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Deadliest Enemy
- Our War Against Killer Germs
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
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Deadliest Enemy
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Publisher's Summary
We are facing an overwhelming army of deadly, invisible enemies. We need a plan - before it's too late.
Unlike natural disasters, whose destruction is concentrated in a limited area over a period of days, and illnesses, which have devastating effects but are limited to individuals and their families, infectious disease has the terrifying power to disrupt everyday life on a global scale, overwhelming public and private resources and bringing trade and transportation to a grinding halt.
In today's world, it's easier than ever to move people, animals, and materials around the planet, but the same advances that make modern infrastructure so efficient have made epidemics and even pandemics nearly inevitable. And as outbreaks of Ebola, MERS, yellow fever, and Zika have demonstrated, we are woefully underprepared to deal with the fallout. So what can - and must - we do in order to protect ourselves from mankind's deadliest enemy?
Drawing on the latest medical science, case studies, policy research, and hard-earned epidemiological lessons, Deadliest Enemy explores the resources and programs we need to develop if we are to keep ourselves safe from infectious disease. The authors show how we could wake up to a reality in which many antibiotics no longer cure, bioterror is a certainty, and the threat of a disastrous influenza pandemic looms ever larger. Only by understanding the challenges we face can we prevent the unthinkable from becoming the inevitable.
Deadliest Enemy is high scientific drama, a chronicle of medical mystery and discovery, a reality check, and a practical plan of action.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What the critics say
"Osterholm and Olshaker calmly show us that Mother Nature is the 'greatest bioterrorist of them all.' Marshaling solid scientific evidence, they question why we have spent billions on the 'war on terror' and virtually nothing for an inevitable calamity that will kill millions. This stunning book is a clarion call to mount a Manhattan Project 2.0 that would prepare for the coming global pandemic. Someone should listen." (Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and coauthor of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer)
"As a former governor responsible for the welfare and health of my state, and a former United States Senator concerned with national security, I applaud Deadliest Enemy as a chilling and important wakeup call. Not only is it a fascinating human story and medical detective drama, it lays out the great public health challenges facing humanity and the actions that need to be initiated or enhanced to avert their life or death consequences." (Bob Graham, former governor of Florida, US senator, and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee)
"Deadliest Enemy is a lucid and concise account of how the battle against deadly germs is in many ways the most important war of all. Deadliest Enemy deftly melds authoritative science with a gripping narrative to tell what is arguably the most important story of our era." (Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst and author of United States of Jihad)
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What listeners say about Deadliest Enemy
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Matthew MacMartin
- 2020-04-23
Almost prophetic
Great read and the section on the Corona virus is particularly ominous to read right now.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Zita K. Ranics
- 2020-08-31
loved it + will listen to again.
narrator was amazing too!
language was simple enough to not to have to reach for dictionary too often. :)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- A. Ramirez
- 2020-04-26
Great book!
Very informative and as I came to understand, always relevant -not just because of the current pandemic. The author is clearly well-versed in the topic and has extensive experience. I enjoyed how he also included some personal experiences that remind us, after all, we are talking about human life.
My only complaint, as many others had mentioned, was that the reader keeps referring to the WHO as the “who.” However, after a few instances you get used to it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Sky Edwards
- 2020-04-19
interesting. Would recommend.
Published back in 2017, it's a bit eary listening to this given the current circumstances. Information about muscitoes was interesting to hear.
Would have liked to hear the author reading the material.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Adam C
- 2020-04-11
mind blowing!!!
absolutely loved this book. it's real and truthful also scary and maddening the fact that what we are going through today has all been predicted in this book years ahead...very educational if you want to learn more about infectious diseases and the risk and what we are NOT doing to prevent this....
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mendoza family
- 2020-04-10
Eye-opening
The book was truly amazing, minus the hypothetical pandemic. given we are actually in one, we have to wait and see if the second part of that scenario plays in real life in the winter of 2021
let's hope not
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- JMS
- 2020-04-05
Hindsight is 2020 (pun intended)
Praised by critics as “a wake-up call’ when it was published in 2017, I chose to listen to this audiobook after I heard Dr. Osterholm interviewed on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, which was released on March 10, just one day before the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic on March 11. The authors pose a hypothetical pandemic crisis description that is scarily prescient of our own situation. A compelling listen / read on understanding the impact and implications of infectious disease on a global scale.
Podcast of my review available on Apply podcasts and Anchor under Audiobook reviews in 5 minutes:
Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/review-deadliest-enemy-our-war-against-killer-germs/id1500773777?i=1000470582665
Anchor podcast: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews/episodes/Review-of-Deadliest-Enemy-Our-War-Against-Killer-Germs-by-Michael-T--Osterholm--Mark-Olshaker-ece11v
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lenny
- 2020-03-29
Learn about This.
Very informative, I learned a lot about pandemics and how virus's spread. Lot's of good information.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Martin Fransham
- 2020-03-24
Fantastic
This book is excellently written with clear expertise from the writers. It’s wonderfully laid out and fascinating.
The science is explained at an accessible level and all facts reference their sources for review. This should be required reading for all people living in the 21st century.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- FZ
- 2020-03-22
Amazing book. World leaders should read!
Lays out what we need to do to protect humanity from another life changing pandemic. Well written and holds your interest throughout.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Wayne
- 2020-03-15
Topical treatise on virus flu pandemics
The authors of DEADLIEST ENEMY predict the current coronavirus pandemic and much worse. This book, released exactly three years ago, is a call to arms about the need for world governments to take actions to better prepare for inevitable virus flu pandemics such as the current coronaviruus one. Other topics covered include the need to prepare vaccines in advance of need and the risk of overuse of antibiotics both for humans and animals. Most of Deadliest Enemy deals with the risk of virus pandemics but it also covers bacterial diseases.
