Combining the literary sensibility of David Quammen with the
scientific rigor of Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Zimmer reveals the power,
danger, and beauty of the surprising creatures who dominate the earth:
parasites.
For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and
the darkest shadows of science. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer takes
readers on a fantastic voyage into the secret universe of these
extraordinary life-forms--which are not only among the most highly
evolved on Earth, but make up the majority of life's diversity.
Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the parasite-riddled
war zone of southern Sudan, Zimmer introduces an array of amazing
creatures that invade their hosts, prey on them from within, and control
their behavior. He also vividly describes parasites that can change DNA,
rewire the brain, make men more distrustful and women more outgoing, and
turn hosts into the living dead. This comprehensive, gracefully written
book brings parasites out into the open and uncovers what they can teach
us all about the most fundamental survival tactics in the universe--the
laws of Parasite Rex.