We read this book for our June, 2020 meeting, and just about everyone really enjoyed it! In short, it is an account of the Theranos scandal in which Elizabeth Holmes had an idea to create a medical device that would be able to produce quick results for a wide variety of tests from just a few drops of blood from a pin prick. The device was never successfully made but she garnered huge sums of money from venture capitalists, Walgreens, Safeway supermarkets, and investors based on telling them it was working.
The club's consensus was that it was very well written, and although there was a lot of information to present, the author did a wonderful job of making it read like a story! It was a page-turner, and most were shocked at both how many people were discarded by trying to tell the truth or disagreeing, and by how many intelligent successful people believed her in spite of warning signs they should not do so. Our group took turns describing this book in one word, and here are their answers: frustrating, completely unethical, gullible (so many fell for this), under a spell, riveting, angry (her power over people based on a lie), mind-boggling, compelling, exciting - wanted to find out what would happen next, gripping, eye-opening Other impressions: - would love to meet her to see if she is as compelling as she is made out to be - so much money was involved - the story repeated itself a little bit with timelines that followed one story thread and then doubled back to follow another - there are a lot of people to keep track of so most people just kept reading and didn't worry about remembering all the names - she was a con artist - noticed that so much of the money she received was from men - power over them? older men were presented as enthralled by her. - she used her connections with no remorse - she clearly is a narcissist - there was a workplace culture of fear, and the separation of teams was crazy - she had some workers fearful about their visas - where did all these employees and others involved end up? There was a lot to discuss about this book, and it generated a great conversation. Questions we talked about: Did anyone watch the HBO documentary about Elizabeth Holmes or listen to the podcast The Dropout? What was it about Elizabeth Holmes that made so many people believe her and give her so much money? Do you think this type of machine could be realized? Do you think that Carreyrou's account of the Theranos scandal is biased in any way? What was most shocking? Do you think Elizabeth had convinced herself that she was telling the truth? Where were the truth-tellers? The whistle blowers? Will you keep track of the upcoming court case? How does this nonfiction account compare in writing style to other books you have read recently?
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