Considering the importance of the messages in this book I very, very highly recommend Deadliest Enemy.
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Jennifer
- 2019-07-28
Riveting
For those who say "it's just the flu" - this book is for you. This book really lays out how damaging and completely disrupting a pandemic could be - and in a way we may not necessarily think about. People have "just the flu" but the grocery shelves are empty because a good portion of the field workers, truck drivers, grocery store workers, etc have the flu; and a good portion of those who don't have it don't want to risk getting exposed so call in "sick." Stuff just doesn't get done. The financial impact of not only one country, but all across the globe, is devastating. And while this book does investigate many infectious diseases, the flu is the one we should be most worried about. The majority of individuals today who have had access to vaccinations for decades have forgotten, or never learned, the suffering of those who had to endure, or die, of those illnesses. What people don't seem to internalize is that some of most vulnerable are children.
Bottom line: Read this book and GET YOUR DAMN VACCINES, PEOPLE!!!!!
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Race Easy
- 2017-07-24
"Band News Mike" is at it again!
Dr. Mike Osterholm was my infectious disease (ID) epidemiology professor in graduate school, and he was Minnesota State Epidemiologist when I started working as an epidemiologist in Minnesota. After I heard Mike give several presentations, I learned that I was always coming away with some sense of impending doom. Mike, who shares with us his moniker, "Bad News Mike", continues in that vein.
After listening to this book, I came away with a great concern about the impending ID epidemics, especially with antibiotic resistance and the need for a better vaccine development program (Mike shares how the economics of vaccine development are such that it needs government support to happen).
Mike shares many personal and professional stories within this book, which makes for an easy book to listen to.
I just wish the narrator had done his homework in learning pronunciation of Foege (fay-gee vs. foje) and WHO (W-H-O vs who)
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Slysne
- 2020-03-16
Boy did he nail the CV-19 outbreak!
Tons of great info for sure, and a map of pandemic progression that will be super handy in the coming year.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Darwin8u
- 2020-05-28
Public Health: Where Science meets Policy
"...we don't always make rational distinctions between what is likely to kill us and what is likely to hurt us, scare us, or simply make us uncomfortable."
- Michael Osterholm, Deadliest Enemy
I picked this book up after hearing Dr. Osterholm on The Joe Rogan Experience #1439. I could probably write a whole piece about how Joe Rogan has become mainstream. It is a strange world. Anyway, like most of us, I've been a bit consumed in Feb/Mar/Apr 2020 with reading everything I can on infectious disease.
Dr. Osterholm, like Bill Gates, seems almost prophetic in this book. It was published in 2017, but seems prophetic not just in-terms of predicting the viral aspects of a massive, airborne virus epidemic, but also in recognizing the weaknesses of our global and political preparedness. I guess that is one piece of dealing with epidemiology and public health. You can't just be science-focused, you also have to possess very little naïveté about the way economics and politics impacts public health. Thank God for people like Dr. Osterholm and Dr. Fauci. Their work seems a bit Sisyphean, but still maintain a pretty good perspective as they go on with their research, their realpolitiks, and their gentle persuasion. What a job.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Robert
- 2020-03-19
everyone should read this.
Spooky but worthwhile. Osterholm called what is going on right now. If you want to find factual, real solutions to prevent a pandemic like Covid-19 from happening again, support what this scientist is doing.
When we come out of the other side of this virus we are going to have to have difficult discussions. We the public, have to inform ourselves. This book does a wonderful job of helping us, help our future.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- david
- 2017-08-04
Not an alarmist
this book isn't written by someone out in left field. It is written by someone we all should listen to. Read this book to get a better understanding of our Enemy. My only hope is that government officials world wide will read this book and come up with a strategy. It's not just science, but many political and economic changes are needed to avert disaster. It didn't hurt that the book was written from someone in my home state. :-)
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Lobo in the D
- 2020-05-06
Amazing, kind of scary book
I'm not sure I would've gotten this book before February 2020, but then COVID-19 hit. It is very informative and presents information in pretty good layman's terms, though I have been reading about some of the underlying information on the side as well. I can only hope more people in government leadership read this and learn from mistakes, missed opportunities from our own COVID pandemic.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- tiptoe221
- 2020-04-28
Excellent & Terrible
Excellent because he tells it like it is. Terrible because of how it actually is right now with Covid-19. He predicts this pandemic in Chapter 19. He's currently on CNN from time to time discussing Covid-19. Everything he suggested that should be done during a pandemic is exactly NOT what's being done under this pathetic, federal administration that the U.S. has right now. All of this is scary and will happen again. The U.S. government has a lot of blood on its collective hands from not following the 69 page document from the Obama administration given to the current administration as far back as 2016. It can be found on Politico. As of today 55,000 people are dead in the U.S. Dead to never return. Through Dr. Osterholm's explanation and examples, it's clear that this will happen again. The hope is that it will be under a compassionate, coordinated, and well thought out administration.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Deedra
- 2020-03-15
Deadliest Enemy
I saw a video with the author on it yesterday.I went immediately and bought the book.He has been right SO many times,but no one listens,no one that can do anything anyway.This is an excellent book if you want to know about epidemiology of the outbreak of just about anything.Written before our curremt Covid-19 crisis,he is dead on, as to what is going on with our situation.It could have been lessened if not prevented had we had cautions in place.Whoever survives will once again forget and then do nothing,again. Jamie Renell was a terrific narrator.
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4 people found this helpful