Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup


 WOW!  What an incredible book....this was my 2nd time listening to this amazing book and I found it just as compelling as I had the first time.

It tells the story of a young woman - Elizabeth Holmes - who starts her own blood testing company at the age of 19.  She wants to Help People, but somewhere along the line, her values got all twisted and she got caught up in a web of lies, deceits, power, money, and self aggrandizement.  

MANY people - powerful people - fell under her charismatic spell and her vision for testing people's blood from a single drop of blood.  No needles needed.  Only that is not what happened at all.  The machines didn't work and she continually lied about that.  She lied about them being FDA approved, about them being used on the battlefields of Afghanistan, about the results of the tests, about how far along they were in testing the machines; just lies, lies, lies.  

The work environment at her company - Theranos - was hostile and people were fired/and or quit right and left.  Yet, no one dared blow the whistle.  Until two young employees' consciouses got the better of them and they spoke to a reporter.  

Even to the bitter end, Elizabeth denied and lied.  She is now in prison for 11 years for lying to investors.  GREAT book, But I only give it 4 stars since there are so many names, it gets very confusing.

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