National Book Award finalist Breathless tells the story of the worldwide scientific race to
decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 trace its source and make possible the vaccines to fight
the Covid-19 pandemic-a luminous passionate account of the defining crisis of our time. (The
New York Times). Breathless is a gripping (The Atlantic) but clear-eyed analysis (Time) 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 in one variant form or another. As scientists labor 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 -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 -The precise origins of this virus may not be known for years
but some clues are compelling and some suppositions can be dismissed -And much more Written by
one of our finest explainers of the natural world for decades (Chicago Tribune) This
compelling and terrifying (The New York Times) account is an unparalleled look inside the
frantic international race to understand and control SARS-CoV-2-and what it might mean for the
next potential global health crisis.
