August Books to publish history of the common cold
July 11, 2024
Executive Publisher Martina O’Sullivan has acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to Sneeze, a history of the common cold by David Miles at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine from Eli Keren at The Curious Minds Agency. Sneeze is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2026.
The book will explore a century of research on the common cold, starting from the foundational discovery that colds are caused by viruses, up to developments made during the pandemic. Sneeze will explore what exactly colds are and where they come from, to reveal steps we can take to avoid catching them, fighting them and, most ambitiously, the steps that we as a society can take to make our environment less conducive to spreading them. David Miles has two decades of experience as a scientist and educator in the field of infectious disease immunology. David’s research career was ended by a lymphoma, the treatment for which wiped out his immune system and left him more vulnerable to infection, including the common cold. He teaches at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and his first book, How Vaccines Work, was published by Piatkus last year.
Miles said: ‘I’m fed up with colds, you’re fed up with colds, everyone is fed up with colds. I’m looking forward to talking about what they are, how we know what they are and what we can do to be less fed up with them.’
O’Sullivan said: ‘Having a cold is a universal human experience and yet we know far too little about what it is and how science has tried to tackle it through the ages. David is just the expert to take us on a fascinating exploration through the science of an all too common scourge’
Keren said: ‘I’ve always loved the way David communicates science through human experiences, and I’m thrilled that he’s soon going to be sharing his expertise on this subject with the world. Mainly for selfish reasons, that is - I’m always getting colds!’
For more information please contact kate@canelo.co
Foreign rights in this title are being handled by Louisa Pritchard Associates: louisa@louisapritchard.co.uk