Just finished reading Biological War by Annie Jacobsen. I enjoyed it (is that the right term?) as well as their previous book, Nuclear War. Both are narratives of what could possibly happen in today’s world with these scary technologies, basically worse-case scenarios, told in a way that explains the science of the tech, the inner workings of various government programs related to combating them, the ways bad decisions could easily snowball, and how each scenario would play out based on interviews with people that have worked or are working in those areas.
Needless to say, they are terrifying books but also riveting in that way that looking at a car crash on the side of the road is.
**Spoiler Alert**
Everyone except the psychopaths, mentally deranged, and the people living in the middle of nowhere all die horribly in both books. Yay.
Coincidentally, this week I say that there was a major news story that mirrors more or less the exact opening from Biological War:
The rumors that emerged sounded like the opening of a thriller. A young woman working in a Siberian research lab supposedly breaks a test tube containing a lethal plague pathogen. She is dead within 48 hours. Authorities race to contain the situation. The questions outnumber the answers, breeding suggestions of conspiracy. The fears may prove unfounded: there may not have been a leak at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. But the world can be forgiven for its panicked interest.
Some facts are not under dispute. Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old researcher at the institute, died at a regional hospital on October 2nd. Around 200 of Ms Shipilova’s contacts have been placed under medical observation, suggesting authorities believe she may have died of an infectious disease. But no cause of death has been officially confirmed, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Russia’s federal health watchdog claimed to have found “no evidence of microorganisms related to her professional activities”, and said the cause of death was “pneumonia of unknown etiology”. (Source: economist.com)
I’m just going to pretend assume that this is all under control.
