Breathless

The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus

By: David Quammen

Narrated by: Jacques Roy

Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the author of the powerful, prescient Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

Breathless is the 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.

Here 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. As scientists labour 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; that 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; and that the precise origins of this virus may not be known for years but some clues are compelling, and some suppositions can be dismissed.

Breathless takes us 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 David Quammen (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Ryan Kerney

Audible is terrible for science. I only listen to books on science, and am often given recommendations for titles by Alex Jones or “The Real Anthony Fauci” by Robert Kennedy Jr. These are poorly researched conspiracies that should have their own, separate, section.

The Quammen book is in keeping with his other titles on viruses, evolution, and wildlife. While I prefer reading books on science by practicing scientists, Quammen is part of a dedicated core of “science communicators” who at least strive for accuracy. He also writes well.

This is an objective treatment of a pressing topic with broad implications for preventing future pandemics. It supports a thesis that our treatment of animals is likely responsible for most of the five human coronaviruses discovered in the past 20 years, and likely the most devastating: sars-Cov2. It does not mention the “One Health Initiative,” but it probably should. There are better ways to steward the natural world that would be better for people and the planet.

We are the authors of our own demise

This book should be compulsory reading for anyone who wishes to understand the timeline and history of COVID. Although no definite answers arise from where it came from, all possible avenues are explored.

This book leaves me with the feeling that the more we interfere with nature, nature will fight back with serious weapons. I don't know if that is the author's aim, but that is the sense that I am left with.

Quammen is known for his ability to explain tricky topics with clarity without making you feel that his is talking down to you.

A timely reminder and eye opener.