Apollo's Arrow
The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live
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Narrated by:
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Nicholas A. Christakis MD PhD
About this listen
A piercing and scientifically grounded look at the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and how it will change the way we live - "excellent and timely." (The New Yorker)
Apollo's Arrow offers a riveting account of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as it swept through American society in 2020, and of how the recovery will unfold in the coming years. Drawing on momentous (yet dimly remembered) historical epidemics, contemporary analyses, and cutting-edge research from a range of scientific disciplines, best-selling author, physician, sociologist, and public health expert Nicholas A. Christakis explores what it means to live in a time of plague - an experience that is paradoxically uncommon to the vast majority of humans who are alive, yet deeply fundamental to our species.
Unleashing new divisions in our society as well as opportunities for cooperation, this 21st-century pandemic has upended our lives in ways that will test, but not vanquish, our already frayed collective culture. Featuring new, provocative arguments and vivid examples ranging across medicine, history, sociology, epidemiology, data science, and genetics, Apollo's Arrow envisions what happens when the great force of a deadly germ meets the enduring reality of our evolved social nature.
©2020 Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD (P)2020 Little, Brown & CompanyListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Apollo’s Arrow shoots straight and true to explain the scientific and social aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. Christakis’s background in biology, medicine, epidemiology, and sociology is a powerful formula for understanding this complex subject. I’m tempted to say that the gods created Christakis to write this book at this time. It is wise, vivid, and engaging." —William D. Nordhaus, author of The Climate Casino and 2018 Nobel Laureate in Economics
“Seldom have we been gifted with a study of pandemic disease marked by such scope, wit, and erudition. Still rarer is one that appears while the rest of us scramble to make sense of a rapidly evolving crisis, one shaped by the very social forces that Nicholas Christakis has studied for decades. Apollo’s Arrow is more than history’s first draft. It will live on as a journal of the plague years, certainly, and it inspires as it instructs. Definitive, engaging, and astonishing. A tour-de-force.” —Paul Farmer, professor, Harvard Medical School, founder, Partners in Health
“The world is ravenous for deep and accurate information about the most important event in the 21st century. No one is deeper than Nicholas Christakis, who ticks every box of expertise: medical, epidemiological, social, psychological, economic, historical. This is the place to go to understand the phenomenon that has turned the world, and our lives, upside down. Apollo’s Arrow is gripping, enlightening, and vitally important.” —Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now
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Story
Quarantine is our most powerful response to uncertainty: it means waiting to see if something hidden inside us will be revealed. It is also one of our most dangerous, operating through an assumption of guilt. In quarantine, we are considered infectious until proven safe. Until Proven Safe tracks the history and future of quarantine around the globe, chasing the story of emergency isolation through time and space - from the crumbling lazarettos of the Mediterranean, built to contain the Black Death, to an experimental Ebola unit in London, and from the hallways of the CDC.
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Excellent writing, timely and informative
- By MSE on 07-24-21
By: Nicola Twilley, and others
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The Pandemic Century
- One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris
- By: Mark Honigsbaum
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. From the Spanish flu to the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles to the 1930 "parrot fever" pandemic, through the more recent SARS, Ebola, and Zika epidemics, the last one hundred years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms.
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Pretty good
- By Baz 12345 on 04-03-20
By: Mark Honigsbaum
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Presidential Takedown
- How Anthony Fauci, the CDC, NIH, and the WHO Conspired to Overthrow President Trump
- By: Dr. Paul Elias Alexander, Kent Heckenlively
- Narrated by: Bob Johnson
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In January 2020, Donald Trump was on the fast track to an easy re-election. While his first two years had been stymied by House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the Democrats, his third year had been one of remarkable success. The United States had low unemployment and was making strides across the globe. The president's rallies were well-attended, and he was being projected to win four hundred electoral votes and about forty-five states. Then came COVID-19.
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Must listen!!
