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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Michael Lewis at his best. Makes a mockery of the United States pandemic response and the failings of government at all levels. As always, smart people who risk everything to think outside of the box are the heroes of the book. Seems too short and with an unsatisfying conclusion.
I got about 1/4 of the way through before I had to put this book down. There was a lot of "David vs. Goliath" type set-up that I wasn't crazy about (from what I understand, this trope is fairly typical for this writer) and it felt like a lot of stuff lacked context. Everything was SO focused on the U.S. and at least the beginning could have used a broader perspective, I think.
Michael Lewis masterfully tells the story of the unsung heroes of the pandemic and their decades long fight to have a plan in place. Carter Mecher, Charity Dean, Bob Glass, and Joe DeRisi are just a few of the quirky characters that come together over time to fight the pandemic. There contributions are widely unknown to everyone but the few people who have worked directly with them but they are important enough to be celebrated. In typical Lewis story telling the heroes are everyday goofs just trying to do good. For example the basic model for studying how a disease spreads came from Bob Glass helping his daughter with a high school science fair project. And Carter Mecher is so non-descript/non-threatening of a human that he just seamlessly blends in where ever he goes. People forget he's even there until suddenly his ideas are absorbed by whatever location he's working in (Bush administration, Obama administration, VA Affairs, CDC, etc). He's like the Forrest Gump of pandemic response, always at the right place at the right time.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
To preface, this was another audiobook read, so it’s possible that some of my reaction is related to listening over such a long period of time. That being said, this was a well-constructed and (intentionally) frustrating oral history of the pandemic from professionals on the periphery, but who likely should have been more in the center of the decision making. I largely appreciated the construction of the narrative and the level of detail that was provided for each of the main players (Charity Dean, Carter Mecher, etc..) to gain a better understanding of not only why they approached the pandemic response in the way that they did, but also what experiences made their thinking so unique. However, this same level of detail made it difficult for me to sometimes keep track of the secondary players, primarily in how they got introduced into the larger narrative and what role they ultimately were playing. Overall though this was a well-crafted piece of contemporary non-fiction that I think will serve as an important written documentary of not just what went wrong in the pandemic response, but also why, and how we can hopefully not make those same mistakes again…but likely will anyway.
The most important backstory I’ve read
I read a lot. In the last year, much of my reading time has redirected into health studies and roundups of them so I could better understand and predict the ongoing pandemic. Which is why I at first resisted reading this book. I lived the event and missed little, I thought, so what can I learn from a book? It turns out the answer is a lot. This book was fascinating and full of stories and backstories that I was wholly unaware of. It’s the context for our public health response that everyone should know. I recommend it.
I read a lot. In the last year, much of my reading time has redirected into health studies and roundups of them so I could better understand and predict the ongoing pandemic. Which is why I at first resisted reading this book. I lived the event and missed little, I thought, so what can I learn from a book? It turns out the answer is a lot. This book was fascinating and full of stories and backstories that I was wholly unaware of. It’s the context for our public health response that everyone should know. I recommend it.
This was so good! It was not at all what I expected and the description of non-fiction thriller (about a pandemic? that isn't over?) is so apt - it's such a page turner. I learned a lot about government, systemic failures, and overall, my perspective about this whole mess has really shifted since reading this.