Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

What it's about

Tuberculosis killed more people than any other infectious disease in history, and it still kills over a million people a year, even though it's curable. Author John Green tells its story, from the romanticized consumption of Romantic poets to the sanatoriums of the twentieth century, through the life of Henry Reider, a young patient he met in Sierra Leone, and asks why a curable disease still kills so many.

Why it's worth reading

It's short, compassionate and surprisingly gripping, and it makes the history of a disease feel personal and urgent. It won the Goodreads Choice Award for nonfiction and has been a long-running bestseller.

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The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, When Breath Becomes Air or Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World

Good to know

It's under 200 pages and very readable. It argues for changing global health policy, so it has a clear point of view.