RATS, LICE AND HISTORY
Book ID/图书代码： 16B89765
English Summary/英文概要： When Rats, Lice and History appeared in 1935, Hans Zinsser was a highly regarded Harvard biologist who had never written about historical events. Although he had published under a pseudonym, virtually all of his previous writings had dealt with infections and immunity and had appeared either in medical and scientific journals or in book format. Today he is best remembered as the author of Rats, Lice, and History, which gone through multiple editions and remains a masterpiece of science writing for a general readership.
To Zinsser, scientific research was high adventure and the investigation of infectious disease, a field of battle. Yet at the same time he maintained a love of literature and philosophy. His goal in Rats, Lice and History was to bring science, philosophy, and literature together to establish the importance of disease, and especially epidemic infectious disease, as a major force in human affairs. Zinsser cast his work as the "biography" of a disease. In his view, infectious disease simply represented an attempt of a living organism to survive. From a human perspective, an invading pathogen was abnormal; from the perspective of the pathogen it was perfectly normal.
This book is devoted to a discussion of the biology of typhus and history of typhus fever in human affairs. Zinsser begins by pointing out that the louse was the constant companion of human beings. Under certain conditions–to wash or to change clothing–lice proliferated. The typhus pathogen was transmitted by rat fleas to human beings, who then transmitted it to other humans and in some strains from human to human.
Rats, Lice and History is a tour de force. It combines Zinsser’s expertise in biology with his broad knowledge of the humanities
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 当这本书第一次在1935年出版时，作者Hans Zinsser是哈佛大学的生物学者，他从未就历史事件写过任何东西。尽管他也使用一个笔名发表过作品，但此前所有的文字都是有关传染、免疫等等话题，发表在医学和科学学术期刊或者专著上。如今，他最受关注的作品则是本书，已经重版了多次，仍旧是给大众阅读的科普读物中的经典之作。
对Zinsser而言，科学研究好比冒险，研究传染病就如同上战场。但同时，他也很喜欢文学和哲学。他创作本书的目的是为了让科学、哲学和文学都能融合在一起，让人了解到疾病、尤其是大规模传染病史如何影响了人类的进程。Zinsser认为自己的作品可谓是疾病的“传记”。从他的角度出发，传染病代表着一种活的微生物的生存意志。从人类的角度，攻击性的病原体并不正常，而从病原体的角度来说，这却再正常不过了。
本书讨论了伤寒和伤寒这种疾病如何影响人类。Zinsser指出虱子是人类永久无法摆脱的“伙伴”。在特定条件下，虱子的数量可能会激增。而伤寒是由老鼠身上的跳蚤传染给人类的，然后人际传播。
本书是一部杰作，其中展现了Zinsser在生物学方面的专业知识以及他广博的人文知识。（LYR）
Awards/获奖情况：
About the Author/作者介绍： Hans Zinsser（1878-1940）在哥伦比亚大学获得博士文凭，此后担任哥伦比亚大学细菌学方面的指导员。他的职业生涯中曾担任斯坦福大学和哈佛大学教授。他的科学研究主要关于细菌学和免疫科学，关注再燃性斑疹伤寒和斑疹伤寒。
Hans Zinsser (1878-1940) received his doctorate at Columbia University and also was an instructor of bacteriology at Columbia University. Throughout his career he was also a professor at Stanford University as well as Harvard University. His scientific work focused on bacteriology and immunology and he is greatly associated with Brill’s disease as well as typhus.
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