Title: Crisis in the Red Zone
Author: Richard Preston
Rating: 4.5/5
"If we did some basic preparation for a major outbreak...we could actually make it not such a huge, dramatic, crazy thing. [Referring to a Level 4 pandemic] Why should we be waiting for something that is truly bananas to break out before we start planning for it?...There's not a lot of value in preparing for a war, because what happens in a war is unpredictable. But there is a lot of value in preparing for an outbreak, because what happens in an outbreak is predictable. Let's be prepared, not scared." (Richard, 363)
I'm going to say what I pretty much always say after reading a Richard Preston book...the world is doomed. Not to be a nay-sayer, but if this book isn't timely I don't know what is. It is AMAZING to see the parallels between this book and our current pandemic situation. Now, we don't have Ebola on our hands but we do have Covid-19 which has pretty much decimated the world with little to no trouble at all. Especially in the United States. Once again I am thinking about just how underprepared this country has been in dealing with Covid-19 and I can't even fathom what would happen if Ebola hit the States in the same way Covid has. It would be beyond awful. I truly believe that our country would react in much the same was as the people of the various countries in Africa presented in this book: denial.
But to get back to the book...a winner! Preston wastes no time re-introducing us to the world of Ebola and how it first ravaged Africa in the 1970s. While reminding the reader of the first outbreaks, Preston talks more in depth about the more recent outbreak in 2014. This was the outbreak that brought Ebola to the shores of the United States for the first time. Preston gives us details of how the disease was brought to our doorstep and does so in a way that reminds us just how close we came to facing Ebola on a national pandemic level. While there is heavy scientific jargon in the book, Preston makes the science easy to understand even for the casual reader.
Overall, I believe everyone should read this book. And while you're at it, pick up his other books too. And do it ASAP.
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