The Premonition

A Pandemic Story

By: Michael Lewis

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.

Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’ taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The characters you will meet in this audiobook are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A 13-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu...everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Michael Lewis (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

Re-record this with a different narrator immediately

I want so much to listen to this, but I can’t. The narrator is a full stop. Michael, you must do damage control. Re-record this immediately with a different narrator. So many people will turn away because they can’t listen to someone who raises her the pitch of her voice at the end of every sentence like it’s a question, whose voice is edgy, who doesn’t connect with the text (so why should we?).

The best solution would be to either read it yourself or get someone who sounds like you. We want to hear the story you’re telling. Not someone who is phoning it in with a voice that is fingernails on a blackboard. Fix this.

Please Mr. Lewis, read to us your own books.

I am a longtime fan of Michael Lewis’ books and reporting. I have just started listening to “The Premonition” and will finish. And I am sure I will find it to be well reported, and that it will break down complex things so that even I can understand them. But having heard Mr. Lewis speak so eloquently about his various characters on various media I am disappointed not to hear his voice talk about these.

Please have someone else narrate this.

I couldn’t get through it because of the narrator. I will have to read this one. Please have someone else narrate.

Narration Not Great

I really wanted to listen to this book, but the narration is very poor. The narrator has a great voice, but there is no rhythm (or just basic inflection that makes sense) to how she read the sentences.

Fantastic

I learned a lot more about the CDC and our public health system, my perception was much different than reality.