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I feel like I don’t do single book reviews often enough. I’ll do them every once in a while on here, but it’s more likely that I’ll do a round up of books with some sort of theme or just a list of books I’ve read recently. Normally that’s because I want to share the widest amount of books possible with you. I have a tendency to read a lot of books and I always want to try and share as many good books as possible with you. But every once in a while I’ll have a book that I was asked to specifically review, a book with great advice, or a book that was just so good that I could not put down. Those books are the books that will get a post all to themselves.
In this case, Bad Blood by John Carreyrou was a book that I could just not put down.
Bad Blood Book: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start Up Review:
Summary
Bad Blood tells the real story of how the Silicon Valley Unicorn Theranos seemed to rise out of nowhere, ready to revolutionize the medical world. Lead by the dazzling Elizabeth Holmes, who was aiming to be the next Steve Jobs, investors were enraptured with the idea that this company could take a single drop of blood and be able to diagnose hundreds of diseases and run countless tests. Theranos’s technology was going to change the medical world and save countless lives.
Except it was all a lie.
The technology didn’t exist. In fact, it couldn’t exist. Every time Theranos employees tried to build the device it failed. They would run countless tests only to discover that what Elizabeth Holmes wanted to accomplish just wouldn’t work. Except, when they went to tell her this, they were fired. Immediately. Forced to sign an NDA and immediately escorted off of the premises.
And this all happens within the first 10 minutes of the book.
John Carreyrou, the author and the ivestigative reporter tells the story of how Theranos was built up and how it began crumbling down. As the reporter at the Wall Street Journal who broke the story, he also share the behind the scenes look at the threats he received and the lengths Theranos went to to try to avoid getting this story published.
It’s a crazy ride of a massive Silicon Valley fraud, but I was totally here for it.
You’ll Love This Book If…
You like nonfiction, thrillers, mysteries, and books that move at a fast pace.
It was weird, I wouldn’t have expected to put this book in the thriller category, but it had me on the edge of my seat enough times that I’m totally going to put it there. You see, once Carreyrou began putting this story together, he had a few former Theranos employees who were interested in speaking to him. But Theranos, specifically the COO, Sunny Balwani, was not having it. Balwani served as the sidekick villain of this story. He exploded on employees at any time, would fire people on a whim, and would do whatever necessary to keep Theranos safe. So once these employees began talking, he had them all followed. He also wanted to make sure they all knew they were being followed, as a scare tactic to get them to back down. It was creepy.
You’ll also love this book if you’re into con-artists, frauds, and tricksters. Though, I wouldn’t actually put Holmes into that category. You see, Holmes had every person she met wrapped around her finger. She was friends with the Obamas, Henry Kissinger believed in her so strongly he joined her board, and Rupert Murdoch invested in Theranos. She convinced Walgreen and other companies to sign deals with Theranos so they could be the first to use her medical devices in their pharmacy’s clinics. Everyone wanted to know her and everyone wanted to work with her.
Except, I don’t think Holmes ever actually thought she was conning anyone. I think she genuinely believed that she could accomplish this technology. She thought anyone who told her that it wouldn’t work was just trying to stop her from achieving greatness.
This Book Isn’t For You If…
If you’re looking for something light, a historical tome, or a fantasy novel, this isn’t for you.
As I said earlier, this book is nonfiction, but it reads like fiction. It’s not a medical journal. However it does have it’s medical moments of explanation. As well as it’s technology explanations, but you shouldn’t let those turn you off. Those are just there to help you explain why all of this isn’t working. Why, despite Holmes’s claims, these medical devices still aren’t possible.
This book also isn’t for someone who isn’t ready to have a bit of a truth bomb thrown in their face. After all, as much as this book reads like a fiction investigative report, it’s all real. The characters are real, Theranos is (well was) real, and the massive fraud was real. Up until recently, Theranos was around and trying to defraud millions of their money. They were running blood testing on cancer patients with their nonexistent medical devices and putting peoples’ lives in danger. This was going on for years and could have continued to go on had it not been for winning Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou. Having names of the people you know and admire originally endorse this woman before they learned the truth can be hard to swallow. One has to almost detach themselves from the novel and pretend it’s a fictional thriller.
Buy Bad Blood by John Carreyrou or Listen to the Audiobook
Phew, just describing Bad Blood feels like it took everything out of me. Reading it honestly not only blew my mind, but it exhausted me too. I hope I’ve convinced you to go and read it though.
You can obviously order it from the library, buy it at Amazon, or your local bookstore. But, I would actually suggest ordering it from Audible instead. I listened to the book on Audible and I think it was the best experience. It brought the book to a new level for me. Since the book was written by Carreyrou, the reporter who also broke the story, it felt like he was sitting with me and sharing the story right there. It was like Carryrou had decided that he was going to only tell me this story and once he started, he just couldn’t stop. There was just so much more to add and he didn’t want to leave anything out.
It also made it easier for me to continue listening while I ran errands or had to walk places, which was great because I didn’t want to put this book down.
P.S.
Also, you don’t want to hold off on reading this book for too long. Why? Because they’re already planning on turning it into a movie! That’s right, it’s already rumored that Bad Blood is going to be turned into a movie! There are rumors Jennifer Lawrence is starring as Elizabeth Holmes, the sweetheart of Silicon Valley. I couldn’t picture it at first, but once I started seeing pictures of her as a blonde, side by side with Holmes, I understood.
Have I convinced you to read it yet? Or have you already read Bad Blood? Let me know in the comments!
If you love book reviews and recommendations, also check out Charolette Walsh Likes To Win & this list of books to read while traveling.
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