jbmorgan86's review against another edition
4.0
National Book Award (2022) Read, Non-Fiction - Breathless is a science heavy book written in the style of a mystery thriller about the origins and early days of COVID-19. While, admittedly, much of the science was over my head, I was enthralled with the writing style.
I’m no conspiracy theorist but I’m now a skeptic regarding the origins of COVID-19.
I’m no conspiracy theorist but I’m now a skeptic regarding the origins of COVID-19.
catbooking's review
5.0
Very informative, even if most of the answers were of the 'we do not know for sure' variety. It was also nice to have an overview of events once a bit of time had passed. When you are in the middle of it all it is hard to decide which discoveries are important and which are noise, and if any of them, when put together, make a coherent picture.
As long as you have a basic understanding of science, this book should not pose much a challenge.
As long as you have a basic understanding of science, this book should not pose much a challenge.
jeremyanderberg's review against another edition
4.0
My initial, instinctual rating for this book was a 3. What bumps it up to a 4 are two things: 1) there are some absolutely brilliant lines and takeaways between the dense science and 2) it's obvious that Quammen did a *ridiculous* amount of research in a small period of time to get this book published. It's an important work of history and it's a guarantee that you can trust whatever is coming from Quammen's pen. It's a spectacular book, if often inaccessible, on the science and early history of the COVID-19 pandemic.