Short cuts

wo new books aim to help us stave off (further) global catastrophe from malignant microbes. Bill Gates’ HOW TO PREVENT THE NEXT PANDEMIC (Allen Lane) is full of good ideas,. Though it could pay more attention to politics to see why so many sensible proposals fail to gain traction. PREVENTABLE, by UK professor Devi Sridhar (Viking), offers a ringside seat to high-level scientific and governmental meetings. It’s very readable, says the , comparing global pandemic responses, from hard lockdowns to sophisticated contact tracing, herd immunity ideas to elimination, variants and vaccines, as well as suggesting what we can do better the inevitable next time.