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David Quammen
Health & Medicine
David Quammen is an American science and nature writer whose nonfiction explores subjects including emerging diseases and their transmission from animals to humans.
Biography
David Quammen is an American writer and science communicator born on February 24, 1948. His work focuses on science, nature, and travel, and he is the author of fifteen books. His articles have appeared in publications including Outside, National Geographic, Harper’s Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Book Review, and The New Yorker.
In Spillover, Quammen examines diseases that pass from wild animals to humans. His reporting follows disease scientists in the field, with accounts of netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, and tracking gorillas in the Congo. His drafts, research, and correspondence are preserved in Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, alongside maps, artifacts, and other papers.
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Books by David Quammen
Spillover
Spillover examines how diseases emerge in wild animals and pass to humans, connecting outbreaks such as Ebola, SARS, and Hendra to a shared pattern. Through field reporting with disease scientists, it explores how globalization and ecosystem destruction contribute to emerging infections and the potential for a worldwide pandemic.