Bad Blood

Book Review by Hina Nainani

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos had a dream to simplify blood testing as it is today, by conducting multiple tests on a few drops of blood. Part of this idea was rooted in her phobia of needles. The problem with Holmes’s dream and business was that the technology didn’t work. But that very important fact did not stop Holmes from racking in millions of dollars from investors and getting the backing & support of big companies like Walgreens and Safeway. But of course, the truth that Theranos Biotechnology was unreliable and poor - was never part of her pitch to investors. We get to a place where Silicon Valley biotechnology company is worth $10 billions after 2016, according to Holmes and that valuation is based on faulty technology. So, there’s a lot to be learned within this book whether you’ve already heard about the Theranos - Elizabeth Holmes fiasco or hearing first time about it through this review. Leadership books like those written by Maxwell & Lencioni are all fine and dandy (although I hardly read them) but I really do find value in books such as this, which talks about real-life experiences.

Bad Blood is a play by play of exactly how NOT to lead a company. If you enjoy the fire festival documentaries, then you’re gonna love this book. It constantly blows my mind how many red flags people actually ignore just because a leader is charismatic. The way that Holmes decided to run the company just made it a place that was never going to produce good science - from encouraging bad experimental and analytical techniques to creating an environment that discouraged collaboration and criticism, nothing about Theranos promoted science as it should be done. Also, not putting up your work for peer review is not a good way for scientists to trust you but Holmes got away with it for so long, by acting as if her technology was so special that it was exempted. One of the interesting things about the whole story is how Holmes idolized Steve Jobs and his unwillingness to compromise in his vision, however biotech works very differently than electronics. You can fix a faulty product, but you can’t play with human lives.

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I won’t tell you exactly how this cookie crumbles but you could probably take a guess. It’s the same thing that happens when you tell a lie and then you tell another lie and then to cover up those lies you tell another one and so on.

John Carreyrou was the first to break it to people about the story of Theranos and Holmes at the Wall Street Journal and he has does an amazing job of having his research read like fiction in this book. He broke down much of the scientific information and lab processes to make it super relatable to an average reader. There is never really a dull moment and the other interesting bit of this is that the story of Holmes and Theranos isn’t quite over yet. Even till date, if you just search on Google you will find recent news articles about Holmes and this entire debacle that she created.

Ultimately, will I recommend this book? Absolutely.

P.S. When the revelations of Holmes’s fraud first came out, there were a few feminists article about why women shouldn’t turn their back on Elizabeth Holmes without getting into details about the disaster. I think when the true details panned out more and more including this book, there are still articles that ask this question what does Holmes mean for women in science - to which I say that there are enough women on our planet who are doing genuine great work for science that I don’t need to rest my stake with her.