Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19

Author:   Alina Chan ,  Matt Ridley
Publisher:   HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:  

9780008487508


Pages:   400
Publication Date:   16 November 2021
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19


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Overview

Understanding how Covid-19 started is more important than we know for the future of humankind.  Determining whether the virus came from nature or from a lab will help us to safeguard against the next pandemic. This disease will forever punctuate modern history. It has led to the deaths of millions, sickened hundreds of millions and affected the lives of almost every person on the planet. We now know that Covid is here to stay. Genetic engineering expert Dr Alina Chan and renowned science writer Matt Ridley examine the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, using their formidable skills to scrutinise arguments and rigorously analyse the sprawling data. Viral is a fascinating account that takes in pangolins, horseshoe bats, internet sleuths and misleading scientific papers. It details the evidence and investigates hypotheses for the virus origin, chief among them a potential laboratory leak or a natural spillover. Science has made great strides over the last decades. Chan and Ridley give an insight into the proliferating pathogen research and virus hunting around the world. Whatever the source of the virus, the world needs to adopt new policies and strategies to prevent or mitigate future outbreaks. Set in the caves and mineshafts, food markets and wildlife smugglers’ stores, laboratories and databases of China and elsewhere, Viral is a page-turner that reads like a detective novel and goes deeper into the deepest mystery of the day than any other work. This is the book on the search for the origin of Covid-19.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alina Chan ,  Matt Ridley
Publisher:   HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint:   Fourth Estate Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 3.10cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9780008487508


ISBN 10:   0008487502
Pages:   400
Publication Date:   16 November 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Reviews

Praise for Dr Alina Chan: 'Both journalists and armchair detectives interested in the mystery of the coronavirus were discovering Chan as a kind of Holmes to our Watson. She crunched information at twice our speed, zeroing in on small details we'd overlooked, and became a go-to for anyone looking for spin-free explications of the latest science on Covid-19' Rowan Jacobsen, Boston Magazine 'Here was an actual scientist at America's biggest gene centre who was explaining why the official story might be wrong' Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review Praise for Matt Ridley: 'What a superb writer he is, and he seems to get better and better' Richard Dawkins '[Genome is] a dazzling work of popular science, offering clarity and inspiration' Guardian '[How Innovation Works] ranges from the truly profound to the merely fascinating' Steven Pinker


'The result is a viral whodunnit that is sure to appeal to armchair detectives' Mark Honigsbaum, the Observer 'The book collates a series of circumstantial but damning points in favour of the lab-leak hypothesis. It opens with a cloak-and-dagger scene of a BBC reporter trying to reach a mine in Mojiang, a rural area in southwest China... The book has dozens of tantalising facts ... The book, fairly, does not conclude that the lab leak hypothesis is definitely true, merely that it is highly possible, and I agree... I hope the questions that Chan and Ridley raise are answered more fully, one way or another' Tom Chivers, The Times Praise for Dr Alina Chan: 'Both journalists and armchair detectives interested in the mystery of the coronavirus were discovering Chan as a kind of Holmes to our Watson. She crunched information at twice our speed, zeroing in on small details we'd overlooked, and became a go-to for anyone looking for spin-free explications of the latest science on Covid-19' Rowan Jacobsen, Boston Magazine 'Here was an actual scientist at America's biggest gene centre who was explaining why the official story might be wrong' Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review Praise for Matt Ridley: 'What a superb writer he is, and he seems to get better and better' Richard Dawkins '[Genome is] a dazzling work of popular science, offering clarity and inspiration' Guardian '[How Innovation Works] ranges from the truly profound to the merely fascinating' Steven Pinker


‘Spectacularly well informed on the origins . . . Balanced and fair-minded’ Richard Dawkins ‘A masterpiece’ Jeremy Hunt, MP ‘The result is a viral whodunnit that is sure to appeal to armchair detectives’ Mark Honigsbaum, the Observer ‘The book collates a series of circumstantial but damning points in favour of the lab-leak hypothesis. It opens with a cloak-and-dagger scene of a BBC reporter trying to reach a mine in Mojiang, a rural area in southwest China… The book has dozens of tantalising facts … The book, fairly, does not conclude that the lab leak hypothesis is definitely true, merely that it is highly possible, and I agree… I hope the questions that Chan and Ridley raise are answered more fully, one way or another’ Tom Chivers, The Times Praise for Dr Alina Chan: ‘Both journalists and armchair detectives interested in the mystery of the coronavirus were discovering Chan as a kind of Holmes to our Watson. She crunched information at twice our speed, zeroing in on small details we’d overlooked, and became a go-to for anyone looking for spin-free explications of the latest science on Covid-19’ Rowan Jacobsen, Boston Magazine ‘Here was an actual scientist at America’s biggest gene centre who was explaining why the official story might be wrong’ Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review Praise for Matt Ridley: ‘[Genome is] a dazzling work of popular science, offering clarity and inspiration’ Guardian ‘[How Innovation Works] ranges from the truly profound to the merely fascinating’ Steven Pinker


Author Information

Matt Ridley received his BA and D Phil at Oxford researching the evolution of behaviour. He has been science editor, Washington correspondent and American editor of The Economist. He has a regular column in the Daily Telegraph. He is also the author of The Red Queen (1993), The Origins of Virtue (1996) and Genome (1999). Matt Ridley is currently the chairman of The International Centre for Life.

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