Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus (Hardback)

David Quammen (author)

£20.00

Hardback 416 Pages
Published: 06/10/2022

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Synopsis

Shocking yet highly enlightening, Quammen's masterful analysis of the roots of the Covid pandemic proposes that continued disruption to wild ecosystems threatens to unleash a catastrophic 'forever virus.'

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2023

Breathless is the story of the scientific quest to decipher, control and fight Covid-19.

Breathless traces SARS-CoV-2's fierce journey through the human population as seen by the scientists who study its origin, ever-changing nature and capacity to kill. It shows how strange viruses emerge as we disrupt wild ecosystems - sometimes causing global catastrophe - and suggests this coronavirus could be a 'forever virus' that's destined to bedevil us endlessly.

Quammen also explains that experts saw this pandemic coming; that scientists warned 'the next big one' would be caused by a changeable new virus, but were ignored for political or economic reasons; and that while the origins of this virus may not be known for years, some suppositions are compelling and others can be dismissed.

Breathless takes us inside the frantic international effort to control SARS-CoV-2 as if peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists who led the chase.

Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9781847926685
Number of pages: 416
Weight: 643 g
Dimensions: 242 x 162 x 36 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

A supernova in among science journalists - Oprah Daily

An expert eye on Covid's past and present [and] a viral howdunnit that is pacy and unafraid to educate readers - Observer

[A] tour de force...A luminous, passionate account of the defining crisis of our time - and the unprecedented international response to it. - The New York Times Book Review

As close to authoritative history - from the virus's origins to vaccines and variants - as we have, told through scientists involved, and the signature ease of Quammen's prose. It reads like a real-time thriller. - Chicago Tribune

Will likely prove to be a classic in the history of science ... a masterpiece - Stanley Prusiner, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

[An] engrossing, at times breathless, scientific narrative of the COVID-19 - Nature

A frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting that reads like a detective story - Walter Isaacson on Spillover

Fascinating and terrifying, Spillover is a real-life thriller with an outcome that affects us all - Elizabeth Kolbert on Spillover

A tremendous book... this gives you all you need to know and should know. Quammen's research and analysis makes sensationalism unnecessary - Sunday Times on Spillover

Chilling... [A] brilliant, devastating book - Daily Mail on Spillover

Travelling deep into the rainforest with the scientists hoping to identify the next pandemic pathogen, Quammen's book is plotted like a detective thriller - Gaia Vince, Guardian on Spillover

David Quammen might be my favourite living science writer: amiable, erudite, understated, incredibly funny, profoundly humane - New York Magazine on Spillover

Come for the compelling interviews with key scientists, including Anthony Fauci; stay for the deep dive into the wild and unpredictable world of viruses - Financial Times, Books of the Year*