THE FUSE

Over the past few years, I have noticed an increasing number of scientific papers and news reports about the ever-increasing concern of diseases passed from nonhuman animals (animals) to humans. The spread of zoonotic diseases should be a concern to all of us, not only scientists who study them and physicians who treat them. That is one reason I am strongly drawn to the new, highly acclaimed book Sentinels: When Diseases Spread Between Animals and Humans by award-winning writer Michael Dulaney. In the book, he writes about "the interconnected forces of climate change, habitat destruction, factory farming, globalization, and inequality." If you're going to read one book on this alarming plight, this is the one.