- By Christina Borkowski on 01-10-23
By: Dr. Paul Elias Alexander, and others
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Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds
- Ebola and the Ravages of History
- By: Paul Farmer
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 22 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2014, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea suffered the worst epidemic of Ebola in history. The brutal virus spread rapidly through a clinical desert, where basic health-care facilities were few and far between. Causing severe loss of life and economic disruption, the Ebola crisis was a major tragedy of modern medicine. But why did it happen, and what can we learn from it?
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CRITICAL LISTENING for 2020!
- By Vin on 11-17-20
By: Paul Farmer
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Pale Rider
- The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus travelled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted - and often permanently altered - global politics, race relations, and family structures while spurring innovation in medicine, religion, and the arts.
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A Predilection for Those in the Prime of Life
- By Cynthia on 02-12-18
By: Laura Spinney
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The Great Influenza
- The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
- By: John M. Barry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.
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Great book but very disturbing...
- By Tim on 01-15-09
By: John M. Barry
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Denialism
- How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives
- By: Michael Specter
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter has twice won the Global Health Council’s Excellence in Media Award, as well as the Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In Denialism, he fervently argues that people are turning away from new technologies and engaging in a kind of magical thinking that is hindering scientific progress.
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A compelling read
- By S on 05-17-11
By: Michael Specter
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Silent Invasion
- The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late
- By: Deborah Birx
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In late February 2020, Dr. Deborah Birx—a lifelong federal health official who had worked at the CDC, the State Department, and the US Army across multiple presidential administrations—was asked to join the Trump White House Coronavirus Task Force and assist the already faltering federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic. For weeks, she’d been raising the alarm behind the scenes about what she saw happening in public—from the apparent lack of urgency at the White House to the routine downplaying of the risks to Americans.
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Great insight into Public Health
- By Ann-Karen Weller on 05-09-22
By: Deborah Birx
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Missing Microbes
- How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues
- By: Martin J. Blaser
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In Missing Microbes, Dr. Martin J. Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome, where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the health and equilibrium of our body. Now this invisible eden is being irrevocably damaged by some of our most revered medical advances-antibiotics-threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes with terrible health consequences.
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Very enlightening and information well supported
- By James on 05-03-15
By: Martin J. Blaser
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Pandemic
- Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond
- By: Sonia Shah
- Narrated by: Sonia Shah
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Interweaving history, original reportage, and personal narrative, Pandemic explores the origin of epidemics, drawing parallels between the story of cholera - one of history's most disruptive and deadly pathogens - and the new pathogens that stalk humankind today, from Ebola and avian influenza to drug-resistant superbugs.
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You will probably enjoy "Spillover" more
- By serine on 03-01-16
By: Sonia Shah
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The HPV Vaccine on Trial
- Seeking Justice for a Generation Betrayed
- By: Mary Holland, Kim Mack Rosenberg, Eileen Iorio
- Narrated by: Caroline Slaughter
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Cancer strikes fear in people’s hearts around globe. So the appearance of a vaccine to prevent cancer - as we are assured the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine will - seemed like a game-changer. Since 2006, over 80 countries have approved the vaccine, with glowing endorsements from the world’s foremost medical authorities. Bringing in over $2.5 billion in annual sales, the HPV vaccine is a pharmaceutical juggernaut. Yet scandal now engulfs it worldwide. The HPV Vaccine on Trial is a shocking tale, chronicling the global efforts to sell and compel this alleged miracle.
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Outstanding Investigative Book!
- By Barbara Loeppke on 10-02-19
By: Mary Holland, and others
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The Great Escape
- Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
- By: Angus Deaton
- Narrated by: Matthew Brenher
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The world is a better place than it used to be. People are healthier, wealthier, and live longer. Yet the escapes from destitution by so many has left gaping inequalities between people and nations. In The Great Escape, Angus Deaton - one of the foremost experts on economic development and on poverty - tells the remarkable story of how, beginning 250 years ago, some parts of the world experienced sustained progress, opening up gaps and setting the stage for today's disproportionately unequal world.
