Pandora's Gamble

Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk

By: Alison Young

Narrated by: Pamela Almand

This fearless, deeply reported book about laboratory accidents asks the haunting question some elite scientists don’t want the public to entertain: Did the COVID-19 pandemic start with a lab leak in Wuhan, China?

This is an obvious question. Yet there’s been an extraordinary effort by government officials in China, as well as leading scientific experts in the United States and around the world, to shut down any investigation or discussion of the lab leak theory. In private, however, some of the world’s elite scientists have seen a lab accident as a very real and horrifying possibility. They know what the public doesn’t. Lab accidents happen with shocking frequency. Even at the world’s best-run labs.

That’s among the revelations from Alison Young, the award-winning investigative reporter who has spent nearly 15 years uncovering shocking safety breaches at prestigious U.S. laboratories for USA Today and other respected news outlets.

In Pandora’s Gamble, Young goes deep into the troubling history -- and enormous risks -- of leaks and accidents at scientific labs. She takes readers on a riveting journey around the world to some of the worst lab mishaps in history, including the largely unknown stories of the lab workers at the U.S. Army’s Camp Detrick who suffered devastating infections at alarming rates during World War II. And her groundbreaking reporting exposes for the first time disturbing new details about recent accidents at prestigious laboratories – and the alarming gaps in government oversight that put all of us at risk.

Sourced through meticulous reporting and exclusive interviews with key players including Dr. Anthony Fauci, former CDC Director Tom Frieden and others, Young’s examination reveals that the only thing rare about lab accidents is the public rarely finds out about them. Because when accidents happen, powerful people and institutions often work hard to keep the information secret.

Critic reviews

"Before the rest of us were paying attention, Alison Young was covering the dangers of safety lapses at the world’s top laboratories. She opens her meticulously reported, deeply alarming book by exploring the 'horrifying possibility' that Covid-19 was the result of just such a breach in China. Essential reading for policymakers – and the public."—Susan Page, Washington Bureau chief, USA TODAY, and author of Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power

facts & details

I like all of the facts that the book provided about covid19 and how it originated and was spread but the book was somewhat boring.

put an n95 on cause this sucks

the book is phenomenal, it's our systems that suck. get some n95s and wear them in public because no one is coming to help us.

This book again shows the critical role of investigative journalists

Phenomenal book and investigative work. Even science has become politicised and it’s increasingly important to educate oneself through works like this book. Highly recommend.

It's sure not a conspiracy and never was

I really liked this book and all those who denied this as a conspiracy theory are proven wrong and Alison Young is right. Even though she was blocked at every turn by the administration and bureacrats who didn't want the world to know the truth, she wrote a really good exposee. It is hard to see why ths country tries so hard to protect China but that is what they're doing. This book was a super listen and reader kept my interest and even gave it the tension and suspense in places that you hear in a thriller novel.

Detailed & documented expose of biolabs

This is an expose of the hazards and coverups in the world's level 3 and 4 biocontainment labs and what they are actually doing and it should scare the heck ot of us all. The coverups during COVID are just the tip the iceberg and what is still being covered up is monstrous. Clear, concise, and hugely terrifying. Narrator was riveting and handled the terminology and detailed documentation without making it boring. I purchased the ebook, too, just to verify some of the footnotes and this author proved to be extremely accurate and dogged in her perseverance in this investigation. I found it accurate and eye-opening and frightening.