The premonition : a pandemic story

304 pages

English language

Published April 10, 2021

ISBN:: 978-0-393-88155-4

(1 review)

For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.

Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has …

For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.

Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.

1 edition

Thom reviewed The premonition : a pandemic story by Michael Lewis

Review of 'The Premonition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The first part of this book is 5 stars; the second part a solid 4 stars, and the remainder falls down a bit - perhaps because the story is still being revealed.

The main villain here is the CDC, which is far more political than I had realized. The author shows in the final chapter just how, and the 1976 vilification of David Sencer was eye-opening. Bill Foege in 1983, caving to aspirin companies instead of truly reporting Reye's syndrome was also depressing.

This change of focus is the sole reason the book doesn't merit 5 stars. Lewis has gathered together the interesting stories behind the scenes, as he usually does, and I found the book hard to put down. My premonition is that this will be republished years from now with added chapters showing how the story ended. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.