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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
Excellent story of untapped resources. It doesn't matter how much you know or can do, if the people in power don't want to listen. A genuine tragedy of wasted potential. "CDC Guidelines" will take on a whole new meaning.
Considering the grimness of the material, this is a relatively easy read. It's on the one hand reassuring to know that there are intelligent, dedicated people willing to sacrifice of themselves to tackle large, important problems for the good of society. On the other hand, it's impossible to read this book without feeling deep distress at the dysfunctional systems in this country that do so much to thwart the people actually doing the work.
Reading a historical book of what went down (and frustratingly, what didn't happen) behind the scenes of a pandemic we've lived through is a strange experience. The book is definitely a page-turner with well developed portraits of very smart who didn't have the authority or power to change things. What a waste of talent.
We all know how the American pandemic response went wrong, but this shows how close we were to getting it right. Completely engrossing and filled with new heroes, it somehow manages to be hopeful and remind us of the good people. I wanted more, which I decided was a petty reason to not give 5 stars :)
As usual, Michael
Lewis tells a fascinating and horrifying story in an accessible way, as a story.
Lewis tells a fascinating and horrifying story in an accessible way, as a story.
Excellent read. A sequel of sorts to The Fifth Risk. Timely.
I was initially hesitant to read a book about the pandemic, while it is still raging on. Having finished the book, I have no such regrets. Learning the background to pandemic response in the US and finally getting context for all the news I read in March 2020 gave me a whole new appreciation for this pandemic and the men and women, not necessarily on the frontlines in the ER, but smothered by government in the background.
Fascinating, upsetting, and a bit meandering. The fact that there were less than a dozen oddball scientists and doctors who were working tirelessly behind the scenes to protect public health is astonishing (and horrifying) to me.
I would read a phone book if Michael Lewis wrote it.