Preview

The Hot Zone Summary

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
749 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Hot Zone Summary
The Hot Zone By Richard Preston

Links:
1.) Richard Preston: http://richardpreston.net/about-richard-preston
2.) The Hot Zone Reviews: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/book_0695.html
3.) Essay:
The Hot Zone is a true story about an Ebola virus outbreak originating in Kenya, Africa at Kitum Cave on Mount. Algon. This outbreak happened In the 1990’s, which devastated many of the surrounding areas and people found this virus to be spreading to many other placed not in the vicinity of the infected zone. The virus hit many places in Africa and traveled to the United States through monkeys that were transported to Reston, Virginia on plane.
A major part of this book was the outbreak of Ebola in Reston. Reston contained a monkey house for veterinary microbiology. Soon after a shipment of monkeys showed up, many of the monkeys began to bleed out and die. This caught the attention of USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases). USAMRIID sent army personnel and microbiologist to deal with the outbreak in the warehouse. They quarantined the building and killed all monkeys. They injected the monkeys with a sedative and once they were asleep, they were given a shot that stopped their hearts. The scientist performed …show more content…
I didn’t have any issues with the way it was written, however the ending was not needed. After USAMRIID finally takes care of the situation at the monkey warehouse in Reston, Richard Preston, the author, writes a final chapter called “Camp”. This seemed like it was a completely different part of the book because it had characters in the book that weren’t much used, so I didn’t really know the background on them. Instead of leaving the end of the book with the last chapter, he added this chapter that was a pointless car ride with two men talking. I would have taken that chapter out and left it at when the Reston problem was
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Summary and Analysis: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
    • 2240 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Summary and Analysis: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

    A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rainforest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of it’s victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientist is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this “hot virus”. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving detail accounts of this rare and lethal virus and how it crashes into the human race. This book proves that truth is really scarier than fiction.…

    • 2240 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Part One: The Shadow Of Mt. Elgon
    • 1479 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Summary Of Part One: The Shadow Of Mt. Elgon

    In Part One: The Shadow of Mt. Elgon, the author Richard Preston describes the initial interaction between humans and the Ebola virus. The first victim introduced in the book was Charles Monet, who worked on a sugar plantation in western Kenya. His exposure to the Ebola virus occurred on New Year's day in 1980 while him and his woman "friend" ventured to Mount Elgon and visited the Kitum Cave. Kitum Cave is believed to be the location of the initial exposure to Ebola, and days after Charles returned from his trip, he began experiencing the initial symptoms of the Ebola virus which includes a headache, red eyes, and a backache. There wasn't a single doctor that could explain…

    • 1479 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Figurative Language In The Hot Zone
    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Examples Of Figurative Language In The Hot Zone

    During Project Ebola, two characters working in the USAMRIID are introduced, Nancy Jaax and Gene Johnson. Jaax is a very determined and strong-willed army veterinarian, she has a loving family consisting of her husband and two children. Johnson is a generally a timid person, he is an epidemiologist whose studies mainly focuses on Marburg and Ebola. They are both deeply terrified of Ebola, but are willing to risk their lives for a better understanding on the virus. On Nancy Jaax’s first day working in Biohazard Level 4, she puts on her space suit and Preston says, “Perhaps Nancy was in a bit of a hurry and did not inspect her spacesuit as closely as she should have.” (Preston 45). As for Johnson, Preston recalls his dreams as, “Gene Johnson had suffered recurrent nightmares about Ebola virus ever since he began to work with it.” (Preston 35). Both of these quotes suggest that a tragic incident shall soon unfold. These quotes are dark. These quotes give a feeling that cannot be shaken off, a prominent feeling of uncertainty and…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Henrietta Lacks And The Hot Zone
    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Henrietta Lacks And The Hot Zone

    In The Hot Zone by Richard Preston and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, both authors suggest that globalization is both powerful and dangerous, so dangerous that it can sometimes cause irreplaceable damage, but can also do good things. The Hot Zone shows that Ebola can spread worldwide and have devastating effects. Preston states that if Ebola manages to spread beyond central Africa, then it will be all over the world, from New York to Paris, but “we never knew it.”(99) If Ebola spreads worldwide, there would be a global epidemic. However, it did not, and very few people knew its dangers. Also, the World Health Organization and the Centers of Disease Control have sent people like Gene Johnson and Joe McCormick to…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Hot Zone
    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Hot Zone

    Richard Preston’s Hot Zone is a horrific narration of the origin of filoviruses and their encounter with humans. These viruses include Marburg virus (MARV), Ebola virus (EBOV) and Sudan virus (SUDV). They are also known as Biosafety Level 4 agents because they are extremely dangerous to humans and have no treatments or cure.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ebola Virus In The Hot Zone
    • 1875 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Ebola Virus In The Hot Zone

    The #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston works with its main goal of educating society on the disturbing topic of the Ebola virus. It attempts and adequately completes its goal to reveal the terrifying truth of the origins of this deadly virus to the whole of society. It is due to the fact that the Ebola Virus is both highly deadly as well as an infectious disease that it comes as no surprise that it is classified as an exotic “hot” virus. While the book takes place in and discusses many different places, the book’s main focus is on the continent of Africa, and the outbreaks that occur there. The first known outbreak of the Ebola Virus was located in a Central African rainforest, when Charles Monet, A Frenchman, was living there. It was…

    • 1875 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    English Bias Summary
    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    English Bias Summary

