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  • Breathless

  • The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus
  • By: David Quammen
  • Narrated by: Jacques Roy
  • Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (17 ratings)
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Breathless cover art

Breathless

By: David Quammen
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
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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

What listeners say about Breathless

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Honest

It's a extremely good account of the science investigating the pandemic. I have learned so much and finally feel I know what happened.

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excellent

as always, Quammen writes lyrically and engagingly about the subject. enjoyed it throughout and might go back to the start to listen to it all over again.

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Brilliantly written and informative

Another wonderful book by the author. Explained well enough for the lay person to read

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Noooooooooo

Oh the disappointment!
I’ve been refreshing my app hourly waiting for this book to go live.
Spillover is one of my favourite books ever.
I’ve been anticipating this release since the start of covid.
But the narrator is dreadful
Why do authors do this?
I’m going to have to suffer on, as I’m a David Quammen mega fan, but I cannot tell you how let down I feel.

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