Mmm-mmm, microbes!
Although we are accustomed to equating the presence of microbes with
disease, in fact most microbes play a vital friendly role in shaping our
lives. It is not just that one hundred million microbes can populate a
thimbleful of fertile soil, or that many millions live happily in as
much of our saliva. Microbes are everywhere, and we could not survive
without them. In this updated second edition of her acclaimed book,
Jeanette Farrell considers the invisible bugs essential to an everyday
event: the eating of a light lunch consisting of a cheese sandwich and a
chocolate bar. Microbes create such a lunch, digest it, and, through the
alchemy of decomposition, transform it so that the cycle can start all
over again. In the course of her eye-opening narrative, Dr. Farrell
relates the historical significance of using microbes to preserve foods,
our long-standing ambivalence about the microbes that live on and in us,
and our growing understanding of their importance.
Interspersed with fascinating anecdotes and illustrations, Invisible
Allies will transform the reader's perception of the microcosmic
world--around and inside us.
Winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Prize for Excellence in Science Books
Horn Book Fanfare Best Books List
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
