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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
The story of the people, who if they had been listened to, might have altered the trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is a fascinating recounting of the behind the scenes action of some key individuals who dealt with the response to the Covid pandemic. These people previously held key public health positions in different levels of government and all had impediments from office holders who lack the integrity to listen and take their advice seriously, thus hampering adequate response to the crisis. Although very thorough in covering these individuals, other key efforts (especially in NY) by others were not mentioned at all. It took a while to get into the book, but once it started covering the recent pandemic it was hard to put down. Highly recommended.
informative
Very well written and engaging. Of course there was a plan! But who cares about science 😒
Hmm, okay, I thought this would be a slightly different book. What I got was much more about the Before Covid Times and the pandemic's start. (I was hunting for a book to explain and help me digest the pandemic, comprehensively, start to finish.)
Anyway, Michael Lewis, as always, writes with an eye for warm-hearted, human details. There's something also very red blooded American guy about his writing. Which is fine. He's like the non-fiction Tom Clancy. He's very readable.
Basically, this book follows a handful of Highly Competent People, all working at various levels of government, and all basically stifled by the creaky machinations of our fraying, decaying, crappy government institutions. Each of these competent people struggle to (a) make every leader/authority understand the seriousness of the oncoming pandemic, and (b) do what they can - in their haphazard, not-centrally-planned, not-technically-in-charge way - to limit the damage. Meanwhile, American leadership is asleep at the wheel.
I had mixed feelings, honestly, because it initially felt as if red-blooded non-fic Clancy was making an argument FOR competent individualism OVER functioning collective action and institutions. Color me biased. Now that I finished the book, I actually think Lewis's argument is the opposite: even the MOST competent, well-meaning individuals will get drowned out by broken systems. And these individuals certainly did. Lewis opens his book by noting that while pre-Covid "war game" simulations (by the WHO? I forget) of a worldwide pandemic always modeled that America would fare the "best", we actually did a pretty shitty job at managing Covid - with more excess deaths and suffering. It was like the country embodied, yet again, that infamous chart showing how much of an outlier America is re: healthcare spending vs. outcomes: https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/mt/business/assets_c/2011/04/us%20health%20care%20costs-thumb-600x326-47611.png
This is (again) individualized in one of the competent individuals - who is seen by many as a "guru" and with the most humble yet clear-eyed approach on how to manage a pandemic - loses his own mother to Covid. It's a bitterly ironic tragedy, and, I guess, Lewis uses this as his point: again, even the most competent, informed individual will suffer if our systems are broken.
Anyway, Michael Lewis, as always, writes with an eye for warm-hearted, human details. There's something also very red blooded American guy about his writing. Which is fine. He's like the non-fiction Tom Clancy. He's very readable.
Basically, this book follows a handful of Highly Competent People, all working at various levels of government, and all basically stifled by the creaky machinations of our fraying, decaying, crappy government institutions. Each of these competent people struggle to (a) make every leader/authority understand the seriousness of the oncoming pandemic, and (b) do what they can - in their haphazard, not-centrally-planned, not-technically-in-charge way - to limit the damage. Meanwhile, American leadership is asleep at the wheel.
I had mixed feelings, honestly, because it initially felt as if red-blooded non-fic Clancy was making an argument FOR competent individualism OVER functioning collective action and institutions. Color me biased. Now that I finished the book, I actually think Lewis's argument is the opposite: even the MOST competent, well-meaning individuals will get drowned out by broken systems. And these individuals certainly did. Lewis opens his book by noting that while pre-Covid "war game" simulations (by the WHO? I forget) of a worldwide pandemic always modeled that America would fare the "best", we actually did a pretty shitty job at managing Covid - with more excess deaths and suffering. It was like the country embodied, yet again, that infamous chart showing how much of an outlier America is re: healthcare spending vs. outcomes: https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/mt/business/assets_c/2011/04/us%20health%20care%20costs-thumb-600x326-47611.png
This is (again) individualized in one of the competent individuals - who is seen by many as a "guru" and with the most humble yet clear-eyed approach on how to manage a pandemic - loses his own mother to Covid. It's a bitterly ironic tragedy, and, I guess, Lewis uses this as his point: again, even the most competent, informed individual will suffer if our systems are broken.
informative
Michael Lewis combines strong journalism and authorship in this hard-hitting piece on the United States' glaringly inadequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This book reveals how shockingly inept the CDC was in a crisis, having been bred into a culture of political obsequiousness. It also highlights how individuals like Charity Dean and Carter Mecher single-handedly moved mountains to counterbalance the inaction of the federal government. It's really true that 10% of people do 90% of the work.
Love Michael Lewis and his ability to tell true stories with a narrative style. What a look at the way our bureaucracy failed but was set up for that failure long before COVID. Would recommend for anyone and can't wait to dig into another of his books
It's frightening how similar this was to Atlas Shrugged.
More of Michael Lewis doing that thing that Michael Lewis does: taking one of the greatest stories of the moment, and then finding the stories within the story and telling them in the most engaging way possible.
The Premonition is a story of COVID-19, but also of all pandemics, and of the struggles within the scientific community and within the U.S. government to prepare for and respond to the most deadly disasters that our society faces. It is the story of a team of technocrats, the "Wolverines", some of whom came up with the country's pandemic plan during the George W. Bush administration and tried to use it to fight the COVID-19 pandemic during the Trump administration.
There are so many lessons in this book about science, bureaucracy, technocracy, risk management, and more. But Lewis–as usual–does not tell you what to think about it. Lewis writes books that start conversations, not books that end them. And in the case of this book, it is quite literal. The stories and facts within this story are so fascinating, you will not be able to read this book without talking about it to everyone you know.
Michael Lewis is as brilliant in The Premonition as he is in any of his other books. He doesn't write a word more than he needs to, and he packs so much story into what he writes. This ranks right up there with Lewis's best books. It is one of the books that everyone has to read to understand the COVID-19 pandemic, the defining event of our time.
The Premonition is a story of COVID-19, but also of all pandemics, and of the struggles within the scientific community and within the U.S. government to prepare for and respond to the most deadly disasters that our society faces. It is the story of a team of technocrats, the "Wolverines", some of whom came up with the country's pandemic plan during the George W. Bush administration and tried to use it to fight the COVID-19 pandemic during the Trump administration.
There are so many lessons in this book about science, bureaucracy, technocracy, risk management, and more. But Lewis–as usual–does not tell you what to think about it. Lewis writes books that start conversations, not books that end them. And in the case of this book, it is quite literal. The stories and facts within this story are so fascinating, you will not be able to read this book without talking about it to everyone you know.
Michael Lewis is as brilliant in The Premonition as he is in any of his other books. He doesn't write a word more than he needs to, and he packs so much story into what he writes. This ranks right up there with Lewis's best books. It is one of the books that everyone has to read to understand the COVID-19 pandemic, the defining event of our time.
Lewis is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. Clear prose, engaging story-telling, and a gift for simplifying complexity. The Premonition explores the history of pandemic prevention and examines the U.S.'s initial response to COVID-19. More than a few scientists and public health officials truly played heroic roles, and many did not. The book also peers into bureaucratic and political incompetencies and how they hindered preventive measures. Ultimately, however, this is a study of frustration, which is both fascinating and frustrating.