One for the RSPCA, 21 Nov 2005

We've all become acquainted with the horrors of H5N1, or, as it's more commonly thought about, the flu which is harboured in the millions and billions of chickens, ducks and other cute and cuddly dim sum protagonists. Davis, an urban geographer who writes well about death & disaster, has picked up on avian flu as an example of the 'global' threats we face in a globalized world.

Davis makes some good points. He doesn't only focus on the virus, or on scientific details - he blends his analysis with social and political commentary, and focuses on the way the flu, if it ever became a pandemic, would hit the West hard, and the Third World even harder. He uses his work on ghettos and Third World urbanization to good effect when trying to impress upon the reader that flu would be a disaster mainly for those living in impoverished areas. Lastly, he catalogues little-known governmental failures in protecting the government against flu.

Davis writes well, but this book is surprisingly thin, and feels as though the publisher's marketing department decided it was the 'next best thing' and forsook depth for general B-movie appeal. It also makes some unconvincing points - in criticizing big pharma (which does need to be criticized), Davis isn't clear on whether he thinks it's big pharma or government which should take ultimate responsibility for flu vaccines, Tamiflu distribution and the like. And his use of apocalyptic statistics - claiming that up to 100 million died in the 1918 flu when the WHO states that it was 'at least 40 million' - does not endear. Lastly, it isn't clear what solutions, if any, he is proposing.

In short, a book definitely worth a read, but perhaps Davis' weakest to date.

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