BOOK REVIEW

The Foundations are clear advantages to having the Hippocrates’ observations in 400 bce hard copy in hand, in a place where it to the 2010 declaration of the global of Virology: can be picked up and absorbed a little eradication of rinderpest. Particularly Discoverers and at a time. given the origin of new, emerging, and Discoveries, The full title of the book reflects reemerging viral infections today, it is the content; it is a chronology of im- valuable to see pictures and stories to Inventors and ages of discoverers, developers, and remind us of the exceptional crossover Inventions, inventors, alongside their discoveries, between human and veterinary virolo- Developers and developments, and inventions. The gy. Because of the author’s longstand- book is physically laid out in a land- ing involvement in virology since the Technologies scape format, usually with multiple 1960s, his explanations for discover- Frederick A. Murphy photographs on each page, featuring ies of the past 5 decades provide a scientists, their institutions, spot maps unique sense of context. Infinity Publishing, West from major epidemics, electron mi- This visual account of history Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, crographs of then-emerging viruses, makes obvious the sparse involve- USA, 2012 and graphics from landmark publica- ment of women in virology until the ISBN-10: 0741473658 tions. Along the bottom of each page late 1900s. However, Murphy made ISBN-13: 978-0741473653 is printed in large font the year, names a good effort to acknowledge women of contributors, and their historic con- when possible. He also did a good job Pages: 536; Price US $119.95 tributions. This bottom line layout acknowledging seminal forces world- History of science is not a priority serves as an effective design enabling wide that shaped the development of of most virologists. However, if given a quick orientation to time, with the op- virology: influential books, journals, visually engaging coffee-table book of tion for most entries of reading a more societies, conferences, databases, the persons and discoveries that shaped in-depth explanation. It also makes it even the Google search engine. the field of virology since Hippocrates, easy to skip to different points in time, Murphy’s website (www.utmb. curious scientists will inevitably start an efficiency advantage over - Mur edu/virusimages) is surely one of the paging through history. For this reason, phy’s online resources. Other books most comprehensive and publically every chairperson of virology depart- on the history of virology are a dense accessible virology and history of vi- ments worldwide should leave a copy read (and lack all the fun pictures). rology resources available. But having of Fred Murphy’s The Foundations of Murphy’s selection of images finger-tip access to this scientist’s cof- Virology in the break room. highlights his conviction that science fee-table book is a worthwhile invest- Professor Murphy has a long and of viral diseases predates the concept ment for any infectious disease spe- distinguished career in emerging vi- of the specificity of disease causation cialist interested in medical history. ruses from the perspective of public and depends on initial discoveries health and academic bench science. about bacteria and bacterial diseases. Sharon Bloom Murphy has made his 536-page book Readers can thus expect to see images Author affiliation: Centers for Disease Con- available as a downloadable, lower- of Pasteur, Koch, and many others trol and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA resolution, eBook on his website, who laid the groundwork for infec- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1904.130054 which for years has also been an enor- tious disease sciences. Although in mous open-access library resource for his Foreword, Murphy disclaims that Address for correspondence: Sharon Bloom, virologists. Because of numerous re- his selection of names and discoveries Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Center for quests to have hard copies printed for was “completely arbitrary,” his book Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and fingertip access, Murphy has made this leaves out few major discoveries in Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd NE, Mailstop E41, book available in paperback. There human and veterinary virology, from Atlanta, GA 30333, USA; email: [email protected]

Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 19, No. 4, April 2013 693