The Other Pandemic

How QAnon Contaminated the World

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The Other Pandemic

By: James Ball

Narrated by: Ned Rudkins-Stow

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Bloomsbury presents The Other Pandemic by James Ball, read by Ned Rudkins-Stow.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist James Ball takes us into the depths of the internet to trace the origins and rapid ascent of QAnon, the movement that mutated from a niche online conspiracy theory into the world’s first digital pandemic.

Imagine a deadly pathogen that, once created, could infect any person in any part of the globe within seconds. No need to wait for travellers, trains, or air traffic to spread it, all you need is an internet connection. In this gripping investigation, Pulitzer Prize winner James Ball decodes the cryptic language of the online right and with a surgeon’s precision tracks the spread of QAnon, the world’s first digital pandemic.

QAnon began as an internet community dedicated to supporting President Trump and intent on outing a global cabal of human traffickers. A short, cryptic message posted by an anonymous user to a niche internet forum in 2017 was the spark that ignited a global movement. What started as a macabre game of virtual make-believe quickly spiralled into the spread of virulently hateful, dangerous messaging – which turned into tragic, violent actions.

Incoherent, chaotic, free from agendas: QAnon is a one-size-fits all cult conspiracy. From a standoff at the Hoover Dam, to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on 6 January 2021, to protesting COVID-19 lockdowns, this digital pandemic has spread globally and shows no signs of stopping. In The Other Pandemic Ball takes us into the niche pathways through which these digital pathogens spread, mutate and infect people all across the globe – but he also argues that the prognosis doesn’t have to be dire. He shows us that it is possible to treat and cure this virus in order to build up our digital immune systems, and be better prepared to survive the next wave.

*A Financial Times Book to Read in 2023*©2023 James Ball (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

James BallNed Rudkins-StowBloomsbury Publishing

Anthropology

Content Creation & Social Media

Elections & Political Process

Politics & Government

Religious Studies

Social Media

Thought-Provoking

Technology

Anthropology Content Creation & Social Media Elections & Political Process Politics & Government Religious Studies Social Media Thought-Provoking Technology

Critic reviews

In his new book about the QAnon movement, the investigative journalist James Ball teases out the global network of people who have essentially given up on the notion of objective reality, from bored teenage trolls to duplicitous politicians and crazed billionaires … Ball takes to his task with a convert’s zealotry (Ethan Croft)

An insightful book about the conspiracy movement compares it persuasively to a self-replicating disease … A disturbing study of the origins and resilience of an exceptionally versatile and pernicious network of paranoid digital malcontents (Rafael Behr)

This is a worthwhile, pacy and well-written book. It is an important one, too. We need to understand why people are hoodwinked by and have faith in conspiracy theories because it is happening with increasing frequency

Utterly fascinating (Dom Joly)

Ball, with this biography of the internet, takes us beyond Zuckerberg, Bezos et al into a murkier world where we discover how everything online works and who benefits from it. Fascinating, engaging and important, too (praise for The System)

A fascinating exposé of the world behind your screen. Timely, often disturbing, and so important (praise for The System, Caroline Criado-Perez, author of Invisible Women)

Brilliant, wide-ranging … The Other Pandemic presents a detailed and disturbing diagnosis

A riveting account

What [Ball] reveals about QAnon is fascinating … Disturbing and insightful, The Other Pandemic is a valuable study of a “versatile and pernicious” phenomenon

Most relevant

If you are familiar with QAnon through podcasts you will still learn something new from this book, and the final chapter that explores solutions to wider disinformation sharing was well considered. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in technology, conspiracy theorists and/ or cults.