Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Fake it til you make it, I guess. This book was very informative and shed numerous light to the fraud in Silicon Valley concerning Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. I was knowledgeable of the case prior to reading, which helped follow the storyline. However, to someone who is not up to date on the case, it would have probably been harder to follow. The same event was brought up three different times from three different perspectives. Though this was crucial to the overall story, it was confusing to follow at times. There's a bunch of names introduced all at once and it could get overwhelming to follow since the same part of the story is repeated numerous times.
I advise anyone who wants to dive into this to familiarize yourself with the company and case prior, as this dives into specifics right off the bat. Once you have an understanding of "who" its easier to read the "what happened."

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plumpatio's review against another edition

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informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Late to the party, I had yet to watch any adaptations or read beyond the headlines when I downloaded this audiobook. Read by the author, this account layers the various accounts from his reporting for WSJ and, toward the end, provides insight into his own encounters with Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes as the fraud began to unravel. Helpful in providing detailed context to what I already knew broadly regarding the biotechnology startup, I appreciate Carreyrou's refusal to speculate wildly about motivations, but am still left wondering how exactly Holmes rationalized her behavior and how she expected to pull it off.

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ethrbo's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

4.75

4.75 stars. A concise, compelling account of Theranos chronicling the rise and fall of the unicorn biotech company. Bad Blood should appeal to those who have an interest in biosciences/biomedicine or criminal fraud/economic crime. I greatly enjoyed the narration from the whistle-blower himself. As a novice non-fiction reader, I found that this was a thoroughly enjoyable read and it gave me greater confidence to explore and inquire further beyond my comfort zone.

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