Some people like to distract themselves from a worldwide disaster, like, say, a viral pandemic. A few of us instead double down and dig in. I’m easing my anxieties over COVID-19-induced uncertainty by looking to the past and playing Pandemic.

Maybe this kind of deep dive is perverse, but I’ve always been the sort of person who fixates on one particular subject until I’ve had my fill. I also tend to find life infinitely fascinating, so my next obsession is a matter of when, not if. Examining any source of anxiety helps me ease my mind.

What could be more natural than studying up on what’s threatening to take me down?

I’d guess I’m not the only bookworm who has cracked a copy of Camus’ “The Plague” or Boccaccio’s “Decameron” in recent months. I’m reading Defoe’s “A Journal of the Plague Year,” too.

For those who prefer their erudition by video, The Great Courses’ “The Black Death: The World’s Most Devastating Plague” by Dorsey Armstrong, Ph.D., is a fantastic and informative production. My public library offers this title on DVD to borrow for free, but it can also be had instantly at a cost via Amazon or from the publisher’s own site (Course No. 8241) .

Almost nothing has made me feel more lucky to be alive today than confronting the mortality statistics of previous pandemics!
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