John Carreyrou

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Time, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post • The McKinsey Business Book of the Year The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the one-time multibillion-dollar biotech startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes—now the subject of the HBO documentary The Inventor—by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end. “The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.” —Bill Gates In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work. A riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley.

Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Bad Blood

Sarah Schumacher

Absolutely riveting, and a great example of what journalism is supposed to be. I’ve been aware of the Theranos saga over the last couple years so I was interested to get the full scoop in long form, but wow. It was hard to put down. As in I didn’t. Highly recommended if you’re interested in Silicon Valley drama, human nature and how not to run a startup. Also recommended for those who enjoy train wrecks.

One takeaway I want people to pay attention to is how risky it is to rely on the knowledge of someone else when it comes to technical/scientific processes or devices. It’s crazy that with all the red flags about feasibility it took so long for people to catch on to the fact this device could not possibly do what she claimed it could do. On the other hand, I work with small businesses in a technical space and I see the same semi-blind trust that can lead to wasted funds or worse. If you’re investing in a business or even just paying someone to do your website, please do enough research to understand rudimentary principles. It’s really hard to make good decisions if you don’t understand at least some of the technical process behind things. I also believe a competent vendor should be able to explain their product or service in layman’s terms. If they can’t, or they refuse, it’s a red flag.

This is also a rather extreme example of the importance of the business rule: “under-promise and over-deliver.” And, you know, honesty. Also that.

still flabbergasted that this happened under the nose even of Hilllary Clinton. writing this two days after she is imprisoned. 

Xin Ma

Lord Aragorn

A complete and engaging description of the rise and fall of Theranos. Great attention to detail in describing the facts. The level of deception was just astounding and it was maddening to see how many people refused to call B.S. for the fear of missing out. It was also sad to see how Theranos and its lawyers ruthlessly went after the whistleblowers like Erika Cheung and Tyler Schulz.

Madhuri jain

Following passion is really amazing thing but following it blindly leads you in the great troubles...!! could not put it down

Winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2018 "You will not want to put this riveting, masterfully reported book down. No matter how bad you think the Theranos story was, you'll learn that the reality was actually far worse." Bethany McLean, bestselling coauthor of The Smartest Guys in the Room and All the Devils Are Here A New York Times bestseller to be adapted into a film with Jennifer Lawrence to star. In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup 'unicorn' promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes's worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: the technology didn't work. For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at the Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos' articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company's value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. In Bad Blood John Carreyrou tells the story of Theranos, and encourages us to consider the possible repercussions of our blind faith in a small group of brilliant individuals. PRAISE FOR BAD BLOOD "A dazzling story of deception in Silicon Valley. . .It is a tale of heroic cupidity on a scale that made the very best and the very brightest look like the very, very foolish . . . You will not be able to put this book down." Washington Post "Chilling . . . Reads like a West Coast version of All the President's Men." New York Times Book Review "Carreyrou presents the scientific, human, legal and social sides of the story in full. Although some of it was previously reported in his extensive coverage, he unveils many dark secrets of Theranos that have not previously been laid bare." Nature "His [Carreyrou's] unmasking of Theranos is a tale of David and Goliath." Financial Times

farah

wow! what an exhilarating listen. I had never heard of Theranos but this book almost read like a thriller and I could not stop listening to it. It had a healthy amount of technical detail that gave me enough context to understand the story (although I had to assume the science that John put forth was solid). Great book and highly rec!

Savindi Jinasena

WOW I'll write more about this book later, but if I could recommend any non-fiction book this year, it would be Bad Blood. It's an incredible story which sometimes felt like could not be real for some of the absurdity of Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Bulwani. 

Highly recommend this!

Shay

I've been following this case in the news since I heard about it a few years ago and this book fills in a lot of the gaps in the story of how Theranos and Elizabeth got busted. If it weren't for the courage and honesty of some of Elizabeth's employees its possible that a lot of harm could have been caused due to Holmes' lies. 

This is journalism at its finest.

Simao Freitas

Even after seeing the HBO documentary, this book still makes you cringe at how Theranos worked.

MK Rosencrants

** spoiler alert **
           Serious page turner that's hard to put down. Well researched and I found the similarities to America's political climate enlightening and frightening. Worthy read.

Ivy X

flew through this book—-it was so interesting and well written & the theranos scam is so interesting to see how this company got so far despite rooted in healthcare

Arturo Hernández

This is an incredible book because one could almost think of it as a very well written novel with evil characters, unethical schemes, unjustified layoffs and even provoked suicides but when you realize that all of this is the recount of a true story, something that happened literally a couple of years from now, one cannot avoid being bewildered by these facts. 

