fbpx

JBP full logo black

icon ecomm1 icon newsletter1 icon fb1 icon twitter1 icon instagram1

Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19


Alina Chan and Matt Ridley


Understanding how Covid-19 started is more important than we know for the future of humankind. 

Determining whether the virus came from nature or from a lab will help us to safeguard against the next pandemic.

This disease will forever punctuate modern history. It has led to the deaths of millions, sickened hundreds of millions and affected the lives of almost every person on the planet. We now know that Covid is here to stay.

Genetic engineering expert Dr Alina Chan and renowned science writer Matt Ridley examine the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, using their formidable skills to scrutinise arguments and rigorously analyse the sprawling data. Viral is a fascinating account that takes in pangolins, horseshoe bats, internet sleuths and misleading scientific papers. It details the evidence and investigates hypotheses for the virus origin, chief among them a potential laboratory leak or a natural spillover.

Science has made great strides over the last decades. Chan and Ridley give an insight into the proliferating pathogen research and virus hunting around the world. Whatever the source of the virus, the world needs to adopt new policies and strategies to prevent or mitigate future outbreaks.

Set in the caves and mineshafts, food markets and wildlife smugglers’ stores, laboratories and databases of China and elsewhere, Viral is a page-turner that reads like a detective novel and goes deeper into the deepest mystery of the day than any other work.

This is the book on the search for the origin of Covid-19.

 

Dr Alina Chan is a postdoctoral researcher with a background in medical genetics, synthetic biology and vector engineering. At the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Chan is currently creating next generation vectors for human gene therapy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Chan began to investigate problems relevant to finding the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Matt Ridley received his BA and DPhil at Oxford researching the evolution of behaviour. He has been science editor, Washington correspondent and American editor of the Economist. He is the author of bestselling titles The Red Queen (1993), The Origins of Virtue (1996), Genome (1999) and Nature via Nurture (2003). His books have sold over half a million copies, been translated into twenty-three languages and been shortlisted for six literary prizes. In 2004 he won the National Academies Book Award from the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He is married to the neuroscientist Professor Anya Hurlbert.

Category:  Health
ISBN:  9780008487508
Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers
On sale:  November 2021
Format:  Paperback
eBook ISBN 
BUY ONLINE:
Takealot reseller loot
EB logo Protea
  Balakudu 
  Raru