The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age
"[A] quietly terrifying book. . . . It’s hard not to feel a bit feverish at times while reading."--The Boston Globe"One of the world’s foremost virus hunters."--Financial Times"Wolfe makes a convincing case for the [viral pandemic] threat. . . . Sometimes the scariest thrillers are those that could play out in real life."--Science News"An excellent piece of scientific gothic, rich in descriptions of the threat we face from emerging viruses and how we might prevent them from becoming pandemic. . . . This enjoyable, well researched and thought-provoking book shows that [Wolfe] has a clear vision of how pandemics occur in human populations."--Nature"[An] engrossing and fast-paced chronicle of medical exploration and discovery."—Publishers Weekly"Startling in its revelations of just how vulnerable we are to infectious outbreaks."--Book Page"Wolfe’s message is both compelling and timely… Wolfe graphically illustrates how viruses can hitchhike their way from benign passenger to poison, from lone gunman to mass murderer. Luckily he and his international microbiologist cohorts are hot onto ways not only to track viral outbreaks and head them off but also convert them into human helpers—vaccines."—Booklist"Highly recommend for all readers. This important book should be read by anyone wanting to stay informed on how global medical issues affect us all."—Library Journal"From a well-traveled virologist, an eloquent argument for why we need better ways to predict and thus prevent major disease outbreaks… Wolfe’s wide experience confronting killer diseases in Africa and Asia makes for important, graphic reading and underscores his passion for prevention."—Kirkus Reviews"By turns terrifying and comforting,The Viral Stormis a clear, riveting account of the threat of undiscovered viruses. They lurk in the blood of primates killed for bush meat, poised to hitchhike on global travelers, reaching major cities and blood supplies before there's even time to name them. Nathan Wolfe is saving the world from near-inevitable pandemic. That he had time to write a kick-ass book on top of all that makes me want to smack him."—Mary Roach, author ofStiffandPacking for Mars"Nathan Wolfe brilliantly explores the threat of pandemics, how they occur and why we should care. This book offers a warning—but also hope—to us all. The next pandemic is coming. How we deal with it is up to us. This is must reading for anyone who cares about their health, the health of their families and civilization as we know it."—Jeff Skoll, first President of eBay, Founder and Chairman of Participant Media, and Founder and Chairman, Skoll Global Threats Fund"Nathan Wolfe is a charismatic rising star of the medical world."—Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofGuns, Germs, and SteelandCollapse"This is an astonishingly lucid book on an important topic. Deeply researched, yet effortlessly recounted, Wolfe's mix of biology, history, medicine, and first-hand experience is potent and irresistible. This is a book that you cannot put down. In the tradition of Laurie Garrett'sThe Coming Plague, Wolfe's work will change the way we imagine and patrol human epidemics."—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofThe Emperor of All Maladies