The Chimp and the River
How AIDS Emerged from an African Forest
In this 'frightening and fascinating masterpiece' (Walter Isaacson), David Quammen explores the true origins of HIV/AIDS.
The real story of AIDS - how it originated with a virus in a chimpanzee, jumped to one human and infected more than 60 million people - is very different from what most of us think we know.
Recent research has revealed dark surprises and yielded a radically new scenario of how AIDS began and spread. Excerpted and adapted from Spillover, with a new introduction by the author, Quammen's hair-raising investigation tracks the virus from chimp population s in the jungles off the southeastern Cameroon to laboratories across the globe, as he unravels the mysteries of when, where and how such a consequential 'spillover' can happen.
An audacious search for answers amid more than a century of data, The Chimp and the River tells the haunting tale of one of the most devastating pandemics of our time.
About the author
David Quammen is a recipient of the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the author of several acclaimed natural history titles. His book, The Song of the Dodo, won the BP Natural World Book Prize in 1996.
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