{"id":7684,"date":"2015-09-13T10:29:24","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T14:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/?p=7684"},"modified":"2024-09-11T06:10:49","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T10:10:49","slug":"station-eleven-is-a-very-good-read-even-for-id-doctors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/station-eleven-is-a-very-good-read-even-for-id-doctors\/2015\/09\/13\/","title":{"rendered":"Station Eleven Is a Very Good Read — Even for ID Doctors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"huevo<\/a>One of my colleagues<\/a>, an MD\/PhD, stopped me after our clinical conference a few weeks ago. He does basic science research, doesn’t see\u00a0patients anymore — but he still comes to our clinical conference. Definitely scores points for that. And for being a very smart, interesting, and nice fellow.<\/p>\n

This was our conversation, reproduced verbatim:<\/p>\n

HIM: \u00a0Hey Pablo — got a book for you.<\/p>\n

He’s called me “Pablo” ever since we went to Cuba for a scientific meeting four\u00a0years ago. Yes, Cuba. Here are some pictures.<\/a>\u00a0And that’s one of Havana’s “taxi huevos”\u00a0pictured above.<\/em><\/p>\n

ME: \u00a0D\u00edme, Mateo.<\/p>\n

For the record, neither one of us speaks Spanish very well. I’m pretty sure that means “Tell me, Matt”.<\/em><\/p>\n

HIM: “Station Eleven.”<\/a> It takes place in a dystopian\u00a0future. Highly, highly recommended.<\/p>\n

ME: \u00a0I’m not really into science fiction. But my son is, I’ll let him know.<\/p>\n

I’m imagining some Mad Max or Blade Runner-like thing, only a book. I can handle this post-apocalyptic\u00a0theme in films (though for the record thought both of those movies were only so-so). But a whole novel? Skeptical.<\/em><\/p>\n

HIM: \u00a0It’s not really science fiction. Pretty much everyone is wiped out by the flu. It’s from the perspective of the survivors.<\/p>\n

ME: \u00a0I also don’t like books about ID topics written by non-ID doctors for non-medical readers. They get so many\u00a0details wrong, it’s distracting.<\/p>\n

Am I the only one with this view? I must have a dozen\u00a0books given to me as gifts on ID topics, and most of them are terrible. One of the few I really enjoyed was My Own Country<\/a>, by Abraham Verghese — and he’s an ID doctor.<\/em><\/p>\n

HIM: No medical details, don’t worry. Weaves themes of love, art, music, journalism, religion — just what it means to be human. Really, really liked\u00a0it. Tengo que leer!<\/p>\n

I told you we don’t speak Spanish very well.<\/em><\/p>\n

ME: OK, maybe I’ll give it a go.<\/p>\n

Now at this point I’ll confess that the emphasis in that last sentence really should have been on the word maybe<\/em>, because it just didn’t sound like the kind of book I’d enjoy.<\/p>\n

Plus the world is filled with endless books waiting to be read, and there’s only so much time — especially with 1) Elvis Costello’s upcoming autobiography, which will be\u00a0nearly 700\u00a0pages long;<\/a> \u00a02) wonderful\u00a0baseball analysis like this<\/a>\u00a0available pretty much continuously; and 3)\u00a0the imminent arrival of the next great flu pandemic, which promises to limit\u00a0the free time we have available for reading quite\u00a0substantially, especially if we are unlucky enough to perish in it.<\/p>\n

But I was killing time\u00a0in our neighborhood book store<\/a> (how long before those are all gone, even without flu wiping us off the globe?), and the book\u00a0was featured prominently in the displays. So I started reading it.<\/p>\n

And you know what? Matt was right — it’s\u00a0terrific. The author develops several interesting characters, shifts\u00a0the story effortlessly between the pre-, immediately post-, and many decades\u00a0post-flu periods, and strikes just the right tone when describing how\u00a0humans live in a world without running water, cell phones, internet, electricity, cars, jets, or countries.<\/p>\n

They do more than just survive — that’s what makes the book interesting, plausible, and, despite the grim plot, at times quite uplifting.<\/p>\n

And, for the record, it\u00a0has no embarrassingly incorrect medical information, though one might wonder at times how influenza could have a nearly 100% case fatality rate.<\/p>\n

Small matter — it’s fiction, after all.<\/p>\n