 |
 |
Sign in/joinLanguage: English [ others ]
Over forty million books on members' bookshelves.
|
Loading... Parasite Rex : Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous…by Carl Zimmer
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendations
Loading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Good book but gets increasingly preachy as the book progresses. Definitely not one to read within 2hours either side of a meal! Bleaaaaagh! (  )neil9797 | Jan 17, 2009 |   Here is another fascinating book by Carl Zimmer, clearly one of my new favorite science writers. The subtitle of this book is Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures, and it is appropriate. Just as our knowledge of evolutionary biology is exploding, so, too is our knowledge of parasitology. Once considered a problem of Africa and the low-lying equatorial countries of the world, we now know that parasites are everywhere and they play a large role in the development and evolution of the planet. For example, evolutionary biologists have had a hard time coming up with a good justification for sex. (Other than as a justification for high-speed Internet connections in the home, I mean.) Parasitologists now have evidence that sexual reproduction is a strategy for dealing with parasitic attacks. And where else could you learn about the anal cannon of the leaf-rolling caterpillar, which shoots digestive waste up to two feet away, thereby avoiding the parasitic wasp that is attracted to the smell? If you are a parent, you will find threatening stories in here that will surely keep the children in line! (  )co_coyote | Mar 23, 2008 | One of the best non-fiction books I've read in years. I could not put it down. At a party recently, I found myself surrounded by PhD level marine biologists who were hanging on my every word as I described some of the parasites listed in the book. My favorite is the one that eats the tongue of a fish and then positions itself in the fish's mouth as a replacement tongue, only taking whatever food it needs and then helping the fish to swallow the rest to keep it alive. Some of the parasites have only been described and understood in the last 5-6 years, and yet this class of organism makes up a significant fraction of the Earth's biosphere. The author takes the reader through their evolution, biology, and ecology in an engaging, easy to read and digest form. Highly recommended. (  )craigim | Dec 27, 2007 | 1  One of the chief features of this book is that it focuses not only on parasites that affect humans but on parasites that affect all animals. To be clear, they focused on non-virus, non-bacteria -- that is, only one-celled or multi-celled eukaryotic parasites. The book tells a great many fascinating stories, including how parasitism could have influenced the evolution of sex, how they elude the immune system, and how completely they may take over their host's lives. Parasites that eat your flesh? That's old hat. What about parasites that castrate crabs and create their own faux egg sac so the crabs, like any good crustacean mothers, carefully distribute the parasites in the sea? Or the parasites that are brightly colored and climb into snails' transparent antennae to draw the attention of hungry birds? Or (and this I could hardly believe until I saw the shocking photograph) the crustacean parasite that crawls in a fish, eats it's tongue, and then replaces the tongue moving as a tongue would but taking a bite out of every gulp. Yes, parasites are macroscopic evidence of the incredible diversity that evolution can create. The writing of this book is certainly interesting, and I was pleased that he used metaphors that did not confuse or mislead the reader as lesser science journalists often do. The structure of the book is kind of a Parasite Story Hour, though. The stories are loosely grouped into chapters, but this book isn't quite as well crafted as Richard Rhodes' Deadly Feasts. In that book, Rhodes manages to show the arc of discovery of prions, give real depth to the people involved, and effectively communicate the nature of cutting edge scientific experiments without simplifying the concepts to a meaningless level. That piece of science journalism was a welcome surprise, but I would never hold another to such a high standard. Parasite Rex was a good read for someone like me with bizarre tastes but it's probably not for the squeamish or those with delicate stomachs. ( )myfanwy | Oct 12, 2007 | 1 You will never lick your dirty fingers again. When you look in the mirror you don't see all the tiny parasites that live in your eyelids. They're everywhere, they're everywhere!!! This is a great book on a narrow subject. (  )dickcraig | Sep 24, 2007 | 2 0.056 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 074320011X, Paperback)Many books provoke a visceral reaction, but few really make you itch. Science writer Carl Zimmer's Parasite Rex does just that, provoking a deliciously creepy sense of paranoia in the reader as it explores a long-misunderstood realm of science. While entomologists love to announce that there are more species of insects than all other animals combined, few parasitologists choose to trump that by reminding us that "parasites may outnumber free-living species four to one." That figure is based on the multicellular chauvinism of the 19th century, which excludes bacteria and fungi from consideration (athlete's foot, anyone?), but Zimmer looks at the E. coli in our guts as well as the worms, flukes, mites, and other critters that earn a healthy living at our expense--and the expense of our domesticated plants and animals.The author traveled to Africa to see firsthand the effects of sleeping sickness and river blindness. He learned from physicians and researchers that the parasites that wreak so much havoc are much more than the simple degenerates we've taken them for. Their complex adaptations to their environments--us--are as lovely and awe-inspiring as any eye or wing. The examples of hormonal and other behavioral control of hosts, causing changes in feeding habits and other life essentials, are chilling when personalized. Zimmer knows his subject well, and his writing, while robust and affecting, never descends to the all-too-easy gross-out. You wouldn't expect to find respect for a tapeworm, but Parasite Rex will show you how beautiful Earth's truly dominant life forms are. --Rob Lightner (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:52 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
LibraryThing AuthorCarl Zimmer is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Abebooks |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
