The wisdom of plagues: lessons from 25 years of covering pandemics

Part I: Initial reflections on pandemics

Covid as a nervous condition ; How I got here ; What I learned on the way ; Part II: The tangled roots of pandemics

What if we'd handled Covid differently? ; What if we'd handled monkeypox differently? ; Where pandemics came from, and how they changed us ; Why no pandemic will be our last ; Part III: The human factors that spread pandemics

The networks that trigger blame ; The missed opportunities ; The "not me" denialism ; The failures to understand culture ; The cancer of rumors ; The despicable profiteers ; The rare politicians who outwit scientists ; The media's forced errors ; The crises of trust and fetishization of science ; Part IV: Some ways to head off future pandemics

We need a pentagon for disease ; We need to fight global poverty ; We need to ban religious exemptions ; We need to improve surveillance ; We need to rationalize "emergencies" ; We need to respect witch doctors ; We need to make medicine cheaper ; Like it or not, we need mandates.