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In a gripping, accessible narrative, a veteran science journalist lays out the shocking story of how the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic happened and how to make sure this never happens again.

Over the last 30 years, we learned every lesson needed to stop this coronavirus outbreak in its tracks. We heeded almost none of them. The result is a pandemic on a scale never before seen in our lifetimes. Here, science journalist Debora MacKenzie lays out the full story of how and why it happened: the previous viruses that should have prepared us, the shocking public health failures that paved the way, the failure to contain the outbreak, and most importantly, what we must do to stop this happening again. Offering a compelling history of the most significant recent outbreaks, including SARS, MERS, H1N1, Zika, and Ebola, MacKenzie outlines the lessons we failed to learn from each past crisis. But looking forward, she makes a bold, optimistic argument : this pandemic might finally galvanize the world to take viruses seriously. No one has yet brought together our knowledge of Covid-19 in a comprehensive, informative, and accessible way. But that story can already be told, and Debora MacKenzie's urgent telling is required reading for these times and beyond. Fighting this pandemic and preventing the next one will take political action of all kinds, globally, from governments, the scientific community, and individuals -- and if we act now, it is possible.

\"We have identified the most important threats and the species most likely to go extinct if we continue as we are now: 188 species are critically endangered, of which 29 are possibly extinct,\" he says. \"I hope this assessment will be seen as a call to action.\" The rest are not out of the woods. Six per cent of all mammal species are \"near threatened\", having lost large parts of their ranges, such as the brown bear. Half of all species for which the scientists have data have shrinking populations, including a fifth of species classed as \"of least concern\" - meaning things will just get worse. Only 5% are increasing, like the European bison. In south and southeast Asia, 80% of primates are threatened. Worldwide the bigger mammals are the most threatened. They may be what conservationists call \"charismatic megafauna\", but they also make a larger target for hunters.