This is a must read for anyone interested in Silicon Valley, startups or damn, even criminal novels!

Haylie

I will forever be enthralled with Elizabeth Holmes's AUDACITY and Theranos lore.

Cindy Lieberman

A fascinating and engaging book that traces the rise and subsequent unraveling of Theranos, a start-up in automated blood testing. It’s a documentary but without the “why,” since the person behind it all is unable to admit her missteps and the author is a reporter, not prone to speculation. Only in the epilogue does the author (who broke the original story whilst working at the WSJ) imply the most likely reason: sociopath. 
From a family that made and lost a fortune over several generations, Elizabeth Holmes wanted from a very young age simply to “be a billionaire.” Her company’s mission had lofty goals of helping people control their medications and lead healthier lives. But when the company’s instrumentation and assays failed, she hid their shortcomings with workarounds and forgeries — putting lives at risk. 
I listened to the audiobook compulsively and recommend it highly.

Belle

Literally couldn't put this book down. I carried it everywhere for three days. Dense, but well-told and fun to read.

Emily Pauls

4.5: I highly recommend if you like investigative journalism. great reporting from john carreyrou

Julian Bachu

Georgia Carr

quite slow to get going but this is truly a wild tale that you couldn't make up - the stories from employees of the harassment, bullying and threats are chilling. Carreyrou also has a wonderful way of explaining complex scientific procedures that I would never have understood without his simple yet effective approach. all in all I would recommend this book to anyone who loves some drama that is real but seems totally fictional in its grandiosity and web of lies

Annwyn Jensen

It was interesting. I won’t be rereading it though.

Colin

Rating: 8.6/10

	Going into this book, I had a rough outline of the Theranos story. Billion-dollar Silicon Valley startup Theranos and its charismatic founder Elizabeth Holmes were embroiled in controversy over whether their groundbreaking blood testing technology actually worked. I knew Theranos had been publicly embarassed by John Carreyrou after his brutal expose in the Wall Street Journal. What really hit home after reading this book was the extent of Theranos's deceit. For more than a decade, Elizabeth Holmes and her boyfriend/COO Sunny Balwani were deceiving regulators, investors, and eventually patients themselves. 
	I really enjoyed the amount of detail Carreyrou has documented here, like specific employees's conversations with Holmes. It was a bit hard to keep track of all the names of employees or confidential sources and the like, but that's been the case for the last few nonfiction books I've read. I listened to this book in audiobook form and really enjoyed the medium. Normally, I would've spent maybe a week or two reading this but in audio form, I was able to devour it in two or three days. Overall, I loved the book and was incredibly engrossed in the drama of a unicorn company collapsing into controversy and ultimately, irrelevancy.

Todd Luallen

This expose stars out slow, but finishes at a good pace. It's clear that people who know how the system works can lie and cheat their way to short-term success in a startup market. For Theranos, and the two people responsible for the lies, the charade lasted for over a decade. The book does an exceptional job of detailing the rise and fall of a company that was built on smoke and mirrors, and was ruled by people that used mob tactics to preserve the illusion. If Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani don't serve years of jail time, then it will be just one more in the list of failures of the U.S. Justice system.

Anne 

What a fascinating in-depth look into a terrifying set of events perpetuated by a narcissistic psychopath. 

I think the last paragraph really says it all: 

“A sociopath is often described as someone with little or no conscience. ...I’m fairly certain she didn’t initially set out to defraud investors and put patients in harm’s way when she dropped out of Stanford fifteen years ago... but there came a point when she stopped listening to sound advice and began to cut corners. Her ambition was voracious and it brooked no interference. If there was collateral damage on her way to riches and fame, so be it.”

Honestly, I don’t believe she ever cared about the people. I do believe it was only about power and money, but I respect Carreyrou’s perspective. 

No one wants to think the worst, but she is the worst.

such a good book. i have no words for how good a reading experience this was. beautiful piece of investigative journalism and a story of caution to all entrepreneurs who probably had hoped, at some point, to be the next Elizabeth Holmes.

Alex bell

Good read, perhaps a bit too much detail in places for my liking.

Vivek Chand

It’s not often that I read a book in a day. This is one of them - couldn’t put it down. Having followed the story in real time over the last couple of years it was even more interesting. 

There is a reason this won the business book of the year. Highly recommended.

After you read it then watch this interview on GPS with Fareed Zakaria. It will all fall in place as this was at the height of her con game. 
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/201...

Bad Blood Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

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