Spillover

Tuesday, Doug’s joined by the science writer David Quammen. Twelve years ago, Quammen began researching the concept of “spillover,” the sudden transfer of disease from one species to another. He traveled around the world, investigating the science, history and human impact of diseases like AIDS, SARS and Ebola. In his newest book, Spillover, Quammen says that what he’s learned makes clear “the old Darwinian truth that humanity is a kind of animal, inextricably linked with other animals: in origin and in descent, in sickness and in health.”

David Quammen will be in Salt Lake City to discuss his new book on Saturday, October 20, as part of the Utah Humanities Book Festival. The event begins at 5 p.m. and will be held at the auditorium of the Main Library in downtown Salt Lake. Visit the Utah Humanities Council's web site for more details.

GUEST

• David Quammen is the author of The Song of the Dodo and Monster of God. Hie newest book is called Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. He is also a contributing writer for National Geographic. He has been honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a recipient of the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing, the Stephen Jay Gould Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution, an award from PEN for the art of the essay, and (three times) the National Magazine Award.

David Quammen referenced And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic as an influential and well-written book.