COVID:19: Separating Fact from Fiction Mahapatra Anirban

Anirban Mahapatra has been involved in science and scientific publishing for over two decades. He's written about numerous health- and biology-related topics including cancer, neuroscience and infectious diseases. He earned his PhD in microbiology at the Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio, USA). Anirban takes a deep personal interest in microorganisms too. He likes to travel, cook, read and write poetry, and lives just outside Washington DC.

In early 2020, our lives were upended by a new virus that caused the most severe pandemic in over a century. In the span of a few weeks, even visiting a grocery store became a task in risk assessment. Cities and countries across the world closed their borders for their own citizens, as well as foreigners. Newspapers carried alarming accounts of rapidly rising numbers of COVID-positive cases, patients dying and migrant labourers desperately trying to reach home. One was struck every single day with the realization that the pandemic was not just a biological phenomenon, but also a social one.

Where did this virus, first called the novel coronavirus and later SARS coronavirus-2, come from? Did we see it coming? If so, why weren't we better prepared for it? How lethal is it really? How can we protect ourselves from it? How will the pandemic end? What will life be like once it is over?

In this meticulously researched book, Anirban Mahapatra demystifies the virus and offers us a historical perspective. He charts the scientific progress made in understanding how the virus infects us and how we fight back, and also looks at the social tensions it has uncovered. In doing so, he offers us a clarity that enables us not only to understand the virus but also live with it.

A comprehensive scientific and sociological telling of one of the most disruptive events in our lifetimes. Anirban Mahapatra tells us how we got to this point, and where we go from here.Anirban Mahapatra's COVID-19: Separating Fact from Fiction is an engrossing narrative that integrates all the key scientific and societal aspects of the current COVID-19 pandemic with historical accounts of past viral outbreaks, and then relates these topics to the current state of affairs in India and the rest of the world. Accessible to all readers, Mahapatra walks through all basics of virology, vaccine development and divergent strategies to mitigate pandemics to create an essential guide for our times. Everyone should read this book to get a fuller understanding of living in a COVID-19 world.This is a superb account of the origins, manifestations and lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, deeply informative, highly accessible and engagingly written. Blending a meticulous understanding of microbiology, molecular biology and chemistry, Mahapatra guides us through the COVID-19 saga, offering vital lessons that we must embrace before the next pandemic strikes.

In a world worn out by the pandemic and infodemic of COVID-19, Anirban's
elegantly written book is a brilliant blend of science, history and sociological
analysis that is rich in information and insights, while providing the pleasure
of an easy read. It is strongly recommended for anyone who wishes to
understand the dynamics of the present pandemic in the broader context of
the human-microbial interactions that occurred in the past and may shape
our future.

Clear, detailed, all-encompassing, elegantly written. Perhaps the most
engagingly encyclopaedic compendium on SARS-CoV-2 in 260 pages.

COVID-19: Separating Fact from Fiction is an extraordinary book, both
in content and composition. Anirban Mahapatra has analysed the vast
body of scientific literature on COVID-19 that has accumulated in just less
than a year and has written a definitive book on the most recent malady
of our times. COVID-19 is unprecedented in the contemporary history of
pandemics. We have seen fact meld into fiction, and this misinformation
has impacted the basic fabric of human life. The talented author has
brought together seemingly unconnected, complex aspects of the pandemic
into a tightly woven book, in language that anyone can understand. The
book cuts through news headlines and social media posts on COVID-19 to
offer a calm and rational voice to the earth-shaking and unerasable human
experience of the pandemic. This is a must-read for inquisitive minds across
all ages.