    Currently, there is an Ebola virus outbreak that is possibly threatening society. There have been countless reports in the media covering the virus and how it may have spread over several continents. Sources have stated that the virus outbreak started in Liberia. Eric Bolling reports that Texas Health Ebola has killed 75,000 in just one year. The Ebola virus is one that is extremely contagious, but at the same time still lacks an effective cure.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hot Zone anylasis
    • 772 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hot Zone anylasis

    This more of an assignment then an essay to help people who are reading the Hot zone.…

    • 772 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What Is Zachary's Lie
    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What Is Zachary's Lie

    I think that this book was well written and tried to give the readers a fun thrill as they read this book.What I had thought this book had done very well is the emotional climax,Since the emotional climax is much longer and much more interesting in this book then the physical…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Hot Zone
    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Hot Zone

    The Hot Zone is a best-selling 1994 non-fiction bio-thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly Ebola viruses and Marburg viruses. This book is based upon an outbreak of the Ebola virus in a monkey house located in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Reston, Virginia. The author weaves together the tales of several previous outbreaks in Africa to describe clearly the potential damage such an outbreak could cause. The first appearance of an Ebola-like virus takes place in Kenya and costs the life of a French emigrant named Charles Monet. His bloody, painful death is re-told in graphic and terrifying terms. Hospital personnel treating Monet become ill as well, demonstrating the extreme danger of exposure to this disease. Through this thriller story, many interesting details take place and the reader might not realize the parts of biology in this book.…

    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Hot Zone Research Paper
    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Hot Zone Research Paper

    What exactly is Ebola? A question I asked myself before beginning my assignment. Ebola is a virus disease that is caused by infection with certain virus species. This virus causes various symptoms such as high fevers, headaches, weakness, vomiting, muscle pain, rashes, and redness in the eyes. While reading “Something in the Forest,” I found a couple of sections to be mysterious but that contained clues on to how Charles Monet may have obtained his deadly disease on his trip to Kitum Cave. “Did he run his hands over the stone trees and prick his finger on a crystal?” (Preston, Pg. 35) The moment I read this I became filled with curiosity, did this wound actually occur? If it did, did he cover it or left it out in the open? As a medical assistant, I am aware that if something as simple as dust or dirt touches a wound it can cause…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Hot Zone Analysis
    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Hot Zone Analysis

    Everyone is always fearful when they hear about an infectious virus outbreak. For example, the Bubonic Plague and Ebola, created a frantic scare all around the world. The author, Richard Preston, depicts and describes the many different filovirus outbreaks that were exposed, taking over the human race throughout the entire book. The novel illustrates how the virus outbreaks had its outbursts, rapidly demolishing and destroying the human population gradually as there is no known cure and control over the destruction. Richard Preston discusses in The Hot Zone, the different factors that contribute to those outbreaks, such as hygiene and the lack of knowledge about the virus. Even a slight lack of hygiene can possibly contribute to the vital outbreaks in numerous ways.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hot Zone
    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hot Zone

    In the late 1900s there were these unknown diseases that were making people die out of nowhere. This made people all around frightened to their wits. No one knew a cure for it or where it originated from. A disease known as Marburg which was first thought to be found in a guy named Charles Monet, caused him to have massive hemorrhages and clotting. This was a deadly disease which could be caught by the person who has it by as easily as it seeping through an open wound. Marburg is a filovirus which can be comprised with two types of viruses called Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan. Ebola Zaire is the worst out of the three, killing nine out of ten humans who have it. An incident occurred in Reston, Virginia where monkeys were being transported from the Philippines to a monkey house. Some of the monkeys started to drop dead for some unknown reason, so Dan Dalgard, the veterinarian who cared for the monkeys, contacted the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to help diagnose the case. Dr. Peter Jahlring, who was a part of the USAMRIID institute, tested the blood of the monkeys. To his horror it came up positive for Ebola Zaire, the deadliest of the strains of Ebola. This caused a panic in him of which he rushed to his head leader and told him about it. No one wanted an outbreak to happen of Ebola Zaire so the C.D.C. and the army banded together to try and stop this horrific disease from spreading. Dalgard turned the monkey house over to them in which they terminated all the monkeys and bleached and scrubbed…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Cowboy And His Elephant Analysis
    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Cowboy And His Elephant Analysis

    I disliked that the introduction of the book was dragged on and on. The first two chapters were seventy- five of the 240 pages of the book. I understand they have to introduce a story but, I believe that guessing what happened to the baby elephant weeks before the story began is a little too much detail, that is unnecessary. I also dislike how they guess emotions of Amy during the entire story, even though the emotions are just to add humor or sadness to the story. However I like that the book describes Bob's past before he meets Amy(pgs. 37-74). This is important because we learn that Bob likes to do the unexpected, and that he really loves animals. I also like that Bob was able to return to his cowboy ways after his days as the famous Marlboro man. I like that this book isn't just facts about elephants, or facts about Bob, they mixed facts in to a storyline. I also like how the storyline isn't straightforward but that it is mysterious at times. I did enjoy that Malcolm MacPherson, the author, didn't stop when Bob visited Amy in the circus. When it stated that Amy did remember Bob(pg. 210). I like that the book also introduces more elephants other than those in the circus and Amy's family. The book also introduces Randall Moore, a self trained and observed African elephant trainer, and then was challenged to train three wild African elephants(pgs. 216-217). Randall Moore successfully trained these wild elephants, and then started…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lost and Found Review
    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Lost and Found Review

    I personally didn’t like how the book is quick paced and how the plot moves very fast. As if it didn’t give you the time to process what was happening. It was a little overwhelming at times. I also didn’t like how it ended it fell flat, it wasn’t enough details. The author left me wondering what happened afterwards.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics