11/16/2020
Physician and sociologist Christakis (Blueprint), director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, delivers a comprehensive and evidence-based rundown of the Covid-19 pandemic from December 2019 to August 2020. He explains that genetic sequencing indicates Covid-19 most likely originated in bats, and details how Chinese officials “abruptly yielded to reality and changed course” after initially silencing doctors who warned of an outbreak in Wuhan. The Washington state man who was the first person to test positive in the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2020, doesn’t appear to have infected anyone else, according to Christakis, and recent evidence suggests the disease was already present in other parts of the West Coast. Christakis also laments how recommendations against “universal mask adoption” undermined the credibility of U.S. authorities in the early months of the pandemic, and cites evidence of lower death rates in countries where mask wearing “had always been the norm.” Taking the history of the bubonic plague in medieval Europe as a guide, he predicts that consumer spending “will come back with a vengeance” when the pandemic’s “intermediate” period ends around 2024. Readers will be enlightened by this lucid, well-informed first draft of the history of Covid-19. (Oct.)
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
"In this brilliant and timely book, scientist, scholar, physician, and writer Nicholas Christakis shines the light of history on our dark moment, and illuminates it as no one else can. Insightful, informative, and urgently necessary, Apollo's Arrow is this year's must-must-read."—Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness
“Rich in psychological, sociological, and epidemiological insights, only Nicholas Christakis could write a book this comprehensive and profound and even optimistic during our national calamity."—Amy Cuddy, author of Presence
"Wow, what a feat this is — a fully developed book of extraordinary insight and superb narrative structure that was somehow written in the midst of a live-action recording of events. The journalist in me marvels. The failures Nicholas Christakis captures are so enormously discouraging, infuriating, and tragic. I can only imagine how long this book will be read for reasons beyond the obvious. I burned right through it and highly recommend it.”—Michael Koryta, author of If She Wakes
"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
“To capture the COVID-19 pandemic requires unusually broad and deep scholarship, and an ability to integrate the too-often siloed domains of science, medicine, epidemiology, sociology, psychology, politics, and history, among other fields. In Apollo’s Arrow, Nicholas Christakis accomplishes this challenging task as few others could, with unusual clarity and an endless array of surprising insights; this book will no doubt become essential reading for a very wide audience. A tour-de-force.”—Jeffrey Flier, MD, Former Dean of Harvard Medical School
"An instant history of an event that is by no means over. Exceptional. Magisterial."—Niall Ferguson, Times Literary Supplement
“Gripping. An indelible portrait of a world transformed.”—Hamilton Cain, Star-Tribune
“Authoritative...A welcome assessment of the reality of the epidemic that has changed our lives.”—Kirkus Reviews
“An excellent overview of the pandemic thus far, this work will be of interest to those seeking a full explanation of how we got where we are in terms of the virus and the direction we might be going.”—Library Journal
“Provocative…Astutely shows how pandemics are as much about our societies, values, and leaders as they are about pathogens.”—Samuel V. Scarpino, Science
"Excellent and timely."
—The New Yorker
10/09/2020
Christakis (Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society) focuses on the biology of the COVID-19 pandemic and our sociological responses to it. Beginning with a detailed history of the pandemic so far, the author then compares behavior during past pandemics with the current handling of the virus, including lessons not learned from previous epidemics. Christaki explains the biology of transmission and super-spreader events and the use of nonpharmaceutical interventions to slow the virus. Next, he discusses emotional responses to the pandemic, including the us vs. them mentality and how the pandemic has become politicized. It is easier to blame others for our circumstances than to admit that we are feeling powerless, he maintains. This is the first pandemic in which social media has been a factor in spreading misinformation and distrust of science. Also explored is eventual immunity and how it may become a factor in hiring, housing, and immigration; and what the postpandemic future may look like in various areas of life. VERDICT An excellent overview of the pandemic thus far, this work will be of interest to those seeking a full explanation of how we got where we are in terms of the virus and the direction we might be going.—Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL
