Book Review - I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong
2018-Dec-31, Monday 01:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felicitygs[goodreads link]
So one of my deepest loves and side passions is disease. I just like learning about them! I like learning how they've shaped and affected our lives, how they work, the mechanisms, all of that. Some diseases have bacterial and microbe roots, so when I found this book I thought for sure it would be right up my alley.
I was not wrong; this book is stuffed full of so much great information about microbes, bacteria, and microbiomes--the ecology of bacteria. Yong's goal is quite large: a thorough review of the history and current research of microbes in the animal kingdom. Each chapter is organized around a specific section of that history and research, and the entire book is rife with amazing details and examples of the material he's writing about.
Perhaps the largest takeaway I got from this book was how the entire popular language for discussing microbes and bacteria needs to be overhauled. It becomes obvious, through repetition and constant exploration of the topic, that microbiomes are really just little ecologies, that the terms symbiosis and parasite are constantly in flux, and pretty much everything I was taught about this stuff way back when is pretty much bunk now.
Here's a good example, regarding immune systems and how they might have evolved to what they are now:
This is just--mind-blowing; so much of this book is, and Yong is excellent at keeping that enthusiasm and breathless wonder for his topics without ever really going too far afield. This is a book by a person who is deeply passionate about what they're writing about, and it shows in every page, every marvelous example, every breath-taking story of just how and what bacteria do for us, against us, and with us.
If you are at all interested in microbiology, I absolutely cannot recommend this book enough. It's fascinating and well-explained; Yong makes sure to try and de-jargon as much as possible without losing the nuance needed, and it should be accessible to most laypeople.
So one of my deepest loves and side passions is disease. I just like learning about them! I like learning how they've shaped and affected our lives, how they work, the mechanisms, all of that. Some diseases have bacterial and microbe roots, so when I found this book I thought for sure it would be right up my alley.
I was not wrong; this book is stuffed full of so much great information about microbes, bacteria, and microbiomes--the ecology of bacteria. Yong's goal is quite large: a thorough review of the history and current research of microbes in the animal kingdom. Each chapter is organized around a specific section of that history and research, and the entire book is rife with amazing details and examples of the material he's writing about.
Perhaps the largest takeaway I got from this book was how the entire popular language for discussing microbes and bacteria needs to be overhauled. It becomes obvious, through repetition and constant exploration of the topic, that microbiomes are really just little ecologies, that the terms symbiosis and parasite are constantly in flux, and pretty much everything I was taught about this stuff way back when is pretty much bunk now.
Here's a good example, regarding immune systems and how they might have evolved to what they are now:
It's not that [vertebrate animals] are more vulnerable to infections than other animals. Rather, squid expert Margaret McFall-Ngai thinks, this more intricate immune system evolved to control a more complex microbiome, allowing vertebrates to more precisely select which species live in their bodies, and to maintain those finely tuned relationships over time. Rather than limited microbes, our immune system evolved to support even more of them.
This is just--mind-blowing; so much of this book is, and Yong is excellent at keeping that enthusiasm and breathless wonder for his topics without ever really going too far afield. This is a book by a person who is deeply passionate about what they're writing about, and it shows in every page, every marvelous example, every breath-taking story of just how and what bacteria do for us, against us, and with us.
If you are at all interested in microbiology, I absolutely cannot recommend this book enough. It's fascinating and well-explained; Yong makes sure to try and de-jargon as much as possible without losing the nuance needed, and it should be accessible to most laypeople.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-31 08:34 pm (UTC)(I got a book about microbes from my aunt as a Xmas gift, which also looks like it will be a fun read.)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-01-02 04:32 am (UTC)