(various), (various), (2004-2012). Four books that prove we had been warned. Three are signed by their authors.

• MARKEL, Howard. When Germs Travel. NY: Pantheon (2004). Subtitled: "Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears They Have Unleashed." Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
• (ATWOOD, Margaret). LAM, Vincent and LEE Colin. The Flu Pandemic and You. Doubleday Canada (2006). A practical guide for preventing and surviving pandemics, with a forward by Atwood whose 2003 book launch for her novel Oryx and Crake, in which many people are killed by a swiftly-spreading virus, was canceled due to the (first) SARS outbreak. Not signed. Fine in wrappers.
• NIKIFORUK, Andrew. Pandemonium. (Toronto): Viking Canada (2006). Subtitled: "Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease, and Other Biological Plagues of the 21st Century." Inscribed by the author. Thin stain to front board; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
• QUAMMEN, David. Spillover. NY: Norton (2012). Subtitled: "Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic." Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

From Quammen's website, ca. 2012: "The next big and murderous human pandemic ... will be caused by a new disease—new to humans, anyway. The bug that’s responsible will be strange, unfamiliar, but it won’t come from outer space. Odds are that the killer pathogen—most likely a virus—will spill over into humans from a nonhuman animal." This starter Pandemic Collection includes four books written during the two decades that the budget for federal pandemic preparedness decreased by half. [#034746] $550