Breathless
The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
**A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 and FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2023**
*Shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2023*
From the author of Spillover, the book that predicted the pandemic, Breathless is the story of Covid-19 and its fierce journey through the human population, as seen by the scientists tasked with fighting it.
Bestelling author David Quammen draws on countless interviews with experts, including leading virologists, to take us inside the global race to understand SARS-CoV-2, it's ever-changing nature and capacity to kill. In doing so, he explains how new viruses emerge when we disrupt ecosystems and suggests why the coronavirus may be here to stay.
By peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists leading the chase, Breathless uncovers the warnings from infectious diseases experts that went unheeded; and which clues are the most compelling in the hunt for the virus' origin.
'A viral howdunnit that is pacy and unafraid to educate readers' Observer
'A luminous, passionate account of the defining crisis of our time' New York Times
'A classic...a masterpiece' Stanley Prusiner, Nobel Prize Winner
'As close to authoritative history as we have... It reads like a real-time thriller' Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Science journalist Quammen (Spillover) recounts in page-turning detail the scientific response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many scientists, the author writes, have seen a covid-like pandemic coming for years, thanks in part to the 2003 SARS outbreak that ended up being something of "a rehearsal," though one that made "the significance of super-spreaders... painfully clear." But SARS-CoV-2, aka the virus that causes Covid-19, is different in its makeup, and parts of its genome made "the virus more capable of infecting humans." As well, Quammen breaks down how viruses jump from animals to humans, explains that "this virus is going to be with us forever" as it continues to adapt, and makes a convincing case that "we should stop thinking about the ‘origin' of SARS-CoV-2, and proceed by thinking about its origins, plural." Terms, such as RNA, "variant," and "herd immunity" are accessibly explained, and the narrative is punctuated with vivid portraits of such scientists as Anthony Fauci; Zhengli Shi, a senior scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and molecular virologist Michael Worobey, who tracked the virus's evolution. This is a must-read for anyone looking to get a better handle on the pandemic so far.
