(posted on my blog: davenichols.net)

The bacteria E. coli is among the most important living things in modern science, and as Carl Zimmer shows in this outstanding treatment, many huge discoveries owe a great deal to this very tiny "bug".

Zimmer packs a ton of information into these pages, highlighting a natural history of E. coli as well as discussing its physiology and evolutionary aspects. While I knew beforehand that this bacteria was very useful, I was still surprised and delighted to find out so much about something so little.

The best parts of the book for me were those which discussed key research utilizing the bacteria, including that of Richard Lenski's long-term evolutionary study, which was included in Richard Dawkins's book The Greatest Show on Earth. Zimmer brings the science to life and while this reads like a popular science book, it is densely packed with wonderful and enlightening science. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in biology, microbiology, evolution, or just a great love of current science. Four and one-half stars. ( )

I learned a lot. ( )

An outstanding book, highly recommended. I loved his Parasite Rex years ago and this is much better than that book -- or at least than my memory of that book. It is an intensive look at E. coli, everything from the details of how we have learned about it, how it functions, how it has evolved, what we understand about it genetics, the role it plays in normal human functioning and human disease, how it is being used to produce new proteins and provide the basis for synthetic life.

All along the way you get to feel like you know E. coli (albeit with a bit too much anthropomorphizing at times) and are getting an illuminating window into a number of subjects, some familiar and some unfamiliar. Much more successful than many "how the tricycle changed the world" types of books. ( )

Carl Zimmer's Microcosm is first-class science writing. I especially enjoyed reading about the inner workings of E. coli. Zimmer does a nice job of tying together the life of E. coli with the life of humans and using those parallels as a springboard for asking the larger questions about the natural of Life itself. If you like science books, this is a must read. ( )