This is almost a one-of-a-kind book (encyclopedia of infectious diseases aimed at the proverbial 'intelligent layman'), and is surprisingly hard to find on the retail market. Each disease entry has an introduction followed by sections on symptoms and diagnostic path, treatment options and outlook, and risk factors and preventive measures. There are useful discussions of various categories of infectious diseases, e.g. food-borne infections, and infectious agents, e.g. Escherichia coli O157:H7. Appendix I covers drugs used to treat infectious diseases, Appendix II covers home disinfection, and Appendix III is a somewhat spotty collection of contact information of organizations that have something to do with one or more infectious diseases. There is a bibliography and an index. All things considered, this is the best book of its type I have seen. I will be using it as a textbook for my Biology of Infectious Disease course, which is intended for nonscience majors. Highly recommended.