Breathless

The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus

David Quammen

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Paperback

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English

Bodley Head
01 November 2022

Infectious & contagious diseases; Medical microbiology & virology; Mathematics & Sciences; Impact of science & technology on society; Human biology

The definitive story of the worldwide scientific quest to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source, and make possible the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

Breathless is the story of SARS-CoV-2 and its fierce journey through the human population, as seen by the scientists who study its origin, its ever-changing nature, and its capacity to kill us. David Quammen expertly shows how strange new viruses emerge from animals into humans as we disrupt wild ecosystems, and how those viruses adapt to their human hosts, sometimes causing global catastrophe. He explains why this coronavirus will probably be a 'forever virus', destined to circulate among humans and bedevil us endlessly, in one variant form or another. As scientists labour to catch it and comprehend it and control it, with their high-tech tools and methods, the virus finds ways of escape.

Based on interviews with nearly one hundred scientists, including leading virologists in China and around the world, Quammen explains that-

-Infectious disease experts saw this pandemic coming -Some scientists, for more than two decades, warned that 'the next big one' would be caused by a changeable new virus-very possibly a coronavirus-but such warnings were ignored for political or economic reasons -The precise origins of this virus may not be known for years, but some clues are compelling, and some suppositions can be dismissed -And much more.

Breathless takes you inside the frantic international effort to understand and control SARS-CoV-2 as if we were peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists who led the chase.

By: David Quammen
Imprint: Bodley Head
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 31mm
Weight: 511g
ISBN: 9781847926692
ISBN 10: 184792669X
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 01 November 2022
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

David Quammen is a recipient of the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the author of several acclaimed natural history titles. His book, The Song of the Dodo, won the BP Natural World Book Prize in 1996.

Reviews for Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus

Will likely prove to be a classic in the history of science ... a masterpiece' * Stanley Prusiner, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine * A frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting that reads like a detective story * Walter Isaacson on Spillover * Fascinating and terrifying, Spillover is a real-life thriller with an outcome that affects us all * Elizabeth Kolbert on Spillover * A tremendous book... this gives you all you need to know and should know. Quammen's research and analysis makes sensationalism unnecessary * Sunday Times on Spillover * Chilling... [A] brilliant, devastating book * Daily Mail on Spillover *