The book is a combination medical history of zoonotic diseases (diseases that spread from animals to people) and warning, as well as some musings on what the next big epidemic might be. (You can see why I thought it might be dry.)
The book tackles the history of diseases from Ebola, SARS, Hendra, AIDS, to influenza, with side tracks on other diseases like rabies, and it was utterly fascinating. I had no idea how much we actually know about the emergence of some of these diseases, particularly AIDS - right down to what animal it came from, where, and when. And Quammen's description how we figured this out was so interesting, at least for me.
Quammen also manages to keep the book interesting without resorting to sensationalism (indeed, he takes a few swipes at Richard Preston's The Hot Zone {which I admit I enjoyed} for this reason along the way). He also doesn't forget the animals; the discussion of the impact Ebola has had on gorilla populations was something I had never heard of that was really interesting.
This was narrative non-fiction done really well, and if you have any interest in medical history or the history of disease (AIDS and Ebola particularly) it's hard for me to recommend this book highly enough.
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