I liked the first chapter with the Hendra virus because it was a disease I had never heard about, and it shows reservoir hosts, carriers, amplifiers, and dead-end hosts individually. These animals were identified, and the traces of each spillover have been explained.
The discussion about cultural practices made the most impact on me. When we discussed measures adapted by locals against the spread of Ebola by isolating the patient, stopping sexual contact, limiting travel to other villages, or even burning the huts of people who die because of it, it helped me put things into perspective about practices we follow back home in Nepal. We are not allowed to wear shoes inside our kitchens to avoid bringing microbes into our food. We don't share utensils while we are using them. Religiously, I am a vegetarian, and it has indirectly helped me prevent spillover incidents and the spread of infectious diseases. Another example of traditions that help control the spread of diseases is limiting sexual partners. It is common for people back home to have only one sexual partner who usually is their spouse. This is quite different from the prevalent hookup culture, and while it is quite restricting, it prevents many sexually transmitted diseases.
Personally, I always thought these traditions didn't hold much meaning since they weren't backed up by scientific research. It has changed the way I see my religion and has made me realize that even though people didn't exactly know the process of transmission of diseases, they were unconsciously preventing them from spreading far and wide.