One of my 2020 resolutions was to read one book a month for the entire year. Well, the COVID-19 quarantine has most certainly helped fulfill that goal. Below I review 6 books I have read since April, some relevant to the shutdown life, others not so much. Nonetheless, reading has been something to do to fill these unprecedented times.
Book #1 –The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, by Ben Macintyre
Talk about a thriller! Oleg Gordievsky is a KGB spy, who feels his homeland the Soviet Union is a heartless, merciless regime. So, he becomes a double agent for England’s MI6, and against all odds manages to escape the communist country when a mole for the CIA outs him to his superiors.
This book started off a little slow, but eventually became quite the page turner! It was a fantastic read about international espionage in the 1970s-1980s. I was especially fascinated by the lengths spies went to fool not only their enemies, but their own colleagues! It was astounding. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend.
4.5/5
Book #2 – Influenza, by Jeremy Brown
Timely book given the COVID-19 pandemic. Essentially, we are woefully underprepared for a pandemic influenza strain, which would ravage the world in mere months. Our basic understanding of influenza is lacking, and forecasting when seasonal flu will begin the afflict the world and developing and predicting an effective vaccine is incredibly difficult. The 1918 pandemic flu should never be forgotten!
I appreciated this book wholeheartedly. It is a great crash course into understanding the flu, and Dr. Brown does a wonderful job describing how our immune response reacts the virus itself in laymen’s terms. He also dives deep into the history of the flu, particularly the 1918 influenza strain (H1N1 swine flu) about it’s discovery and subsequent manipulation in the laboratory, briefly touching on the topic of creating a “superflu” which could be devastating to the world’s population. I recommend this book as well. For more in-depth review check out my review here.
4/5
Book #3 – Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell does it again! We severely overestimate our ability to understand the intent or motives of people we know, let alone people we just met! Even with overwhelming evidence against the contrary, we default to the truth and give people the benefit of the doubt. Too often we believe into stereotypes or phony alibis when simple deductions or science can prove otherwise.
I feel like a broken record, but again this book was a fantastic read. Dr. Gladwell so poignantly describes how terrible we humans are at literally talking to strangers. Whether our closest colleagues are CIA double agents (see The Spy and the Traitor), involved in Bernie Madoff Ponzi schemes, or suffering from depression, we as a human society completely miss the mark on being able to unveil the truth when it is so blatantly right in front of our eyes. I could not stop reading this book. It made me want to challenge myself, and almost made me think twice before judging my friends and others without knowing their full story. This is a must read, 4.6/5.
Book #4 – Catch and Kill, by Ronan Farrow
Farrow spent years uncovering the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse and rape allegations while working as an investigative reporter for NBC. When he finally had enough evidence to bring the truth to light, NBC buried the story – still heavily under the influence of the movie mogul himself.
It was sad to read just how much influence Harvey had over the media. He was able to strong arm so many reporters and journalists into submission even after they possessed overwhelming evidence of him sexually abusing women for decades. This book documents just how corrupt the world can be, and it is extremely alarming to realize that Farrow’s relentless and unwavering pursuit for the truth sheds light on only one single predator. Another must read.
4.1/5
Book #5 – The End of October, by Lawrence Wright (FICTION)
An ancient influenza virus wreaks havoc on the world and kills hundreds of millions of people. War breaks out in the Middle East, and Russian and the United States are begin cyberwarfare, while a CDC doctor races to find a vaccine and survive himself.
I’ll admit, I’m not one to read fiction. I bought this because I thought it was non-fiction and am currently obsessed with pandemic infectious disease reading. But this book was a meandering story navigating between the CDC, a submarine, family life, Washington, D.C., etc. I just thought there were way too many storylines occurring at once that did not contribute to the overall narrative. The last 30 pages were the very best of the book, and I think the story would have been much more appreciative introducing that ancient pathogen much earlier in the story.
2/5
Book #6 – Crisis in the Red Zone, by Richard Preston
Another timely book. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was devastating to local populations and also brought Ebola to the United States. Without an available vaccine, what is the best treatment to provide for Ebola-stricken patients, and how can international cooperation best defeat this virus?
This was another fascinating read by Preston, and a great follow-up to his previous Ebola book The Hot Zone (see my review here). Ebola is a devastating virus – it literally liquefies the organs and can have a mortality rate of up to 90% if left untreated. Although scientists are unable to identify the reservoir host in nature, we can ascertain that the virus resides within bat species and jumps into humans after close interactions, a phenomenon known as a spillover of a zoonotic disease. This thrilling tale following the major actors that mitigated the 2014 outbreak in Sierra Leone and Liberia highlights the urgent need to develop vaccines against hemorrhagic viruses, and why we desperately need to be better prepared against the next pandemic threat.
4.3/5