Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus

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The definitive story of the worldwide scientific quest to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source, and make possible the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. 'A luminous, passionate account of the defining crisis of our time' New York Times From the bestselling author of Spillover, the book that predicted the pandemic, this is the story of Covid-19 and its fierce journey through the human population, as seen by the scientists tasked with fighting it. 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 classic...a masterpiece' Stanley Prusiner, Nobel Prize Winner 'A viral howdunnit that is pacy and unafraid to educate readers' Observer 'As close to authoritative history as we have... It reads like a real-time thriller' Chicago Tribune

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 *

Author Bio

David Quammen's sixteen previous books include The Tangled Tree, The Song of the Dodo, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, and Spillover, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and recipient of the Premio Letterario Merck. He has written for the New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, the Atlantic, National Geographic and Outside, among other publications, and is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award. Quammen shares a home in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife, Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of American Zion, and with two Russian wolfhounds, a cross-eyed cat, and a rescue python. Visit him at DavidQuammen.com