Viral
The Search for the Origin of COVID-19
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Viral
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Narrated by:
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Gavin Osborn
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Written by:
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Matt Ridley
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Alina Chan
About this listen
"Chan and Ridley write with an urgency...that inspires gripping depictions of what viruses are, how infectious-disease laboratories work and wonderfully lucid descriptions of bats.... They powerfully recount how dangerous pathogens can both leak from a lab and emerge in nature." (New York Times Book Review)
Understanding how COVID-19 started is crucial for the future of humankind. Viral is the most incisive and authoritative book about the search for the source of the virus.
A new virus descended on the human species in 2019 wreaking unprecedented havoc. Finding out where it came from and how it first jumped into people is an urgent priority, but early expectations that this would prove an easy question to answer have been dashed. Nearly two years into the pandemic, the crucial mystery of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not only unresolved but has deepened.
In this uniquely insightful book, a scientist and a writer join forces to try to get to the bottom of how a virus whose closest relations live in bats in subtropical southern China somehow managed to begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometers away in the city of Wuhan. They grapple with the baffling fact that the virus left none of the expected traces that such outbreaks usually create: no infected market animals or wildlife, no chains of early cases in travelers to the city, no smoldering epidemic in a rural area, no rapid adaptation of the virus to its new host - human beings.
To try to solve this pressing mystery, Viral delves deep into the events of 2019 leading up to 2021, the details of what went on in animal markets and virology laboratories, the records and data hidden from sight within archived Chinese theses and websites, and the clues that can be coaxed from the very text of the virus’s own genetic code.
The result is a gripping detective story that takes the reader deeper and deeper into a metaphorical cave of mystery. One by one the authors explore promising tunnels only to show that they are blind alleys, until, miles beneath the surface, they find themselves tantalizingly close to a shaft that leads to the light.
©2021 Matt Ridley and Alina Chan (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersYou may also enjoy...
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What listeners say about Viral
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- edd
- 2022-03-10
fascinating and so important
finally someone asks obvious questions
scientists doing dangerous Frankenstein experiments seem to have caused pandemic. learned so much about virus. loved the fictional trial at end that presented both sides
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-12-26
Must Read
Matt Ridley writes the hard facts on the origin of sars-cov-2. Beautifully Narrated. Must Read!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-07-05
Humanity has crossed a new boundary.
It may be that the COVID-19 virus was of zoonotic origin - but it is also possible that it escaped from a lab.
Either way, the important takeaway is that humanity is now capable of creating such pandemics, by accident, or intentionally.
We now have all the ingredients - let’s hope that the future remains friendly.
Viral by Alina and Matt is dedicated to following the bouncing ball and explaining the details of every aspect of the pandemic. I would recommend jumping ahead to chapter 12. It’s a two hour investment. The rest of the book is also excellent - the world is far more complicated than at first glance.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Greg Zink
- 2023-03-05
Especially Prescient
Amazing book by Ridley & Chan who bravely took on the “scientific consensus” when so few had the stones to do it. One of the many voices who have pushed Lab Leak from hypothesis to theory.
This is especially prescient considering that the wet market narrative is crumbling fast. Although it seems to be serving the US’s national interest in opposing China (despite they themselves, ie Fauci and EcoHealth, were deeply involved). The US energy department and FBI agree about gain of function malfeasance
But aside from the evidence, their deep dive into the world of Chinese virology was fascinating. So many twists and turns regarding media and academic contradictions too.
Grateful to have heard this account.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- william gary irwin
- 2022-01-27
A science based, must read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, it's not a conspiracy theory if that's a worry, it's genuinely enlightening, and science/ fact based.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- priya
- 2024-01-06
propaganda
they dont "know the origin". this is untrue and what the CIA did to make this the official party line was exposed by a whistle blower. CoV definitely comes from the Wuhan Lab. Read RFK Jr's book instead of this CIA propaganda.
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