The whole world was gripped by a global pandemic, which led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people. A new zoonotic virus has crossed the species barrier. This is a phenomenon where a new pathogen enters people from the wild and can occur again and again. Can we prevent this? In the book, this topic becomes the main question that we need to ask ourselves. Renowned science writer David Quammen traveled the world and tried to understand the destructive potential of the spread of viruses. He found fascinating and tragic stories, anxiety among officials and deep concern for the future in the eyes of researchers. We are faced with incredibly important questions today: are pandemics independent disasters or are they interconnected? Do they arise on their own or is our activity their cause? What can we do to prevent the next tragedy? Quammen traces the origins of Ebola, SARS, bird flu, Lyme disease and other viral outbreaks, including the grim and surprising story of how AIDS began.