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

(Paperback)

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A thrilling, witty, genre-busting book on microbes, one of science's hottest topics, by a debut writer with a huge following. THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE WINNER OF THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE Your body is teeming with tens of trillions of microbes. It's an entire world, a colony full of life. In other words, you contain multitudes. They sculpt our organs, protect us from diseases, guide our behaviour, and bombard us with their genes. They also hold the key to understanding all life on earth. In I Contain Multitudes, Ed Yong opens our eyes and invites us to marvel at ourselves and other animals in a new light, less as individuals and more as thriving ecosystems. You'll never think about your mind, body or preferences in the same way again. 'Super-interesting... He just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best' Bill Gates SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2017

Reviews

Super-interesting... He just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best -- Bill Gates
[A] marvellous, thrilling and richly annotated book I call it marvellous: everything about the microbial world is to be marvelled at. And it is a page-turner in a very old-fashioned sense. All life is here, and death too, and sex and violence, including deviations of which you had never dreamed ... We have an inner life, in every sense, and are the richer for it: richer still for this witty and compelling book. -- Tim Radford * Guardian *
Beyond fascinating. An amazing book. It'll change the way you think about the world. It'll change who you think you are. -- Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
Momentous ... an essential read -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *
I Contain Multitudes makes the importance of popularising sciencesparklingly clear... From his vibrant introduction to his witty endnotes, Yongs expertise and narration hold no less wonder than a sacred text. -- Kate Womersley * Spectator *

Author Bio

Ed Yong is an award-winning science writer who reports for The Atlantic. His blog, Not Exactly Rocket Science, is hosted by National Geographic, and his work has also appeared in Wired, the New York Times, Nature, the BBC, New Scientist, Scientific American, the Guardian, The Times and more. He lives in London. You can find him on twitter @edyong209 and sign up to his weekly newsletter, The Ed's Up, on http-//tinyletter.com/edyong209/.