I also like that when Yong presented controversial studies, he addressed the limitations and critiques of those studies. We discover new things almost every day. I CONTAIN MULTITUDES ... beautifully written book that will profoundly shift one’s sense of self to that of symbiotic multitudes. Something that Yong handled very well was addressing the nuanced nature of scientific research. We spread them, introduce variety into their brief lives and provide them with all they need to replicate and colonise new habitats. These things are tiny. While much of the prevailing discussion around the microbiome has focused on its … I Contain Multitudes lets us peer into that world for the first time, allowing us to see how ubiquitous and vital microbes are: they sculpt our organs, defend us from disease, break down our food, educate our immune systems, guide our behavior, bombard our genomes with their genes, and grant us incredible abilities. I CONTAIN MULTITUDES The Microbes Within Us … Unless you are a microbiologist, almost all of it will be new to you. Book reviews. Even though I do microbiology research, I didn’t know that most animals can’t survive without microbes, or that the human body hosts tons of non-pathogenic viruses, or even that the majority of viruses are non-pathogenic. "A science journalist's first book is an excellent, vivid introduction to the all-enveloping realm of our secret sharers." Book Review: I Contain Multitudes. A bacterium called Tremblaya colonised the citrus mealybug, and then discarded the genetic material it no longer needed as a mealybug freeloader; another bacterium called Moranella colonised Tremblaya. Throughout this book, I found myself marveling at the specific things that microbes can be responsible for (like triggering deadly auto-immune responses in organisms across the tree of life), as well as their involvement in virtually every ecological niche on Earth. ( Log Out /  Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. It also didn’t help that the writer’s style was obtuse. This book was a Christmas gift, for which I’m very grateful! The Whitman-inspired title is apt: we drift through a world teeming with bacteria. In July, German microbiologists announced a new antibiotic that kills the hospital superbug MRSA. I just googled to see a specific example, and I’ve heard of bacteriophages, but I didn’t realize they were viruses. Review “In I Contain Multitudes, Yong synthesizes literally hundreds and hundreds of papers, but he never overwhelms you with the science. I Contain Multitudes is hardly a light read – I closed the book with the feeling that Yong has peered into every microbial niche – but it is an endlessly rewarding one. This is a fascinating topic — from the little I’ve read about it, it almost seems like we’re mostly here to provide containers and carriers for the gazillions of life forms in our guts. In The New York Times Book Review, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Jonathan Weiner reviews Ed Yong’s “I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life.” Uncovering countless biological mysteries of jaw dropping complexity, I Contain Multitudes is an endlessly fascinating look at the invisible world that’s all around (and in) us. Mr Yong expertly avoids these pitfalls…. Bacteria, in other words, allow us to do decent impressions of bacteria.” (207) . I Contain Multitudes is science writing at its best: Ed Yong is curious and energetic, and his enthusiasm for bacteria (and wordplay) runneth over in this wide-ranging look at microbiomes within and without. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. It changes insect sperm so that males can only effectively fertilise eggs that are also infected with the same strain of Wolbachia, and all of this happens because the microbe makes the journey through the generations via the ovaries and in the eggs. The book was still interesting, but definitely no Lab Girl. Human infants, however, can digest none of these. At times, the book felt less like a cohesive story about microbes, and more like a collection of examples of microbes that do cool things. I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Ed Yong, 2016 HarperCollins 368 pp. Microbes can affect our mood, take charge of our immune system, protect us from disease, make us ill, kill us and then decompose us. Joining the ranks of popular science classics like The Botany of Desire and The Selfish Gene, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin—a “microbe’s-eye view” of the world that reve There are now three parties in the symbiosis, between them contributing the nine enzymes necessary to create one amino acid. The book is full of conversations with scientists and researchers, and it feels like a tour of an emerging field, full of incredible possibilities. I Contain Multitudes is popular science writing at its best. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best.” One single-celled creature called Bifidobacterium longum infantis gobbles up the lot. A delightful, witty book. Published by HarperCollins publishers ISBN: 9780062368621. Human breast milk contains lactose, fat and more than 200 complex sugars called oligosaccharides. But if you had trouble with some of the passages in this book, maybe I need the Cliff notes . Will Hodgkinson. The I Contain Multitudes book is at once a history book and a science book, charting the course of life on earth from the very beginning, and exploring the science behind our evolving understanding of the microbial world in which we live, delving deep into the manner in which these microbes shape that world, both around, and in us. Rachel E. Sachs (Academic Fellow Alumna) Journal of Law and the Biosciences June 2017. As complex, multicellular lifeforms, we are their sock puppets. They are invisible, insidious and exist in overwhelming numbers. Each of us contains 40 trillion microbes. You won’t find this particular microbe in Ed Yong’s marvellous, thrilling and richly annotated book, but don’t worry. The rat, of course, is rewarding the microbe too: both benefit. Wendy Moore, Literary Review [A] densely fascinating and elegant book… Yong’s book is vividly enjoyable. We have an inner life, in every sense, and are the richer for it: richer still for this witty and compelling book. --Kirkus, Starred Review “I appreciate that Yong steered away from oversimplified or misleading scientific claims, and that he called out mainstream news companies that do oversimplify or sensationalize microbiology research.” — this line here reminded me of an interview I heard on NPR with the author of Lab Girl. But we can get a little closer to their blinding pace by forming partnerships with them. It is reportedly the dominant microbe in the bowels of breast-fed babies, and as it digests the sugars, it releases short-chain fatty acids, which then feed the infant gut cells. Yong’s wit, and endearing inability to pass up an opportunity for wordplay, are just a couple of the many bonuses that make it enjoyable, too. I appreciate that Yong steered away from oversimplified or misleading scientific claims, and that he called out mainstream news companies that do oversimplify or sensationalize microbiology research. e are not alone. Complex life has a 500m-year evolutionary history: microbial life is at least 3.5bn years old. Change ), Month in Review: August 2020 – Books and Bakes, Mini-Reviews of Short Reads: The Origin of Others & Dear Ijeawele, Book Review: Love and Other Thought Experiments. We still do not know who they all are, or what they do. I enjoy reading many genres, cooking and baking, doing yoga, and spending time with my two cats. I Contain Multitudes Ed Young Review by Becky Diamond. Read the Full Article . ( Log Out /  Adam Miller November 13, 2017. We are not alone. These organisms live on our skin, inside our bodies and sometimes inside our cells. It’s an entire world, a colony full of life. She noted that some scientists and science enthusiasts would write to her to let her know she was wrong about something she’d done intentionally for the sake of audience. Microbes can swap those handy mutations that deliver advantage in stressful circumstances with their neighbours: change happens on the spot, and this egalitarian, cooperative talent, called horizontal gene transfer, swiftly delivers microbial strains that can learn to resist whatever antibiotics we throw at them. Collectively they are cleverer than us; they both compete and cooperate. 0; infectiously enthusiastic.” — New York Times Book Review “A science journalist’s first book is an excellent, vivid introduction to the all-enveloping realm of our secret sharers.” And it is a page-turner in a very old-fashioned sense. Reading this book will make you view the world differently. Yet, until late in human history, we didn’t know they were there at all. Readers Lane reviews of other books about unpopular forms of life:
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