John Carreyrou, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (Book Review)
I saw the documentary and had no idea it could be even worse. Well it was worse. The worst.
There is little I can add that other reviews have not already said . . . but I guess I am just amazed that the entire history of Theranos was this corrupt. There is not one moment when the company did anything it a way that was not obviously wrong. Because of the sustained effort to distort the truth, I am going to have to tote this up as . . . evil.
Other reviewers have asked the question of motivation. It is said that if you lie, you will just lie, and lie, and lie and dig yourself an even greater hole. While we don't know a lot about what sent Holmes down her path, it is pretty clear that the company got to a point where they just couldn't back out. Carreyrou rightly repeatedly draws distinctions between tech and health-tech . . . In tech, you learn in your basement when you're a teenager. But to build health-tech, you really need the advanced degrees.
I am reminded of Coleridge's coinage: motiveless malignancy.
Anyway, do we really have to dig so far? Her board had a bunch of over-validated old (Republican) white men who were swayed by youth, a great story, and the prospect of riches. Besides revealing the sordid history of Theranos, the episodes here crown the appalling decades of longstanding duplicitous behavior by the likes of Henry Kissinger, the Hoover Institute, et al.
A lot will be revealed in July 2020 when the big trial starts.
Originally reviewed on Goodreads on 9 March 2020.
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