Autumn Ghost

This book follows the different players and techniques that dealt with the 1952 Copenhagen polio epidemic, which reverberated throughout medicine in Denmark and beyond. Many technologies and processes that we take for granted - ventilators, anesthesia improvements, rigorous hand washing and quarantine procedures - owe something to this epidemic crucible. While Wunsch provides fascinating and engaging detail, I wish there was more time spent on the practice of emergency medicine writ large - it was often hard to gauge how much certain practices differed from the international norm, as well as to what degree those practices shifted after the epidemic. Still, as a look at how medicine and work more broadly can be dramatically changed and improved through crisis, this book is an excellent read. Highly recommend