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The Premonition

A Pandemic Story

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The Premonition

Written by: Michael Lewis
Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.
'It's a foreboding,' she said. 'A knowing that something is looming around the corner. Like how when the seasons change you can smell fall in the air right before the leaves change and the wind turns cold.'
In January 2020, as people started dying from a new virus in Wuhan, China, few really understood the magnitude of what was happening. Except, that is, a small group of scientific misfits who in their different ways had been obsessed all their lives with how viruses spread and replicated - and with why the governments and the institutions that were supposed to look after us, kept making the same mistakes time and again.
This group saw what nobody else did. A pandemic was coming. We weren't prepared.
The Premonition is the extraordinary story of a group who anticipated, traced and hunted the coronavirus; who understood the need to think differently, to learn from history, to question everything; and to do all of this fast, in order to act, to save lives, communities, society itself. It's a story about the workings of the human mind; about the failures and triumphs of human judgment and imagination. It's the story of how we got to now.
© Michael Lewis 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Biological Sciences Physical Illness & Disease Physics Science Social Sciences Sociology

Critic Reviews

When the stories of our times are told, there will be no more seminal documents than the books of Michael Lewis.
He is so good everyone else may as well pack up.
Michael Lewis is one of the premier chroniclers of our age.
Superb ... It is tremendous fun, tremendously told. There is a lot to take from it - about the inertia of the US civil service, about the "malignant obedience" of middle managers, about how people fearful of the pandemic were treated with the "wary indulgence of the sane in the presence of the fanatic" ... Among those truths, in a familiar lesson for much of the world this year, is the danger of hubris. (Tom Whipple)
A gripping story ... This is a book about some brave, curious people who tried hard to swim against the tide. As always in a Lewis book they are brought vividly alive ... Lewis is a master of his form. (Christina Patterson)
A fluid intellectual thriller ... As always with Lewis, the book is full of fascinating facts and personal angles. (Steven Poole)
[Reading The Premonition] we see a disturbing common trait emerging in our country and others: the unwillingness to prioritise people's lives over ideas and ingrained structures. (Kazuo Ishiguro)
It is hard to think of a writer who has had more success than Michael Lewis at turning forbiddingly complex situations into propulsive nonfiction narratives ... Without his ever having to spell it out, Lewis's message comes across very powerfully: the US government, in its institutional dysfunction, is in danger of abandoning its citizens to a private sector that is even less equipped to deal with large-scale disasters such as Covid. (Mark O’Connell)
All stars
Most relevant
This has all the elements of a thriller. The government ineptitude, political intrigue, unpredictable raging virus and massive loss of lives. That clarifies the ridiculous back and forth by the CDC, embarrassing presidential waffling, why Fauci could not be wished away by Trump etc. It has a few heroes who tried hard to prevail despite all the pressure to be otherwise. Narration was a bit robotic with irrelevant inflections. But one gets used to it after a few hours!

The behind the scenes story of the pandemic

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I will probably rate the book 4.5 but that option is not there. The bungling of United States during Covid comes alive in the book. And it is inspiring to read about the main characters of the book who had the Premonition of a catastrophe like this and had thought of the solutions which unfortunately were either not implemented or implemented quite late.

Wonderful book on the pandemic

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I have to say I am a Michael Lewis fan and this book does not disappoint. it's an incredible story about a bunch of odd balls who tried to make a difference. listen to it. well worth your time.

Another winner from Michael Lewis

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Loved the details On each character but wanted to know more on us govt response to corona and all the chaos due to trump but not much on that

Anti climax - great built up but disappointing end

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