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The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Preston
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $8.93
You Save: $8.07 (47%)
Rating:  490 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B000P12J7G
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Amazon.com Review
The dramatic and chilling story of an Ebola virus outbreak in a surburban Washington, D.C. laboratory, with descriptions of frightening historical epidemics of rare and lethal viruses. More hair-raising than anything Hollywood could think of, because it's all true.
Product Description
A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the
appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 Might have read it even if it wasn't extra credit January 8, 2009
James H. Linne
(I am using my Dad's account-Courtney)
The Demon in the Freezer was absolutely impossible to put down. Richard Preston's books, The Demon in the Freezer and The Hot Zone, have been the only nonfiction books I have read in a long time. Surprisingly, I liked them. The truth of these stories makes them even more fearsome and horrifying; a real life nightmare.
The Demon in the Freezer is about the modern consequences of biowarfare during the arms race and the consequences of the not-so-complete-eradication of smallpox and modern advances in biology and genetic engineering. Like The Hot Zone, The Demon in the Freezer focuses on one virus, smallpox or its technical name, variola.
Before reading this book, I had never really heard of smallpox being dangerous for people today. I had thought it was eradicated and was similar to chicken pox, you get immunized and you are `safe' from the disease. Unfortunately this is not true. The immunization only lasts about five years. But smallpox was eradicated, right? Actually, the smallpox virus is kept, frozen, in at least two freezers around the world. One is in Atlanta, Georgia at the CDC and one is in Moscow, Russia.
During the arms race and the cold war, the Soviet Union and the United States began experimenting with biological weapons. But that is only two places right? How bad could it be? Before smallpox was eradicated, it would have been very easy to collect smallpox from one of the many people who had it and store it. Once the Soviet Union fell, it is thought that many stores of smallpox disappeared from Russia. Could the lost stores of variola show up in other countries?
With modern technology it is now possible to genetically engineer viruses and make them resistant to vaccines. Even more worrisome is the fact that the necessary equipment is relatively cheap and easy to obtain for the amount of damage it could cause. Scientists that know a lot about smallpox say that a genetically modified virus would cause more destruction than a nuclear bomb.
Although The Demon in the Freezer was scary at times, I really enjoyed the book and I am a freshman in high school. I recommend it to you if it sounds interesting or if your Biology teacher gives you extra credit for reading a biology-related book. It certainly was not boring. However, it does get a little yucky at times because Richard Preston goes into detail with the results of catching the disease. The only thing I did not like, was that the book got a little choppy and it was hard to understand the comparisons Richard Preston was making between the anthrax scare (a more recent example of bioterrorism) and smallpox until the end of the book.
 A thrilling true story January 4, 2009
Gary E. Heussler
The Hot Zone is an engaging true story which reads like a work of fiction; often making it difficult to grasp the gravity of the situation presented. The chronology of the discovery (and sporadic outbreaks) of the filoviruses are presented in a well organized and entertaining manner. In some situations the description is a tad melodramatic, but the overall feeling is intriguing. My only serious critique Preston's description of the Ebola virus as a "highly sophisticated organism". Personally I don't there is a less accurate way to describe a virus than calling it that. Aside from that flaw, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a thrilling nonfiction.
Scary and Facinating December 15, 2008
Travis Starnes (Houston, Texas USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book focuses on the events around the Reston Ebola outbreak. This was also a main part of the book Virus Hunter by C.J. Peters that I read a couple of years ago. Preston wasn't one of the participants, but his research is thorough. He talked to all the participants and really gives a good view as to what happened, including the events leading up to the outbreak and anecdotal stories about some of the participants.
The one thing this book does is scare the hell out of you. Not in a direct way, but more making you think about how easily we could be wiped out. You hear accounts of some of the major virus outbreaks in Africa, how quickly whole villages are wiped out, and you can't help but think about what would happen if that got into a major urban area.
As a narrative, the book does a good job. It is interesting and compelling, keeping the story moving with enough digressions to make you feel like you have the whole picture.
This is a good read and I definitely recommend it.
Quite literally life changing. December 9, 2008
Samantha Tracy (Dallas, Tx)
Most of the previous reviewers have pretty much nailed the book right on the head: it is a fantastic and graphic novel on true events surround Ebola and Marburg. It is written in such a way that even the novice reader could follow, though there are a lot of scientific terminology that may require some googling.
For me personally: this book has literally changed my life. I read this a little over two years ago and since then I KNEW I wanted to live studying and/or researching viruses in any way possible for the rest of my life. I have since devoted almost half my library to books on diseases of all sorts throughout history, as well as directed my college education into areas that will make it possible to work with them. Who knew one book could direct someone's life in such a strong way? =)
The Hot Zone December 7, 2008
P. Fullenweider
This was one of the most interesting and terrifying books I've ever read. It is loaded with information and is very precise. It was shocking to find out that such a disease actually existed and survived in the United States. I give it four out five stars because it is captivating and thrilling, and it is a true story. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read. The only flaw of the book is that it is very thick and hard to read at times. But overall this book was awesome.
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