EPIC MEASURES

Moneyball meets medicine in this remarkable chronicle of one of the greatest scientific quests of our time—the groundbreaking program to answer the most essential question for humanity: how do we live and die?—and the visionary mastermind behind it.

Medical doctor and economist Christopher Murray began the Global Burden of Disease studies to gain a truer understanding of how we live and how we die. While it is one of the largest scientific projects ever attempted—as breathtaking as the first moon landing or the Human Genome Project—the questions it answers are meaningful for every one of us: What are the world’s health problems? Who do they hurt? How much? Where? Why?

Murray argues that the ideal existence isn’t simply the longest but the one lived well and with the least illness. Until we can accurately measure how people live and die, we cannot understand what makes us sick or do much to improve it. Challenging the accepted wisdom of the WHO and the UN, the charismatic and controversial health maverick has made enemies—and some influential friends, including Bill Gates who gave Murray a $100 million grant.

In Epic Measures, journalist Jeremy N. Smith offers an intimate look at Murray and his groundbreaking work. From ranking countries’ healthcare systems (the U.S. is 37th) to unearthing the shocking reality that world governments are funding developing countries at only 30% of the potential maximum efficiency when it comes to health, Epic Measures introduces a visionary leader whose unwavering determination to improve global health standards has already changed the way the world addresses issues of health and wellness, sets policy, and distributes funding.

Smith’s account takes you behind the scenes of this monumental quest—a story of defiant genius, intellectual rivalry, and the unprecedented effort to count what makes us human.

• A Scientific Revolution: Go inside the Global Burden of Disease study, an effort as ambitious as the moon landing, and meet the controversial visionary, Christopher Murray, who conceived it.
• Health Systems Under the Microscope: Discover the shocking analysis that ranked the U.S. healthcare system 37th in the world and challenged the accepted wisdom of the WHO and the UN.
• The Power of Epidemiology: Follow the quest to develop a new way of seeing the world, using medical statistics to answer the most fundamental questions: how do we truly live and die?
• The Gates Effect: Learn how an unlikely friendship with Bill Gates led to a $100 million grant that accelerated this epic quest to improve the health of everyone on Earth.

Jeremy N. Smith has written for the Atlantic, Discover, and the New York Times, among many other publications, and has been featured by CNN, NPR, and Wired. His first book, Growing a Garden City, was one of Booklist’s top ten books on the environment for 2011. Born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, he is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Montana. He lives in Missoula, Montana, with his wife and daughter.