More people in the West are likely to die of a degenerative disease than of an infectious diseases such as influenza and smallpox which are two the main killer diseases in the Third World. The author examines patterns of disease and their changes over time throughout the world, pointing out that so-called tropical diseases include many formerly common in temperate countries, while western diseases (strokes, lung cancer) are becoming more important in urban elite groups in the Third World. The book presents a broad picture of the distribution of disease, considering the causes and interrelations between life styles, climate, food, health care and disease. Students of medical geography, epidemiology, public health, development and medical sociology