Books by David Quammen

First, a horse in Brisbane falls ill: fever, swelling, bloody froth. Then thirteen others drop dead. The foreman at the stables becomes ill and the trainer dies. This title tracks these infections to their source and asks what we can do to prevent some new pandemic spreading across the face of the earth.

Why have island ecosystems always suffered such high rates of extinction? Over the past eight years, David Quammen has followed the threads of island biogeography on a globe-encircling journey of discovery.

**A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022**From the author of the prescient Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human PandemicBreathless is the story of the scientific quest to decipher, control and fight Covid-19.Breathless traces SARS-CoV-2's fierce journey through the human population as seen by the scientists who study its origin, ever-changing nature and capacity to kill. It shows how strange viruses emerge as we disrupt wild ecosystems - sometimes causing global catastrophe - and suggests this coronavirus could be a 'forever virus' that's destined to bedevil us endlessly.Quammen also explains that experts saw this pandemic coming; that scientists warned 'the next big one' would be caused by a changeable new virus, but were ignored for political or economic reasons; and that while the origins of this virus may not be known for years, some suppositions are compelling and others can be dismissed.Breathless takes us inside the frantic international effort to control SARS-CoV-2 as if peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists who led the chase.Praise for Spillover:'A frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting' Walter Isaacson'A real-life thriller with an outcome that affects us all' Elizabeth Kolbert

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and A New York Times Notable Book of 2018. Our understanding of the `tree of life', with powerful implications for human genetics, human health and our own human nature, has recently completely changed.

Tracking these great and terrible beasts through the toughest terrain in the world, Quammen is equally intrigued by the traditional relationship between the great predators and the people who live among them, and weaves into his story the fears and myths that have haunted humankind for 3000 years.

Drawing from Charles Darwins secret "transmutation" notebooks and his personal letters, acclaimed science journalist Quammen has sketched a vivid life portrait of the man whose work never ceases to be controversial.

A revised and expanded edition of Quammen's first book of nonfiction, including the best of his recent work.