The Premonition

A Pandemic Story

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

'It's a foreboding,' she said. 'A knowing that something is looming around the corner. Like how when the seasons change you can smell fall in the air right before the leaves change and the wind turns cold.'

In January 2020, as people started dying from a new virus in Wuhan, China, few really understood the magnitude of what was happening. Except, that is, a small group of scientific misfits who in their different ways had been obsessed all their lives with how viruses spread and replicated - and with why the governments and the institutions that were supposed to look after us, kept making the same mistakes time and again.

This group saw what nobody else did. A pandemic was coming. We weren't prepared.

The Premonition is the extraordinary story of a group who anticipated, traced and hunted the coronavirus; who understood the need to think differently, to learn from history, to question everything; and to do all of this fast, in order to act, to save lives, communities, society itself. It's a story about the workings of the human mind; about the failures and triumphs of human judgment and imagination. It's the story of how we got to now.

©2021 Michael Lewis (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Excellent story marred by very poor narration

This is a fascinating look into the handling of the pandemic. Very well written. The narration was disappointing. The narrator may suit other types of books but, in this case, the narrator had poor diction and a jarring vocal lilt. This was a shame as it distracted from a very good story.

Classic Mike Lewis - VERY enjoyable.

Reads like a thriller. Unbelievable how fragmented the US healthcare system is and how badly the Federal government behaved. A few heroes come to the fore.

Narration

The content was fascinating but the narration was really poor. The narrator doesn’t seem to grasp how to pause in the correct places and really detracted from the book which is a great pity

A well-told case study

This is Lewis's normal tasty and nutritious fare, served up beautifully by narrator Ojo. Her tone pairs perfectly with his writing.

Horrible narration

As others have noted, it feels like it’s read by AI, some sort of text to speech. Its painful to listen to, this has never happened to me. I’ve tried to return it but was unable to, but I’m really not sure what’s going on. There’s no way this is meant to sound like this.

Unenjoyable book

This is a formulaic Michael Lewis book that does not work in the pandemic setting. The assumption the hero’s are right, the system wrong. No debate just the hidden hero saving the day.

Narration was also poor.

Terrible book made worse by terrible narrator

Terrible book made worse by terrible narrator. Michael Lewis is a fantastic writer and it’s such a shame this audiobook didn’t do his writing justice.