The Invisible Siege: The Rise of Coronaviruses and the Search for a Cure

The Invisible Siege: The Rise of Coronaviruses and the Search for a Cure by Dan Werb

Coronaviruses have been around for a long time. However, they have only been extensively studied in the past few decades. Previously they were most commonly seen as just causing a common code and only studied by an odd dedicated researcher. This all changed with SARS. It appeared in Asia in the early 2000s. It was deadly and started to attract a great deal of interest. There was work to sequence as well as to identify the source. Work was also started on vaccines. However, after it was contained, the enthusiasm died off. 

A decade later, Mers appeared. This was also extremely deadly. Interest in Coronaviruses popped up again. It also lead to tracing the source - and identifying camels instead of bats as an animal vector. This one was also contained, and interest again died off. 

In 2020, Covid-19 started to spread. The people had been doing work on coronaviruses and vaccines were ready to jump into action. Covid-19 ended up causing a widespread worldwide pandemic. People could carry and spread the virus without showing symptoms. It could be deadly for some people, but for others they suffered minimal (or no symptoms.) This allowed it to spread much more than the previous viruses. Luckily, the past research enabled vaccines and treatments to be quickly put into place. (Though in the field of medical research, a year is seen as amazingly fast.)

This book covers the history of coronavirus research. It does a great job of putting Covid-19 in context of the previous viruses. There are a number of factors involved. Politics and relationships can be as important as science. Countries and rulers are reluctant to admit they have a problem. This can make it difficult for scientists and public health official to identify and combat the virus. One scientist that had success built up relationships by way of non-judgemental science. Science also had internal conflicts, with those advocating open science versus those concerned about patents and financial return. Money is needed to bring drugs to market, but if vaccines are too expensive, the poorer parts will not receive it, limiting world immunity.

The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can't Do

As a society, we have become more and more efficient. But has that made life better? In many cases no. In some cases it may make us worse - especially as money is drained on minute efficiencies instead of used to make real improvements. 

The book abounds in examples of "efficiency gone wrong". The financial industry takes the crown for the worst offender. Trading has become ultra-efficient, with dedicated lines helping to produce millisecond improvements in executions. The result is more and more rapid trading among intermediaries. There is also more derivative trading. While some of the improved efficiency helps everyday investors, most of the effort does not.

There are some interesting quotes from James Evans regarding the impacts of "efficiency" in science. A "popularity" contest has evolved in science as well as other industries. People can easily find the most cited articles, and then cite them in their work. Instead of a long-tail enabled by easy access, we get more concentration to those that are already dominant.

Efficiency also brings about more challenges. Travel used to be very opaque with complex, hard to find pricing. As online travel agencies came about, more of the information was available to consumers. As they found and exported  inefficiencies in the  pricing structures, the travel companies made updates to make things more "efficient". Now it required more work to find the best deals. Meta travel search sites came out to help find better deals. Even travel agents themselves have been having a comeback. The old inefficiencies have simply been replaced with new ones. 

Are we better off with changes? We can access the internet at any time on our phones. This helps improve some actions that were difficult earlier. But, it also has resulted in a bunch of time wasting. Does it provide a net benefit or not? A computer can more efficiently fly a plane than a human, but a human still needs to take over during catastrophes.  If humans rely too much on autopilot, they may not have the skills when they are needed the most.

The book is aptly titled. Efficiency is a paradox. Making parts more efficient can sometimes make the sum of the parts less efficient. Finding the best way forward for society is a huge challenge.

Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt

Henry Every was a British pirate who inadvertently helped the British empire come to be. Enemy of all Mankind attempts to document his life and history and the unsuccessful worldwide manhunt for him. The actual facts are rather sparse (and wound up with a lot of fiction.) The book at times seems to try to spin elaborate detail over minute facts. However, it does provide an interesting narrative of the pirate.

Every may have been an accidental pirate. He, along with others, were enlisted to sail on a ship that was just not going anywhere. They had had enough of that, and decided to mutiny and claim the ship for themselves. They were kind enough to let those that wanted to leave and return back to land.

The voyage set out to various pirates dens, such as Madagascar. They later ended up near the red sea and then started to prey on Indian ships returning from the haj to Mecca. His ship teamed with a few others and got some nice spoils from a ship. The pirates democratically divided it up, with everyone receiving their share (with the Captain receiving two.) This single victory would give pirates the equivalent of a decades' wages. However, they still wanted more. 

They attacked an Indian ruler's ship. The pirates were at severe size disadvantage, however, they were extremely lucky. One of the cannons exploded on the big ship, killing many (and eliminating firepower.) Then the pirate ship hit a direct hit on one if the first shots. The leadership of the Indian ship freaked out, later arming some of the harem on board. This did not go well. The pirates ended up with great loot. There were also varying stories of what happened to the women. By some accounts, they were brutally raped, while by others they were taken as wives. The former is the most supported by facts.

In response to the attacks, the Indian leadership imprisoned the English India company officers. Since the pirates were English, they figured the India company must be also. In order to save face, the British led a global manhunt for the pirates. They also struck a deal where the British will provide protection for the Indians. This would help lead to British domination in India.

The manhunt did not succeed in finding Every. The pirates had a head start and had left the region. Many of the crew decided to leave, going abroad in places like Reunion, the Bahamas or North America. A few managed to sneak back to England. One pirate was caught with some of his plunder sewn into his jacket. A few pirates were tried for their crimes against the Indian ship. This was seen as a "show trial" to demonstrate how tough on pirates the British were. However, it backfired, with the jury finding the pirates not guilty. However, rather than set them free, they were later tried for the mutiny on the British ship. For this they were sentenced to hang. Seems like xenophobia was still strong in the day.

Every was never found. There were various rumors as to his whereabouts and future life. To the common man, he was often admired as a Robin Hood figure. To the elites, he was still a public enemy.