Science, Cities, Modern World Changed by London's 1854 Cholera Epidemic [video 57min]

Steven Johnson bases his new book, The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic-and How it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, on a map of a London neighborhood created by pioneering British doctor John Snow in 1854. Graphically marking deaths from a cholera epidemic, the map helped pinpoint the source of the disease outbreak and eventually led to reforms in city sanitation and a better understanding of water bourne illness. Johnson is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University and the author of five books including Everything Bad Is Good for You; Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience Of Everyday Life; Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software; and Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate.