Spike
The Virus vs. The People - the Inside Story
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Spike
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Narrated by:
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Roger Davis
About this listen
The top five Sunday Times best seller.
A pulse-racing journey through the science and politics of the pandemic. Did the UK government really 'follow the science' throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as it claims?
The coronavirus pandemic has devastated lives and livelihoods around the world - and continues to do so. These personal tragedies will, and must, be told and heard. There is, however, also a truthful and objective scientific narrative to be written about how the virus played out and how the world set about dealing with it. Spike is that story - from the inside. Its author, Jeremy Farrar, is one of the UK's leading scientists and a - member of the SAGE emergency committee.
As head of the Wellcome Trust, and an expert in emerging infectious diseases, Jeremy Farrar was one of the first people in the world to hear about a mysterious new respiratory disease in China - and to learn that it could readily spread between people. Farrar describes how it feels as one of the key scientists at the sharp end of a fast moving situation, when complex decisions must be made quickly amid great uncertainty. His book casts light on the UK government's claims to be 'following the science' in its response to the virus, and is informed not just by Farrar's views but by interviews with other top scientists and political figures.
Farrar, who has spent his career on the frontlines of epidemics including Nipah virus in Malaysia, bird flu in Vietnam and Ebola in West Africa, also reflects on the wider issues of COVID-19: the breath-taking scientific advances in creating tests, treatments and vaccines; the challenge to world leaders to respond for the global good and the need to address inequalities that hold back success against the virus. All these shape how the world ultimately fares not just against COVID-19, but against all the major health challenges we face globally.
©2021 Anjana Ahuja, Jeremy Farrar (P)2021 Hachette Audio UKListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Spike
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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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Eoin leen
- 08-12-21
Outstanding
I loved this. A book which mixes science and the mechanisms of government has no right to be this good. At times it reads like a thriller, at other times it spells out a vivid warning for the future.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 30-12-21
A must read to stop the next pandemic
Excellent documentation of the pandemic and what we need to learn from it. Public health needs to be prioritised.
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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
- Campesque
- 02-10-21
The story of a government's abject failure to protect it's people
This book should make you very angry indeed. The tale of a stupid lazy PM and his incompetent ministers being seemingly incapable of learning lessons from the first wave of the virus, leading to the tragic loss of life in early 2021. You couldn't make it up...
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2 people found this helpful
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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
- Derek Thorburn
- 21-01-22
A Book I Just Couldn't Put Down
I recently used one of my credits to buy this book and certainly wasn't disappointed. It was a book I just couldn't wait to read so as soon as it was purchased I got my Echo to start it going. You might ask "surely you're fed up to the back teeth of Coronavirus" but this is a book which tells the story from the point of view of one of the SAGE members who regularly advised action at once. I will own that throughout this crisis I was fed up of the doom and gloom that scientists were continuously doling out over the radio when surely we'd had enough of lockdowns and security health measures to last us a lifetime but this book has showed what an injustice I've done them. This author has had regular meetings with Boris Johnson present and tells the story like it is: an inept Prime Minister and equally inept ministers who claim to be "following the science" when really they're making their own decisions whilst a global pandemic is raging throughout the world as well as their country causing death in its wake. It is narrated extremely well and the story is easy to follow whether you're a scientist or, like me, a mere British person who, like many others, has been trying to get through each day hoping for better days only to be disappointed by more doom and gloom. It's a book I can certainly recommend.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- R. D
- 01-05-23
Complete waste of my time. Avoid
Author completely full of himself.
Omitted to tell the story of MRNA vaccine damage. Or seem interested in the deaths and damage from the mRNA vac. Very sad.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 18-04-22
lies
Deaths were no different during the pandemic as whistleblower funeral directors have stated. It was a media fuelled pandemic and a fake test demic. Deaths have spiked since the release of the vaccines and we are seeing that now in the MHRA yellow card data.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-05-22
Ouch narrator
This narrator sounds like a computer struggling to read. How can this sort of thing be acceptable to the authors? Surely they listen to a sample first?
Had to return the title, painful narration.
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1 person found this helpful