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

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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).

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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.

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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.

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You'll be amazed at what full, varied lives E. coli bacteria lead! They are marvels of adaptation, able to switch metabolic pathways so that they can function in both oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich environments. They are able to reproduce both asexually (by splitting in half) and sexually (by exchanging strands of DNA).

In one of his most amazing chapters, Zimmer reveals that E. coli even have individual personalities. The ostensibly DNA-identical E. coli in a laboratory petri dish will exhibit a range of behaviors. When presented with a challenge, some will go dormant while some will remain active. When presented with foodstuffs or building blocks - some will aggressively pursue the added material, while some will hang back. Some will turn left; some will turn right. It's enough to make you forget about adopting a puppy and send you out to adopt a bouncy E. coli bacillus instead.

Zimmer describes how because of their availability and variety, E. coli have been the model subjects used in all sorts of biological experiments from the dawn of the age of microscopes when they could be observed. Since it was discovered that every E. coli bacillus has DNA, not in a nucleus, but still stranded throughout its cell, E. coli have become the ideal way of exploring the structure of DNA and the routes by which genes get translated into new proteins and new life. They have been key to all sorts of investigations into the inner workings of life.

In describing some of these experiments, Zimmer incidentally reveals what could be a crucial piece of practical information for all of us. E. coli bacilli, like all living things, are subject to being infected by entities that are smaller yet - by viruses called "bacteriophages." Some strains of E. coli can harbor dangerous viruses. When antibiotics are prescribed to combat the E. coli, these cells die and release a flood of their more dangerous virus parasites into the bloodstream. These viruses can then cause truly lethal infections in what has become their human hosts. It's even possible to imagine that some released viruses could be capable of initiating cancerous growths. However I've rarely heard of Doctors performing thorough tests to determine what strains of E. coli they are dealing with before prescribing antibiotics. It seems this is an additional reason that individual patients need to be wary before insisting on casual treatment with antibiotics.

In other chapters, Zimmer addresses the debate on Intelligent Design. ID advocates often cite the E. coli's "motorized" flagellum as an example of a structure that could not possibly have been produced through an accumulation of random positive mutations. However, Zimmer shows how this amazing, elaborate structure could in fact have been adapted from previously developed, much simpler syringe-like structures used by E. coli to eject unwanted materials from its cell interior.

My only criticism of this book is that it doesn't contain enough illustrations. For example, Zimmer sides with Stephen Jay Gould in protesting that the development of all the different species that now inhabit the earth should not be represented as a tree with humans at the apex. Instead Zimmer suggests that the branching of the different species from each other might be better represented as a steering wheel with concentric rings. I felt I could really have used a diagram here and in a number of other places to make the ideas clear.

However overall, this is a marvelous book. It covers a wealth of topics in lively, readable style. By knowing E. coli, you get the feeling you could know, not only a world, but the world.

Customer Rating: 

A fantastic account of the role E.Coli plays in discovering our relationship with bacteria (which is not as negative as people fear). Zimmer travels to many labs across many universities to get the story straight, right from the horses mouth (which probably has hundreds of interesting species of bacteria to study). My favorite story was about the decades long (ongoing) experiment with speciation and adaptation of E.Coli done by Richard Lenski. This has been one of my favorite books and I would recommend it to everyone.