I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life (2016)

This is an excellent book. It does a great job of addressing a fast-evolving field and is honest about the limitations of our knowledge of the topic. I was very impressed. (I also really appreciated Yong's visit to Chicago at the end!)

For anyone else reading the kindle edition - there are some photos at the end of the book that weren't linked to anywhere else, so make sure you catch those. ( )

As a biologist who studies multicellular organisms, and avoided microbiology wherever possible, this is something of a revelation. Yong makes a good case for treating individuals as walking communities or ecosystems; evolutionary biology and medicine need to keep this in mind. ( )

A mind-bending and gut-wrenching up-to-the-minute account of how microbes -- mainly bacteria -- influence every aspect of the lives of us multi-celled animals. ( )

I am generally more fascinated by books about physics than biology, but Ed Yong’s I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Is and a Grander View of Life sounded fascinating, so I decided to give it a shot. It lived up to my expectations and beyond. I also think I have found the perfect insult inside its pages. There’s a critter called Osedax mucofloris, the gutless bone-eating snot-flower worm that feasts on dead whales that sink to the ocean floor. I am trying to memorize that, take that you gutless, bone-eating snot-flower worm!

I Contain Multitudes takes us into the microbial world and it’s a miraculous world. There were sections that were so astonishing I had to read them again because my mind was so blown I was not certain I read it right. I found myself sharing food parts with my best friend, a college science instructor. I of course had to call her about the gutless, bone-eating snot-flower worm.

I was interested in learning more about microbes because I am concerned that we have gone overboard in our mania for ridding ourselves and our environment of bacteria. I learned how painful that can be when I developed c. diff after a hospital stay, the antibiotics I took while recovering killed off lots of good bacteria in my personal microbiome, making way for the rapid growth of c. diff, an omnipresent jerk that is usual kept in balance by the good bacteria that my antibiotics had just killed off. I was able to recover without the fecal transplant that is discussed toward the end of the book, but the potential for improving our health through rePOPulation remains intriguing and hopeful.

Learning about microbes involves a bit of unlearning because these critters are amazing. Their symbiotic relationships they develop with hosts and with each other can be incredibly complex. Did you know there are worms with no mouths, no stomachs and not anuses because they don’t eat, they are nourished solely by bacteria through chemosynthesis. Did you know that bacteria can swap genes with each other enabling a kind of hyper-evolution. It’s still evolution as it passes through inheritance, but it’s fast. I could go on forever with the amazing facts and discoveries and research that is going on, but the best thing is for you to just read this book.

I loved I Contain Multitudes. I am impressed with Yong’s ability to explain the science and the research so this lay-reader could easily understand new concepts and where they fit into our understanding of the world. Biology is not my strong suit, I can never remember which is meiosis and which is mitosis. Nonetheless, even though I skipped high school biology, I was able to easily understand the book.

Long writes with wonder and excitement, and you can feel his enthusiasm on every page. He also writes with humor and wit, from silly puns to bits of gossip and insider stories. He expresses the bemusement and astonishment of scientists who are surprised by the wonderful ingenuity and flexibility of microbes.

This is also an important book. There are solutions here for medicine, which is obvious, but also for things like building for flooding with microbes that combat and prevent mold. A project that is working to fight Dengue Fever could also fight the Zika virus and malaria. Important, informative, and entertaining, what more can you ask?

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Is and a Grander View of Life at Harper Collins Publishers
Ed Yong Web Site

★★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/i-contain-multitudes/ ( )

"I Contain Multitudes" is a deft combination of contagious curiosity and even-handed treatment of Mr. Yong's subjects: microbes. This book is certainly packed to the brim full of interesting facts and anecdotes, but the author is always very careful to show the other side of the coin and not get too carried away with speculation. His writing style is also casual but never too lax: you always feel as if you're getting the complete picture. To be sure, this is a subject that will garner only further interest in the years to come and Mr. Yong has set a high bar in a book both informative and filled with integrity. ( )