Publishers Weekly
08/30/2021
“Despite our twenty-first-century medicine, glitzy computer modeling, and pandemic planning, we weren’t ready” for Covid-19, warns CNN’s chief medical correspondent Gupta (Keep Sharp) in this hope-filled survey. Gupta summarizes what the world got wrong in its response and lays out what can be done better next time—missteps include mixed-messaging from officials about mask effectiveness, a “lack of truth telling among our leaders,” and a failure to enforce social distancing soon enough. The American death toll from Covid could have been much less had the right steps been taken in time, Gupta contends, and that preventable aspect adds urgency to his prescriptions for next steps, usefully framed as the acronym P.R.O.O.F.—Plan ahead, Rethink and rewire risk in your brain, Optimize health, Organize family, and Fight for the future of us. This five-point plan urges readers and governments alike: countries should make significant investments in universal vaccines that fight all coronaviruses and take a more global approach to vaccinations that prioritizes those at risk, while individuals will learn about how nutrition and eating well can arm them against pandemics. Realistic but never doom-and-gloom, this lands as a refreshing look forward. Agent: Bob Barnett, Williams & Connolly. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Drawing on his brilliant reporting from the front lines of the fight against COVID, Gupta has produced a book filled with practical wisdom and how we can become more resilient in an era of pandemics. Filled with hope and optimism, it draws on the lessons of the recent past to give people a grounded sense of how to navigate the future.” — Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker
"If there is any 'must read' book about COVID-19, this is, without a doubt, the one." — Peter Jay Hotez, MD, PhD, professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
"A mask, a bar of soap, some water, six feet of distance, and this remarkable book will help you survive the next pandemic we are destined to face—and better understand the one we just lived through. While there’s no cure for Covid, World War C will inoculate you from the misinformation and mistakes that have turned our world upside down." — Scott Z. Burns, screenwriter, Contagion
“Part murder mystery, part practical how-to-survive guide, Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s World War C is a tour de force. In this riveting book, Sanjay divulges, as few others can, what you didn’t hear about in the news during the pandemic, and equips us with the everyday tools to stay safe and chase life like never before.” —Andy Slavitt, former senior advisor for COVID response, Biden White House
“World War C is a thriller whose outcome we won’t know for some time. That’s why we need Sanjay Gupta—a trusted, honest, and wise guide—to see how we got here and help us see around the corners to prevent the next one.” — Larry Brilliant, MD, MPH, CEO, Pandefense Advisory
"With his characteristic curiosity, compassion, and humility, combined with unparalleled talent as a master-storyteller, Dr. Gupta presents the defining history of the greatest public health catastrophe of our lifetimes. This is a must-read for how we can emerge stronger as individuals and as a society." — Leana Wen, MD, former Baltimore health commissioner and author of Lifelines
“Wisdom shared by Sanjay Gupta enabled me to protect our family over the last eighteen months. Now this book will help everyone feel confident they have the resources and frame of mind to tackle whatever comes next.” — Francis Ford Coppola, five-time Academy Award–winning director
"A valuable primer on what we’ve been through and what may be to come." — Washington Independent Review of Books
"A wise, well-informed assessment of present and future health perils." — Kirkus Reviews
"Realistic but never doom-and-gloom, this lands as a refreshing look forward." — Publishers Weekly
Kirkus Reviews
2021-08-11
A prominent physician offers timely counsel.
Late in 2018, neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Gupta wrote an op-ed piece warning that a major pandemic was inevitable and calling for the development of new vaccines. While describing himself as “an eternal optimist,” the author reprises that warning along with advice about how to “better predict, prepare, and respond.” Gupta’s overview of the U.S. response to the virus will be familiar to readers of mainstream media. With denial among many in Trump’s circle and responsibility for public health spread over myriad departments, there was “division, dysfunction, and lack of truth telling among our leaders.” In addition, “the general unhealthiness of Americans played a role,” with chronic conditions like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease making people more vulnerable to Covid-19. Because the virus can be transmitted asymptomatically, testing of people who showed symptoms proved to be “too little, too late” in halting the spread. Gupta gives cogent, accessible explanations about the biology of viruses, how vaccines work, and how the immune system fights off pathogens. Yet he admits that much about coronaviruses is still unknown: about transmission, about why some people fall desperately ill while others are asymptomatic, about mutations, and about the persistence of long-term symptoms. “Can COVID hide out in the body and continue to inflict damage?” Gupta asks. “Can it persist long after the acute phase of illness has resolved?” Much of his book focuses on preparedness, including promoting digital literacy, making healthy life choices, assessing risk factors intelligently, and assembling a pandemic prep kit. He debunks anti-vaccination myths, such as that the mRNA vaccine was rushed or changes one’s DNA or causes infertility. Our response to Covid-19, Gupta asserts convincingly, was a “multisystem organ failure, ranging from our poor health to our inflated sense of readiness.”
A wise, well-informed assessment of present and future health perils.
