A new book by Professor Stacy Smith? is something of a Guinness-style record in its own right. The Top Ten Diseases of All Time began as a response to a surprisingly persistent gap in online data and resources.
“I had been looking for dedicated listicles for some time, thinking surely Buzzfeed or someone must’ve put this together by now,” says Smith?. “When I realized that that wasn’t the case, finding answers quickly became personal.”
Published by University of Ottawa Press as part of its 101 Collection, The Top Ten Diseases of All Time describes history’s deadliest outbreaks with science, stories and lessons for the future.
Through a blend of math, storytelling and sharp humour, the book recounts ancient plagues to today’s pandemics, and reveals why we keep forgetting crucial lessons.
Watch our interview with Professor Smith? below.
“You don’t want to be stuck in an interesting pandemic”
Professor Smith? doesn’t see the future in apocalyptic terms, but she’s not sugarcoating it either.
“COVID was actually a boring disease in a lot of ways,” she says. “You don’t want to get stuck in an interesting pandemic. That’s not a good place to be.”
She notes that we developed a vaccine for COVID in record time, but that in the case of HIV, considered a very interesting pandemic, we’re still searching for a vaccine.
And since COVID, we’ve already had a narrow escape: monkeypox.
“It was a pandemic that didn’t happen — at least in the Western world. We had the smallpox vaccine ready. And queer communities, who’ve lived through AIDS, took it seriously. They acted fast. And it worked.”
From cow-human hybrids to the modern war on science
Professor Smith? explores the long history of medical misinformation, a phenomenon that predates the internet.
“When the smallpox vaccine came out in the 1800s, there were political cartoons of people turning into half-cow hybrids,” she says. “People were seriously worried.”
Fast-forward 200 years, and some of today’s myths — like the false link between vaccines and autism — may one day seem just as absurd. But they still carry real consequences.
“Vaccines helped double our lifespan in just a century,” says Smith?. “The promise of mRNA vaccines holds incredible potential to save the lives of ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. It’s heartbreaking to see how often that progress meets backlash, whether through funding cuts or public mistrust.”
She argues that scientists are not solely responsible for countering such myths.
“Scientists could definitely communicate better. We need more media training. But the public also needs more science education. It’s a two-way street.”
Science literacy drives Collection 101, a series of concise, accessible books written by experts for a general audience. The English edition is overseen by Professor Smith? as series editor, ensuring complex topics are transformed into engaging, understandable works.
Math, models, and the next pandemic
The Top Ten Diseases of All Time carries a quiet but urgent message: we need to get better at anticipating the next crisis before it hits. That means building better models and sharing knowledge in accessible ways — not only in scientific journals, but also in classrooms, policy briefs and in public discourse.
Professor Smith? argues that mathematical modeling shouldn’t be limited to predicting a disease’s death tolls or reproduction number (R₀, pronounced “R-naught”). It’s a powerful tool for testing scenarios, spotting vulnerabilities and designing smarter responses before a disease strikes.
“If we want to handle future crises better, we need insight into human behaviour and system failures just as much as we need vaccines and ventilators,” she says.
The power of math... and compassion
By day, Professor Smith? teaches calculus, but by night, she models pandemics. For her, math’s real power lies in its ability to help us understand and predict complex systems — but the focus, she insists, should always remain human.
“Part of the reason we’re so strong as a society isn’t that we let the weak die, as some have claimed. It’s because we don’t,” she says. “That instinct to care for one another, to protect the vulnerable, is a strength. But it goes deeper than that. When we bring in more perspectives, more lived experiences, more ways of thinking, we don’t just build a fairer society. We build a smarter, more resilient one. That’s the real power of interdependence.”
Professor Smith?’s style is disarmingly accessible. In Mathematical Modelling of Zombies, she used fictional outbreaks to teach real epidemic modeling. And in Braaaiiinnnsss!, she and co-authors used zombies to poke fun at everything from legal systems to societal fears.
The Top Ten Diseases of All Time is written in that same spirit: rigorous, readable and darkly funny.
The book is available now from the University of Ottawa Press in both print and eBook formats. Get your copy here!
And yes, that’s Smith? with a question mark.