Book Bites: Biological War

Biological War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Jacobsen’s “Biological War” is, in the most academic sense of the word, bullshit. The book is not one to let the facts get in way of a gripping narrative. If this were marketed closer to fiction it would be a fascinating page-turner. However, Jacobsen’s narrative peddles such a staggering volume of utterly specious claims (Mongols caused the Black Death, COVID-19 was a lab leak), that the book ends up feeling like the tinfoil hat ravings of a doomsday prepper.

Its bad enough that I'm now wondering if her previous book, Nuclear War, which I loved, is as shoddily thrown together.

This hypothetical mega-plague relies on, no joke, an exploding Russia lab (even though there have been previous lab explosions which did not result in mass death), a rave-attending Catholic study abroad student, jetsetting rich assholes and Gavin Newsom’s turn to podcasting. The scenario also relies on LA's Skid Row as a major disease vector; in doing so Jacobsen (accidentally or no) makes unrestrained late-stage capitalism the main driver of this disease. So, according to Pulitzer-prize finalist and reporter Annie Jacobsen, re-appropriating wealth from Smaugish billionaires will stop the next COVID. 

 

If the text would at least admit its far-flung (and sometimes downright false) nature, there could be something of a discussion. As is, Biological War is best shelved alongside slop fiction and skipped.

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