Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus

by David Quammen Narrated by Jacques Roy

Overview

National Book Award finalist Breathless tells the story of the worldwide scientific race to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source, and make possible the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic-a “luminous, passionate account of the defining crisis of our time” (The New York Times).

Breathless is a “gripping” (The Atlantic) but “clear-eyed analysis” (Time) 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 labor to catch it, 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

Written by “one of our finest explainers of the natural world for decades” (Chicago Tribune), This “compelling and terrifying” (The New York Times) account is an unparalleled look inside the frantic international race to understand and control SARS-CoV-2-and what it might mean for the next potential global health crisis.

Editorial Reviews

Chicago Tribune

Breathless is as close to authoritative history — from the virus’s origins to vaccines and variants — as we have, told through scientists involved, and the signature ease of Quammen’s prose. It reads like a thriller in real-time."

Oprahdaily.com

"A supernova among science journalists and lauded author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover now tackles the most sprawling news story on the planet, the Covid-19 pandemic. . . . Quammen’s narrative finesse is peerless as he meticulously dissects the waves of mass infections, Wuhan to Alpha to Delta to Omicron."

The New York Times - Michael Sims

"Compelling and terrifying. . . . A luminous, passionate account of the defining crisis of our time."

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

An authoritative new history of Covid-19 and its predecessors. . . . [Quammen] constructs a masterful account of viral evolution culminating in Covid-19. . . . Unsettling global health news brilliantly delivered by an expert.

The Wall Street Journal - Scott Gottlieb

Three years into the pandemic, Mr. Quammen, a prolific science journalist and author, uncovers all sorts of details about the efforts to investigate the spread of Covid and discern the features that made it so menacing. . . . An engagingly written chronicle of scientific inquiry.

Science News - Erin Garcia de Jesús

Breathless presents the sweeping scientific story of the pandemic, connecting puzzle pieces that at the time had felt so out of place.

Booklist (starred review)

"A masterful scientific detective story. . . . Quammen delivers a demanding and essential book about COVID-19."

The Atlantic - Joshua Sokol

"Gripping. . . . Breathless, like the virus it depicts, is a dramatic culmination of an idea that Quammen introduced many of us to in Spillover: that the science story of viral ecology could very easily become the biggest story on planet Earth."

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Science journalist Quammen recounts in page-turning detail the scientific response to the Covid-19 pandemic. . . . A must-read for anyone looking to get a better handle on the pandemic so far."

Booklilst (starred review)

A masterful scientific detective study.”

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2022-06-30
An authoritative new history of Covid-19 and its predecessors.

Prolific, award-winning science writer Quammen bring his story up to 2022, as the pandemic enters its third year with no end in sight. Authors who begin with 2019 events in the Wuhan meat market are fated to end with an anticlimax, but Quammen, casting his net more widely, does not have this problem. In addition to a hair-raising account of the ongoing pandemic, the author delivers an insightful education on public health and an introduction to numerous deadly epidemics over the past 50 years. He also educates readers about the centurylong history of the coronavirus, which produced two nasty epidemics before the current one. Once known as a mundane cause of the common cold, the first “killer coronavirus” emerged from a Chinese food market in 2003, killing about 800 of 8,000 victims across the world before disappearing. SARS-CoV didn’t spread until symptoms developed, so it was not difficult to identify cases, trace contacts, and set effective quarantine guidelines. This was also true of the MERS-CoV epidemic that began in 2012 and killed 76 of 178 people, mostly on the Arabian Peninsula. The current pandemic remains horrendously difficult to control because asymptomatic individuals can still spread the virus. Having delivered this bad news, Quammen chronicles his tours around the world (often via Zoom due to lockdowns), grilling a Greek chorus of nearly 100 scientists and health officials whose extensive biographies fill a 43-page appendix. Skirting the mostly dismal politics displayed by national leaders, the author constructs a masterful account of viral evolution culminating in Covid-19, which has displayed the dazzling ability to circumvent our natural and then technology-enhanced immune system. Perhaps the best news is that killing a host is irrelevant; viruses give priority to multiplying and spreading, so it’s possible that Covid-19 will adapt to our adaptations and grow less virulent. One of the latest variants, Omicron, is a dramatic example.

Unsettling global health news brilliantly delivered by an expert.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175480901
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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