Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life (Vintage),   ISBN:9780307276865

Customer Rating: 

This is without doubt a wonderful book. It is wonderful because it uses E.coli as a concrete, real, almost tangible example to illustrate how evoultion actually works. You will be convinced and able to learn how it is possible for individually unrelated proteins, which separately perform very simple functions, can cooperate together to produce complicated sturctures and perform awe inpsiring functions. Once you have mastered the argument, you can work out yourself how a complex structure like the human eye can develop through evolution. Personally (I am a medical doctor by trade) I learn something about E.coli that can help my work - now I know the real reason why antibiotic can be harmful in treating diarrhoea. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Customer Rating: 

Carl Zimmer, one of America's premier science writers, has written another fascinating book, this one about the lowly E. coli. The book is somewhat technical, which may be unavoidable, given the topic. But if you can get past that, the book was very interesting.

As the title, "Microcosm," implies, E. coli helps give us insights into the vast world of biology. Many of the chapters in the book take a small slice of the study of biology and show how E. coli research has had an impact there. For example, E. coli research has been used to shed light on fields like abiogenesis and astrobiology, helped confirm Darwinian evolution's victory over Lamarckism in the early 1950s, played a starring role in ethical disputes over genetic engineering over the past few decades, and was deeply involved in intelligent design's humiliating loss in the recent Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board case.

As a poet might say, you can catch a glimpse of the entire universe simply by examining the lowly E. coli.

Customer Rating: 

Another fascinating book by Carl Zimmer. He again does a great job of explaining amazing science in an easy to read way. If we could just get kids to read books like this, far more would develop a life long interest in science. The continued struggle to survive and how life meets those challenges is amazing. And the author lets us read those amazing details without having to wade through complicated, poorly presented material (that drives so many to think science is boring).

Customer Rating: 

Zimmer takes an extremely complex subject and creates a readable text for the non-biologist; doing so without watering down the content. It is a splendid conceptual study of microbiology that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would highly recommend this book for anyone seeking an update on current issues in microbiology.

Customer Rating: 

Nice to read a well done book on a wide ranging topic. Zimmer ties together a number of themes into a very informative and readable book.