This is of course a promising technology but very location-specific so ...

9/16

C.3 - There's real benefit to learning this history and some of these experiments. (I found myself telling my hairstylist about the experiments on guinea pigs in rooms above TB wards ... more confidently and fluently in this subject matter than I would have dreamed before reading this book!)

8/16

We're not at the end of this story, not by a long shot!

7/16

C.2 - As frustrating as all this is, Zimmer's historical account also conveys a sense that this scientific field is still progressing and that its momentum makes its acceptance almost inevitable ... (and here there is opportunity for activists and advocates to hasten this process).

6/16

... to invest in protections considered of questionable value (enabled by certain MDs, administrators, etc.).

5/16

Some of its pioneers were their own worst enemies and/or overlooked because of their gender, etc. And, sadly, the plausible deniability of airborne transmission meant that in the COVID-19 pandemic, health care systems, etc. were/are too conservative/dogma-bound ...

4/16

C) WHY IT'S WORTH READING:
C.1 - This book provides some perspective on why airborne transmission still isn't considered settled science ... Aerobiology is still a relatively new field, and one that progressed fitfully and sometimes in secret (i.e., as part of germ warfare programs).

3/16

B) WHAT IT ISN'T:
B.1 - The work of an activist advocating for more protections, advancements, etc. (Zimmer writes more about history than public health or future scientific directions.)

2/16

I truly believe that most people are better than this, but being quiet and passively good doesn't help anyone. People who believe in decency need to get as active and exercised as these evil fucks.

Or else the evil takes over. We've seen this whole story play out before, many times.

People do not use information to determine their social identities; they use their social identities to determine what counts as information. The climate fight is, and has always been, an identity fight. Gonna talk with @samuel-bagg.bsky.social about this soon.

I was there too! It was an inspiring evening!