A review by papyruskaisla
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

informative tense medium-paced

5.0

It's my first time reading a book that is wholly nonfiction yet written in a way where it's portrayed like fiction. There's the occasional dialogue and a omniscient voice that tells you exactly what people might be feeling. Thus, I wouldn't exactly take everything said on face value. Aside from this one caveat the book did end up being so engaging that I think I would have finished it in a mere two days if I wasn't busy! The fictionalized tone makes the story more digestible for the regular person, I admit.

This book serves as a cautionary tale to anyone who is feeling too much hype about emerging technologies. Most of the people who were financially scammed in this decade long scam were the wealthy 1%; however, regular people were certainly affected too. It's almost laughable how easily scammed the investors were and how many people seem to rely on character judgements instead of hard cold evidence. This book is not only a case study of people's greed but the failure of critical thinking.

I would consider this case as a landmark case study that anyone should be considerably informed on. Given that this book was written by the journalist that broke the story, it's likely the most comprehensive source about the Theranos scandal. It specifically gives a timeline from start to finish as well as a summary in the form of the epilogue that talks in detail about the court case and the verdict.

If you take anything from this book it's the all common "be wary of something that seems too good to be true".