A fine account of a medical tour de force.
The story of the development of the first effective Covid-19 vaccine.
Readers of Gregory Zuckerman’s excellent A Shot To Save the World learned about the complex mix of unparalleled science, rampant ambition, and fierce competition that led to the creation of a viable vaccine. Miller, the Frankfurt correspondent for the Financial Times who reported on the scientific race, tells a different but equally gripping story that emphasizes aggressive German startup BioNTech, founded by the brilliant husband-and-wife team of Türeci and Şahin. Miller narrates the story, which begins in January 2020 with the workaholic Şahin noting a news story about the emergence of a “novel respiratory illness” in Wuhan, China, that was not yet concerning world epidemiologists. What disturbed him was evidence that healthy people could carry the virus and transmit it, unlike previous (and short-lived) epidemics of SARS and MERS in 2002. Using his experience and calculations, he concluded that it was likely the beginning of a global pandemic. Of course, he was correct, although the World Health Organization didn’t come around until six weeks later. Şahin predicted perhaps 3 million deaths; the number is now over 4 million. At the time, BioNTech concentrated on anti-cancer drugs and was struggling financially. Yet Türeci and Şahin convinced executives (who controlled the money) to change course and devote their entire force to making a vaccine. There follows a vivid, complex (sometimes overly so) description of the frantic 10 months that followed as the company dealt with the political, immunological, technical, statistical, and public relations problems of bringing a radical new vaccine to market in record time. Remarkably, they succeeded. In mass testing of 170 individuals who were infected with Covid-19, only 8 had received the vaccine—a success rate of 95%. Pfizer had worked with BioNTech, especially in the testing and marketing approval process, so many Americans know it as the Pfizer vaccine, but it was conceived in Germany by two Turkish-born scientists.
A fine account of a medical tour de force.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-28036-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui (American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, 2009), swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water. Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.” Although humans are generally adapted to life on land, the author discovered that some have extra advantages in the water. The Bajau people of Indonesia, for instance, can do 10-minute free dives while hunting because their spleens are 50% larger than average. For most, though, it’s simply a matter of practice. Tsui discussed swimming with Dara Torres, who became the oldest Olympic swimmer at age 41, and swam with Kim Chambers, one of the few people to complete the daunting Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge. Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, the author conveys the appeal of “an unflinching giving-over to an element” and makes a convincing case for broader access to swimming education (372,000 people still drown annually).
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-786-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
