Osterholm is an epidemiologist and the founder/head of CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policies). He used to work for the CDC. The man has street cred on this topic.

Olsterholm reviews a number of pandemics from the past 100 years. Many pandemic books that I've read cover previous outbreaks. However, Osterholm distinguishes his book in the following ways:

* He does more analysis of the various components of epidemiology, so his writing has more depth and complexity.
* He knows many of the researchers, or he actually worked on addressing some of these prior outbreaks, so he gestures towards the personalities and passions of the scientists at work.
* He does a lot more projection about how future outbreaks might work, which types of pathogens or carriers have the capacity to do widespread damage, and what kinds of policies might help blunt the effect of a pathogen.

He expresses a lot of concern about overuse of antibiotics, the problems with mosquitoes as carriers, the mutating nature of flu viruses, the difficulty of getting vaccines distributed, and the challenge of developing vaccines for some pathogens / diseases. For example, HIV/AIDS functions in such complex ways, that there is still not a vaccine for that after 30 plus years of research seeking to create one.

His book is a little more challenging to read than the others, not because the science is difficult. It's because he is saturated in the field, and his views are very complex and nuanced. But then that's also what makes this book valuable and interesting. He's not a science writer popularizing for the lay reader. He is an expert having a candid, detailed discussion about his field.

He published this in 2017, but the e-book I read had a short preface about COVID-19 (SARS-COV 2).

Preface to 2020 Edition:
Introduction
Ch 1: Black Swans and Red Alerts
Ch 2: Annals of Public Health
Ch 3: White Coats and Worn Shoes
Ch 4: The Threat Matrix
Ch 5: The Natural History of Germs
Ch 6: The New World Order
Ch 7: Means of Transmission: Bats, Bugs, Lungs, and Penises
Ch 8: Vaccines: The Sharpest Arrow in Our Quiver
Ch 9: Malaria, AIDS, and TB: Lest We Forget
Ch 10: Gain of Function and Dual Use: The Frankenstein Scenario
Ch 11: Bioterror: Opening Pandora's Box
Ch 12: Ebola: Out of Africa
Ch 13: SARS and MERS: Harbingers of Things to Come
Ch 14: Mosquitoes: Public Health Enemy Number One
Ch 15: Zika: Expecting the Unexpected
Ch 16: Antimicrobals: The Tragedy of the Commons
Ch 17: Fighting the Resistance
Ch 18: Influenza: The King of Infectious Diseases
Ch 19: Pandemic: From the Unspeakable to the Inevitable
Ch 20: Taking Influenza off the Table
Ch 21: Battle Plan for Survival

If you know me and trust my judgement read this book. It is an easy and unconstrained recommendation.

I don't agree with any of the negative sentiments I read in the 3 star reviews I skimmed after being shocked at the sub 4.5 average review here. I found the contemporaneous anecdotal stories fascinating and extremely insightful. How HIV/AIDS, TSS, Ebola and others have been handled are critical to understanding what is going on today. Especially from a US-centric perspective. The book is full specific experiences that have a multiplicative effect on the value of the broader long-term experience Osterholm brings to the book. If you want to understand how government action on germ-based threats occurs I would be very surprised if there is a better book than this out there.

You may find the book somewhat depressing, but I remain hopeful. History is full of examples of similar calls to action that warn of dire consequences of inaction. In almost all cases the dire predictions have driven actions that have resulted in the consequences being less severe than imagined. We have already lucked into one instance where a positive outcome is inevitable. Trump stumbled ass backwards into leaving the WHO for the wrong reasons and has now setup Biden to have to address the issue immediately.

I'm very torn on what to rate this book.

Osterholm's warnings and scenarios are not at all alarmist and are pertinent for the world we live in today. His pandemic "tabletop scenario" has many parallels with what has actually been happening during the COVID-19 pandemic. If this book prompts even one reader to ponder antibiotic stewardship or prioritizing funding of public health and vaccinations, then it's done a great job.

However, Osterholm just isn't a great science writer or an interesting storyteller (if I read the term "game-changing" one more time I will explode). He tries to do both and succeeds at neither, in my opinion. Deadliest Enemy is half autobiography and half policy recommendations, and is very light on scientific background and explanation. Sometimes Osterholm expands on a topic, but there's no sense behind which ones he chooses and which ones he leaves behind.

His stories of dealing with disease outbreaks firsthand focus mostly on naming the committees and people involved, with some paragraphs reading like the credits after a movie. It was boring to slog through.

Osterholm also shies away from making strong policy recommendations at the end. His recommendations are largely to create international committees. Some more specific ideas for these theoretical committees to enact would be appreciated.

However, Deadliest Enemy did expand on topics I hadn't thought deeply about before, such as the One Health concept, or the economic reasons behind pharmaceutical companies' apathy towards creating new vaccines. Three stars for "I don't regret reading it, I took something away from it, but I would not necessarily recommend it to someone else."

[3.5]

Fascinating and educational. I’d love to hear the author’s take on the current pandemic based on principles in the book.

A great book full of interesting info and what-ifs written in a way mere mortals can understand. While it's had a Covid-19 section added, a lot of it feels like it was written pre current pandemic, but this isn't actually a bad thing. The author validates his view into the future by leaving what he wrote alone. I hope we are closer to the end of his what-if story towards the end of the book, rather than the complacent second wave.

This book complements a bunch of others I've read on disease, mosquitos and the spread of non-native species around the planet. All together, it's a pretty terrifying recipe. The author lays out a plan, and justifies the need, for government sponsored, pro-active efforts against viruses. Particularly with what we've all experienced, this seems wise.

This book has a very easy to understand explanation of why the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 was different from many other viral outbreaks that I think is particularly relevant today. Spanish Flu killed a lot of people who were the strongest - the young and healthy, as well as pregnant women. The virus used their own immune systems against them, and when their immune systems went overboard it killed them. I think this cautionary tale is one people who are opting not to get the Covid-19 vaccine because they're young and healthy should contemplate.

Great book. Very interesting, easy to read, even with a light science background, and so relevant for us all.

Great book that describes exactly why we're in a pickle with the novel coronavirus!

Książka która ostrzegała przed globalną pandemią jakieś dwa lata temu, autor ostrzegał przed nią od 20 lat ;) Mamy tu scenariusze które obrazują to co się działo na początku 2020, a także kilka ostrzeżeń o innych zagrożeniach biologicznych, groźniejszych od pandemii, które obecnie są ignorowane przez rządzących.

Ok, but sort of drags towards the end unless the subject is really interesting to you.

The fact that this book was written before the covid pandemic, but that it essentially predicted it, is insane to me. This book provided awesome insight into the state of the nation in regard to germs/illnesses/viruses. However, things feel less than optimistic and the outcome I’m taking from this book is that this is mostly a political/capitalistic issue, one that I’m not sure could reasonably be resolved. Ever.