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Apollo's Arrow

The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live

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Apollo's Arrow

Written by: Nicholas A. Christakis MD PhD
Narrated by: Nicholas A. Christakis MD PhD
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About this listen

A piercing and scientifically grounded look at the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and how it will change the way we live - "excellent and timely." (The New Yorker)

Apollo's Arrow offers a riveting account of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as it swept through American society in 2020, and of how the recovery will unfold in the coming years. Drawing on momentous (yet dimly remembered) historical epidemics, contemporary analyses, and cutting-edge research from a range of scientific disciplines, best-selling author, physician, sociologist, and public health expert Nicholas A. Christakis explores what it means to live in a time of plague - an experience that is paradoxically uncommon to the vast majority of humans who are alive, yet deeply fundamental to our species.

Unleashing new divisions in our society as well as opportunities for cooperation, this 21st-century pandemic has upended our lives in ways that will test, but not vanquish, our already frayed collective culture. Featuring new, provocative arguments and vivid examples ranging across medicine, history, sociology, epidemiology, data science, and genetics, Apollo's Arrow envisions what happens when the great force of a deadly germ meets the enduring reality of our evolved social nature.

©2020 Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD (P)2020 Little, Brown & Company
Biological Sciences Physical Illness & Disease
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What the critics say

"Apollo’s Arrow shoots straight and true to explain the scientific and social aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. Christakis’s background in biology, medicine, epidemiology, and sociology is a powerful formula for understanding this complex subject. I’m tempted to say that the gods created Christakis to write this book at this time. It is wise, vivid, and engaging." —William D. Nordhaus, author of The Climate Casino and 2018 Nobel Laureate in Economics

“Seldom have we been gifted with a study of pandemic disease marked by such scope, wit, and erudition. Still rarer is one that appears while the rest of us scramble to make sense of a rapidly evolving crisis, one shaped by the very social forces that Nicholas Christakis has studied for decades. Apollo’s Arrow is more than history’s first draft. It will live on as a journal of the plague years, certainly, and it inspires as it instructs. Definitive, engaging, and astonishing. A tour-de-force.” —Paul Farmer, professor, Harvard Medical School, founder, Partners in Health

“The world is ravenous for deep and accurate information about the most important event in the 21st century. No one is deeper than Nicholas Christakis, who ticks every box of expertise: medical, epidemiological, social, psychological, economic, historical. This is the place to go to understand the phenomenon that has turned the world, and our lives, upside down. Apollo’s Arrow is gripping, enlightening, and vitally important.” —Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now

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Fascinating

I really enjoyed the candor and realistic perspective the author had. It has been difficult to listen to the political and media misinformation that has been propagated on COVID and I appreciate hearing a sane voice who can tell us what to expect, what we can do to mitigate poor outcomes, and how we move forward. Excellent book!

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Read this. Read it now.

Then go wash your hands for 20 seconds with lots of soap, put in a supply of masks, make sure you know how to measure two metres ( or six feet, if you have the misfortune to be American) and don’t sit around waiting for your turn to be vaccinated. Do something useful, like telling other people to read this book.

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Just what I needed to hear.

This book does an excellent job of explaining our current predicament in the context human history.

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One for the time capsule

A riveting analysis of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Nicholas devotes time to both the scientific and sociological lenses in an engaging novel full of wisdom and insight. This is very much a book, I, a 25 year-old would envision giving to my grandchildren 50 years from now.

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