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not worth listening
- By Kyung on 04-26-20
By: Angus Deaton
What listeners say about Apollo's Arrow
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jim Holly
- 12-02-20
The most comprehensive description so far...
Worth several listens. There is a tremendous amount of information and keep perspective on the topic
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1 person found this helpful
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- James A.
- 02-25-22
Excellent but US focused
Fabulous mix of history, philosophy and science to put the coronavirus into perspective and point us to lessons for the future. But data and anecdotes are very US focused and lacks the power of how this is (was) unfolding around the world.
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- Reggie Shropshire
- 01-05-21
Great COVID book
great teachings on COVID that helped me understand the medical and social aspects of the virus.
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- Mortimer
- 01-02-22
It's Already a Bit Dated
The good doctor does an excellent job in explaining the array of problems that accompany situations where masses of people are affected by a disease. These issues could have been addressed even before the pandemic began, as they are well known from previous epidemics.
The difficulty comes when he analyzes some of the issues specific to the Covid 19 pandemic in this 2020 book: vaccines changed everything. So, for example, he observes that people adapted to Covid by not handshaking, which he describes as a regrettable behavior. What we have seen in 2021--as soon as vaccination made people feel protected--handshaking returned. For the same reason, mask-wearing has become much less prevalent, even in the face of the more communicable Omicron variant.
I think that this excellent book needs a realistic update in light of the difference that vaccination has made in behavior. In fact, this is still a developing story, and the aftermath of the pandemic will see even more changes in our lives. A look backward in a couple of years will probably become a popular literary theme.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Nicolas
- 01-06-21
Excellent book to better understand the pandemic of 2020 and other ones
Great narrator, very well described topics in a complex subject, great accompanying pdf as well.
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- Adam
- 01-30-21
Everyone should read this book
While it was a difficult topic to listen to while still in the throes of this pandemic, this was a truly fascinating read. This is required reading for anyone interested in what is (still) happening with Covid-19 and pandemics through history.
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- B. Durtschi
- 01-02-21
A great book, very informative.
While this book contains many scientific details in terms, it is well explained in a way that someone that listened in high school biology could understand. I would highly recommend it. the book discusses the evidence for and the uncertainties associated with what we know about this virus and the vaccines. it also goes into the importance of various approaches and their effectiveness. turns out social distancing and washing your hands work. more importantly, he goes into more details as to why then you generally hear.
This book seems to be told from the centrist point of view. It does contain some criticisms of elected officials who reacted poorly and against the advice of scientists early on in the pandemic. This includes criticisms of both left-leaning and right-leaning political figures. if that will be extremely upsetting to you, I would still read the book. The information is just so doggone great you can undergo a little discomfort to get it.
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2 people found this helpful
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- WD
- 11-24-20
Know your enemy
The author presents an excellent survey of the science and history of pandemic disease. He did not get bogged down in jargon or science beyond my grasp. The last chapters on sociology and how COVID will end were of particular interest. Narrated clearly by the author who has a nice voice for this task.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mike Pasquarella
- 04-19-22
Apollo's Arrow
This is a great book! A concise and compelling history that lends to the understanding of our current COVID pandemic. Though. maybe not in our lifetime, it gives me hope that evolutionarily we will survive.
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- Alchemist585
- 11-14-20
Excellent. Scholarly, Insightful, & Comprehensive
I enjoyed learning as I listened to Dr. CHRISTAKIS explain in simple language about pandemics past & presents. I specifically appreciate the he explained the social impact, the way he documented key events related to #Covid_19 chronologically, and his insight of how the #SARS_COV_2 virus may evolve into an endemic & less harmful similar to how the OC43 virus likely evolved.
I am going to buy the hard copy as a reference once the 2nd ed is out because I think an update is necessary in a couple of years.
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4 people found this helpful