Description

"Chilling…Reads like a West Coast version of All the President's Men." — The New York Times Book Review

Bad Blood is the story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup, by John Carreyrou, the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end, despite pressure from its charismatic CEO and threats by her lawyers.

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.

The book is a riveting story of corporate fraud, a tale of ambition and hubris in the pursuit of riches in Silicon Valley. It is also a fascinating piece of investigative journalism. Even if you have read John Carreyrou's articles in the Wall Street Journal, you will find the book hard to put down, as it invites you to explore questions which such a story brings to mind: What in Elizabeth Holmes' background may have contributed to her actions? How could so many experienced investors be enticed to make significant investments in the venture? What does this story tell us about the mythic heroic entrepreneur?

Please join us in a discussion of the book and of these and other questions which it raises.

Registrants will be notified via email with venue location.