Summary of Steven Johnson's Extra Life

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The stretch of the Kansas River just north of Junction City, Kansas, has military roots that date back to 1853, when a post was established to protect travelers heading west in the years after the California gold rush. In 1917, as the United States prepared for the American entry into World War I, a small city was erected to train Midwestern soldiers headed overseas.

#2 The 1918 flu was a new strain of the H1N1 virus that spread quickly throughout the American army bases in Kansas, and eventually around the world.

#3 The second wave of the Spanish flu in 1918 was much more deadly than the first. It first became apparent at Camp Devens, an overcrowded military base in Boston, where one fifth of the population contracted the virus, a morbidity rate that exceeded that of the H1N1 outbreak at Camp Funston.

#4 The pandemic of 1918-1919 was especially lethal among young adults, and it took its toll on life expectancy in the entire country. In England and Wales, where life expectancy had been rising for a half century, a virus amplified by war undid it all in just three years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669388395

IRB Media

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Insights on Steven Johnson's Extra Life

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The stretch of the Kansas River just north of Junction City, Kansas, has military roots that date back to 1853, when a post was established to protect travelers heading west in the years after the California gold rush. In 1917, as the United States prepared for the American entry into World War I, a small city was erected to train Midwestern soldiers headed overseas.

#2

The 1918 flu was a new strain of the H1N1 virus that spread quickly throughout the American army bases in Kansas, and eventually around the world.

#3

The second wave of the Spanish flu in 1918 was much more deadly than the first. It first became apparent at Camp Devens, an overcrowded military base in Boston, where one fifth of the population contracted the virus, a morbidity rate that exceeded that of the H1N1 outbreak at Camp Funston.

#4

The pandemic of 1918-1919 was especially lethal among young adults, and it took its toll on life expectancy in the entire country. In England and Wales, where life expectancy had been rising for a half century, a virus amplified by war undid it all in just three years.

#5

The world did not collapse in the manner predicted by Vaughn, and instead experienced a century of unexpected life. The period from 1916 to 1920 marked the last point in which a major reversal in global life expectancy would be recorded.

#6

The COVID pandemic has so far reduced American life expectancy by about a year, and twice that in African-American communities. But the 2020 pandemic also demonstrates the advances we have made over the past century.

#7

The chart above shows how the average human life span has increased over the past few generations. It is a story of progress that rarely makes the front page of newspapers, because it is free of the dramatic elements that drive the news cycle.

#8

The book focuses on the world’s rising life expectancy, and tries to understand where that