The Premonition: A Pandemic Story

　　當病毒在2019年底悄然擴散，有些人已敏銳地從新聞的字裡行間，嗅出大事不妙，但部分政府卻堅稱：一切都沒什麼好擔心的。
 
　　幸運的是，我們生活在擁抱質疑態度的國度，同樣幸運的是，在我們之中有人致力研究流行疾病，他們早已觀察到潛伏在我們周圍的隱憂，並且無懼於面對最糟的可能。他們明白要迎戰這些未知的危險、拯救性命和人類社會，就必須要靈活思考、從過去經驗學習教訓，並勇於質疑一切。然而，他們也因此賭上自己的事業……。
 
　　從《魔球》、《大賣空》到《橡皮擦計畫》，麥可．路易士總是能精采重現筆下人物的故事，他在這部節奏明快、精彩萬分的最新作品裡，深入描繪在新冠肺炎風暴之中，一群深具遠見，意見卻未獲重視的專家、醫療工作者與研究員，他們如何在一切惡化之前，著手為這場人類與時間的競賽作準備，又是怎麼設法對抗比疫情更加災難性的──政府對疫情的忽視。(文/博客來編譯)

　　For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.

　　Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.

　　The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

　　Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.