First published 2021
Michael Lewis tells the story of scientific outsiders who predicted Covid-19's devastating spread while institutions failed to prepare. In January 2020, as deaths mounted in Wuhan, most people couldn't grasp what was unfolding. But a small group of researchers had spent their careers studying viral transmission and government failures. They recognized the signs everyone else missed. Lewis follows these maverick scientists as they anticipated, tracked, and fought the coronavirus. They understood the need to think beyond conventional wisdom, learn from past mistakes, and question established systems. Working against time, they tried to sound alarms and save lives while bureaucracies stumbled. The book examines how human judgment succeeds and fails under pressure. Lewis shows why some minds see clearly while others remain blind to approaching disaster. This is the story of how we arrived at our current moment.
Genres: science, social-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: bureaucratic-failure, maverick-scientists
336 pages · Hardcover · Allen Lane