Life can be deadly — I found myself slipping into this kind of ambient paranoia while reading Emily Monosson’s unsettling new book ... Like The Last of Us, the video game and HBO series premised on a fungal pandemic turning people into zombies, Blight emphasizes the decidedly unsalutary things that fungi can do.
No background knowledge of fungi is required on the reader’s part. Although this is an expert’s account, grounded in exhaustive interviews with researchers at the forefront of mycology, the language is clear and plain. It’s an urgent message meant for a wide audience, and the tone is by turns alarming and reassuring ... The solutions she proposes sound simple. They include increasing genetic diversity in our crops, limiting trade in wild animals, and enacting testing protocols to be sure we don’t accidentally import a pathogen that could drive another species to extinction. But, as she acknowledges, none of these are easy to pull off in practice.
Updates the science and the current efforts to circumvent these diseases. Ms. Monosson’s writing is sober, well-organized and coherent, and the subject is fascinating. But what is unique about Blight is its timing.
Monosson commendably serves as a medical Paul Revere by persuasively warning us that dangerous fungi are already causing havoc among plants, animals, and humans, and more are on the way ... Monosson thoroughly reviews the wallop of fungi on wildlife, including white-nose syndrome wiping out bats and the demise of frog populations from chytridiomycosis. Many kinds of trees are threatened by fungus (white pine blister rust, cedar-apple rust). Even the beloved Cavendish banana, is endangered by an aggressive fungus (fusarium wilt). Pathogenic fungi are experts at surviving. They make formidable foes. Neglecting these emerging organisms is truly hazardous to health.
Monosson keeps the discussions of fungi biology accessible, and the battery of case studies of fungal outbreaks underscores the urgency of the threat. This wake-up call should not go unheeded.
...fascinating ... Monosson is a skilled writer, capable of translating complicated scientific topics into compelling layperson’s terms, and she crafts a thrilling narrative around even the less charismatic victims of fungal pathogens (bananas, for example). An engrossing read with an urgent message about the next frontier of disease.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay[/caption]
