Terror by Error? The COVID Chronicles

by William Sargent

Overview

Noted science writer William Sargent delves into the murky, often intertwined worlds of medical research and biological warfare to determine if Covid-19 was caused by accidents similar to those that have occurred from 1617 to the present.

Sargent reveals that mistakes made in dual use medical research and biological weapons facilities led to tick borne diseases in the United States, smallpox, anthrax and other germ outbreaks in Russia.

He helps unearth the factors that caused Covid-19, closing with the hope that these conditions will be altered or permanently banned in the future. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578804149
Publisher:	Strawberry Hill Press
Publication date:	11/11/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	44
File size:	443 KB

About the Author

William Sargent is a NOVA consultant and author of 27 books about science and the environment. He is recipient of the Boston Globe's Kinship award and wrote, "Crab Wars: A tale of Horseshoe Crabs, Bioterrorism and Human Health."

Editorial Reviews

2021-02-17
A historical work looks at the perennial contest between humankind and deadly viruses.

In a world transformed by an interminable pandemic, the perils of the contagious virus have become a central topic of discussion. Sargent chronicles the modern history of humanity’s encounters with viruses, starting with the Wampanoag Nation in 1617. When Europeans landed in North America, they brought with them smallpox, a “ravaging illness” that decimated the ranks of the Natives. The author details the many contagions that have plagued humanity—the Spanish flu, SARS, black measles, and several others, including, of course, Covid-19. He documents the emergences of these viral assaults and the scientific attempts to constrain them in a series of historical vignettes, synoptically brief and often astute. Some of the cases read like mysteries—how did Lyme disease, which originated in Switzerland, make its way into American ticks? In addition, the author explores the manner in which viruses are transformed into biological weapons and the often desultory manner in which science happens upon vaccines. The book concludes with a discussion of Covid-19 and forwards an unconventional theory regarding its origins: An “ambitious technician” working in a Chinese lab purposely created and accidentally unleashed the virus. The author’s timely compilation of rich scientific anecdotes can be a delightfully captivating read. But without an overarching narrative—the book begins without an introduction—it’s hard to divine the work’s overall message, if there is one. In addition, this is a messy effort that reads like an unfinished manuscript—the pagination is inconsistent and finally nonexistent, and the font switches liberally. Sargent sees an opportunity in the “real world experiment” of the global lockdown, a chance not only for nature to heal after humans’ ceaseless manipulations of it, but also for people to more fully develop a “planetary consciousness” that takes more seriously their ecological responsibilities. One wishes the author had dwelled at greater length on these significant and hopeful possibilities.

An intriguing but uneven assemblage of scientific stories.

Kirkus Reviews