The Slow Plague: A Geography of the AIDS Pandemic

Having emerged from highschool Science with a largely mystifying impression of AIDS and HIV, this has to be an enjoyable but very effective wakeup call for me. With next to no understanding of the scientific details, I found what should have been dry and uninteresting a convincing and thoughtprovoking read. Even though Gould seems openly political and states his opinions in no uncertain terms, the issues he raises are compelling, and his style entertaining. His mildly biting humour, descent at every opportunity to the layman's perspective, and somewhat stream-of-consciousness style makes this book not only easy to understand but very enjoyable. The reader emerges much more informed and aware, without feeling as if they have swallowed reams of ink and paper. :D

Written in 1992, this book is still well worth reading by anyone, lay or expert, interested in the spread of HIV/AIDS. Readers with scanty technical knowledge of the virus, and no familiarity with what geographers do or how they think, need not fear. Gould is a master of exposition. Four especially illuminating chapters take us through the spread of HIV/AIDS within continental Africa, the nation of Thailand, the state of Ohio and the limits of the Bronx. As a geographer, Gould shows how grappling with the spatial dimension of HIV/AIDS yields both insight and useful knowledge. His criticisms of policies which foster disease, impede prevention, and often misdirect AIDS research and AIDS programs are still, I suspect, valid. This is a spirited and humane work which lives up to its dedication 'Liber geographicus pro bono publico'.