I generally don't go in for apocalypticism (publishing aside). Something horrific happens, and life miraculously goes on. However, I've been shaken to the soles of my MooShoes shoes by what Michael Greger is writing in his forthcoming Lantern book, Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching.

Michael's book has 3,100 references (and counting) from the most mainstream, unimpeachable sources you can imagine: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and other national and international bodies. Not to put to fine a point on it, but the leaders of these bodies, and the scientists who work for them, are saying quite simply: Bird Flu is coming; human-to-human transmission in some form is inevitable; and the casualty rates are going to be astronomical. (And when I say "casualty," I'm talking about dead bodies.)

In the next few weeks, in preparation for the book's publication (it's getting fact-checked and its references being double- and treble-checked at the moment), I'll be providing you with sneak peeks at what Michael has discovered. It is, without doubt, the most alarming book I have ever read, and essential reading as well.