We are powerful enough to light the world at night, to artificially refrigerate food, to leave Earth’s atmosphere and orbit it from outer space. But we cannot save those we love from suffering. This is the story of human history as I understand it – the story of an organism that can do so much, but cannot do what it most wants. (Introduction paragraph NA)

Importance: This quote sets the tone for Everything is Tuberculosis. It tells the reader that humanity is wonderful, but not as powerful as it would like to think. It makes it clear that TB is terrible, both in terms of how bad it is and how hard it is to fight. It illustrates how book will be both scientifically and emotionally focused.

It is a strange fact of human history that we tend to focus so little on disease. In my college survey course about the history of humans... (Chapter 4 paragraph NA)