- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: W&N; First Edition edition (17 Aug 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575066059
- ISBN-13: 978-0575066052
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.6 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,371,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The philosopher Wittgenstein might say that if a microbe could talk we couldn't understand it, but psychoanalyst and science writer Arno Karlenhas done his best to listen and translate in Biography of a Germ. This lovely, funny, and even endearing portrait of Borrelia burgdorferi (or Bb), the screwy bacterium that causes Lyme disease, would charm even a terminal mysophobe like Howard Hughes. Unfortunately, Karlen has to justify his topic at greater length than most biographers, but his reasoning is nearly lyrical in its enthusiasm for the microscopic. Following the genealogy of the germ back to our common ancestor (gulp) and beyond, the author finds a freshness in what we too often see as dry taxonomy and genetics. From there he watches Bb as it makes its way through the circulation superhighways of deer, ticks, and hikers, each as top on its complex life cycle.
We elbowed our way into Bb's story comparatively recently, ironically hurting ourselves as we renewed our appreciation of and commitment to wilderness areas. As we destroyed, and then created, habitat for deer, we ended up inviting Bb to run amok in our bodies. Karlen captures the beauty and terror of this bizarre chain of events perfectly, providing new insights into our relationship with our environment. Much like its cousins that live harmlessly in our bloodstream, eyelashes, and gut, this tick-borne germ will eventually evolve a truce with us to protect its reproduction; unfortunately for current and future sufferers of Lyme disease, we're quite a few generations away from that happy time. While we're waiting, we can read Biography of a Germ to learn more about our new tenants and why we should care about them. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
Witty and erudite account of the life of a germ, by the winner of the 1996 Rhone Poulenc Prize.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An unusual premise which really works - 'The Biography of a Germ' is a triumph of popular scientific writing. While this book acts as a brilliant introduction to the microbial world, it has a more serious message about the interaction between human activity and disease. Concentrating on the Lyme disease bacterium (a big problem in the USA), Arno Karlen describes the raw facts of the microbe's lifecycle with flare (which is no easy thing to do), the factors which led to this normally inocuous microbe's emergence as a human disease, and the plight of the families which brought this disease to light in the 1970s.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
From its title, I didn't quite know what to expect, but must say found this a really interesting book. It takes as its germ of choice Borelia Bergdorferi and proceeds to describe how it was discovered, what its life-cycle is like, the impact of environmental change, and how it interacts with its hosts. Since this is the spirochete responsible for Lyme disease, something I had heard of but knew little about, it presented quite an important lesson as well, about how human interference in ecosystems has ultimately caused illness among ourselves. It is quite a slender volume, but very well-written, and has certainly whetted my appetite for the subject. It is aimed at the layman, and if you have any interest in the subjects of microbiology or the environment, it is definitely worth buying and reading.
Format:Paperback
Excellent book! It tells the story of the germ that causes Lyme disease in a very enlightening, informative way but also in a highly entertaining way!
I learned so much from this book - if you want to know more, would like to have the background of LD explained in layman's terms or are just curious then this is the only book on the subject that you will ever need!
Top marks to the author!
I learned so much from this book - if you want to know more, would like to have the background of LD explained in layman's terms or are just curious then this is the only book on the subject that you will ever need!
Top marks to the author!
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