When you buy a used copy YOU SAVE
Carbon Dioxide
1.09Kg of CO2
Water
136 litre(s) of Water
Tree
0.0082 Tree(s)
donate
1 book donated to global literacy projects

Spike :The Virus vs. The People - the Inside Story

4.46 ( 1,288 Ratings by Goodreads)
Spike

Spike :The Virus vs. The People - the Inside Story

(Author) (Author)
4.46 (1,288 Ratings by Goodreads)
hardback
Published: 22 July, 2021
Standard worldwide delivery by Tue, June 16 - Fri, June 19
Order within 0
Promo Badge
Condition: USED
$7.93
RRP $20.07
You save $12.15 (61%)
Price includes shipping
Available 4 in stock
- +
Add to basket Wishlist This
FREE Returns within 30 days
More Details

Popular Books by Jeremy Farrar

View All Books by Jeremy Farrar
Spike
Spike
Jeremy Farrar
$6.76 $13.38
Used
Add to basket
Manson's Tropical Diseases
Manson's Tropical Diseases
Jeremy Farrar
$192.80 $234.32
New
Add to basket

Description

THE TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR A GUARDIAN BEST POLITICS BOOK OF THE YEAR A TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A pulse-racing journey through the science and politics of the pandemic. Did the UK government really 'follow the science' throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, as it claims? The Coronavirus pandemic has devastated lives and livelihoods around the world - and continues to do so. These personal tragedies will, and must, be told and heard. There is, however, also a truthful and objective scientific narrative to be written about how the virus played out and how the world set about dealing with it. Spike is that story - from the inside. Its author, Jeremy Farrar, is one of the UK's leading scientists and a ­­member of the SAGE emergency committee. As head of the Wellcome Trust, and an expert in emerging infectious diseases, Jeremy Farrar was one of the first people in the world to hear about a mysterious new respiratory disease in China - and to learn that it could readily spread between people. Farrar describes how it feels as one of the key scientists at the sharp end of a fast-moving situation, when complex decisions must be made quickly amid great uncertainty. His book casts light on the UK government's claims to be 'following the science' in its response to the virus, and is informed not just by Farrar's views but by interviews with other top scientists and political figures. Farrar, who has spent his career on the frontlines of epidemics including Nipah virus in Malaysia, bird flu in Vietnam and Ebola in West Africa, also reflects on the wider issues of Covid-19: the breath-taking scientific advances in creating tests, treatments and vaccines; the challenge to world leaders to respond for the global good and the need to address inequalities that hold back success against the virus. All these shape how the world ultimately fares not just against Covid-19, but against all the major he­­alth challenges we face globally.
Prizes

Short-listed for Orwell Prize 2022 (UK),Short-listed for Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books 2022 (UK)

See more

More Details

Type Book
ISBN13 9781788169226
ISBN10 1788169220
Number Of Pages 272
Item Weight 442 g
Product Dimensions 138 x 218 x 32 mm
Publisher / Reseller Profile Books Ltd
Format hardback
Edition Main
See More +

Media Reviews

An explosive book about what he witnessed inside government * The Times *
Urgent and fascinating ... We need memoirs like these, and we need to learn what they are telling us. Quickly. -- Debora Mackenzie * Guardian *
Farrar's riveting "inside story" of his efforts to warn the world of the looming pandemic and devise countermeasures ... a searing indictment of the government's serial failures to follow the science. -- Mark Honigsbaum * Observer *
The best first-hand account of the first weeks of the pandemic published to date. The passages on the genetic code being smuggled out of China are thrilling and insights into the way Sage and Downing Street operated in those early days are fascinating ... it is refreshingly undiplomatic, honest and brutal in its assessment. -- Ben Spencer * Sunday Times *
Spike - a scientist's version of Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year - is a necessary insider's account of how the pandemic was, and should have been, handled ... It is a closely observed and deeply analysed case study of the intersection between science and politics. Beware of politicians claiming to be following the science. There are lessons to be learnt as to how to handle the next pandemic when it comes. Farrar lays them out. The world needs to take heed. -- Michael Marmot * Financial Times *
A gripping account of the murky interplay between science, medicine, politics, and the media while COVID-19 ravaged the globe ... Farrar brings the insider's access, Ahuja the sense of pace and plot that makes an unfolding public health crisis read like a John le Carré spy thriller -- Rachel Clarke * Lancet *
Reads like a thriller ... tells how the news of Covid-19 first reached the world's scientists, how the pandemic unfolded and how governments reacted and failed to cope -- Joan Bakewell * New Statesman Books of the Year *
A frank inside account, grippingly written * Times Science Book of the Year *
As gripping as a thriller ... Combining candour about what the scientists got wrong with horror stories about the chaos inside Downing Street, it concludes with a fascinating examination of why the argument for a lockdown last autumn was lost ... An important account of how judgment can get clouded in a crisis -- Gaby Hinsliff * Guardian *

Show more

Author's Bio

Jeremy Farrar is Director of the Wellcome Trust and, as an expert on infectious disease, is a member of the UK government's SAGE committee on Covid-19. He was one of the first people in the world to know about and alert the global community to Covid-19. He will be directing his royalties from SPIKE to charity. Anjana Ahuja is the Financial Times science columnist and a freelance writer who has covered the coronavirus outbreak extensively since its beginnings in January 2020. She holds a PhD from Imperial College London.

Show more