Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I don’t typically read business books, but the fall of Theranos is a story that intrigues me because so many smart people failed to ask the questions that could have exposed the company as a complete fraud before it became a darling of Silicon Valley. Carreyrou provides a fascinating account of the fear and paranoia that permeated the culture of Theranos even in its earliest days. Elizabeth Holmes may not know much about chemistry or engineering, but she excelled at creating a cult of personality that borrows heavily from the autocrat’s playbook; something that Carreyrou emphasizes repeatedly throughout this extensively detailed book based on his own reporting for the Wall Street Journal.
