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I Contain Multitudes

The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life

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I Contain Multitudes

By: Ed Yong
Narrated by: Charlie Anson
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About this listen

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. These microscopic companions 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. We learn the invisible and wondrous science behind the corals that construct mighty reefs and the squid that create their own light shows. We see how bacteria can alter our response to cancer-fighting drugs, tune our immune system, influence our evolution and even modify our genetic make-up. And we meet the scientists who are manipulating these microscopic partners to our advantage.

In a million tiny ways, I Contain Multitudes will radically change how you think about the natural world - and how you see yourself.

©2016 Ed Yong (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks Animals Biological Sciences Biology Physics Science Thought-Provoking Natural History Bacteria Physiology

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Sometimes you pick up a book and think "this looks interesting" and it turns out to be more than interesting.

The reading here tends to flow from chapter to chapter so at times it jars when you realise that a new subject had been started between two sentences that flow together. The content however is wonderful.

Science and Nature are far more fascinating than fiction

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From a students point of view this book is very helpful and insightful.
From a general interest point of view, it is fascinating.

Easy listening

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The microbiome is described in fascinating detail, across species & inside us humans too. A brilliant, gripping tale of a world within a world & the cutting edge discoveries that will take medicine in a whole new & unexpected direction. Totally enthralling. I’m going to read it again very soon as there is so much interesting detail to take in.

Microbes all around us

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This is complex, I'm not going to lie. At times some of the science went over my head as I wasn't concentrating. However, the idea that microbes live on all surfaces and beings like a planet and have such an important role in creating and even treating diseases is fascinating.

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. We learn the invisible and wondrous science behind the corals that construct mighty reefs and the squid that create their own light shows. We see how bacteria can alter our response to cancer-fighting drugs, tune our immune system, influence our evolution, and even modify our genetic make-up. And we meet the scientists who are manipulating these microscopic partners to our advantage. Great book for science nerds like me.

Fascinating, important look into microbes

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Really interesting book and well eat but some very distracting edits throughout. Just a minor niggle really but I haven't come across this on other books before.

Great but distracting edits

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A teacher recommended this book as some extra reading I could to around the subject of biology and as it turned out, I have loved it. I have learned microbes have a far greater influence over our world then I ever could have imagined. I Would recommend to anyone interested in biology - you will be surprised how microbiology connects to seemingly every other area of biology.

I love microbes!

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Really good introduction to the importance of microorganisms in the ecology of life on earth, and the implications for humans.

Makes you look at the world in a different way

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With a title borrowed from Walt Whitman, an author who is the science communicator's science communicator and a pangolin worn as a cummerbund, this book is off to a storming start. The subject is the growing field of the microbiome - the host of microbes, invisible to the naked eye, that inhabit animal bodies. All of us are teeming zoos of life, and we wouldn't be here without the help of our tiny co-habitants, who help us digest our food, fight off the bad microbes that threaten our health - the 'germs' that give all the others a bad name - and generally keep us ticking over. This much I knew before starting the book, but I spent much of the time with my jaw on the floor as more startling facts were revealed.They colonize the skin of squid. They enable single-celled organisms to form colonies. They are part of our immune system. There's no point in listing everything! Something new and fascinating round every corner in this book.

On the Audible version: I found this a bit difficult as a listen rather than a read - the subject matter is so dense that I would have liked to turn back to refer to something again. And there are several odd 'patches' in it where it sounds like the same voice is very obviously recording somewhere else!

Jaw-dropping journey through the microbiome

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A really great book. As a microbiology student I thoroughly enjoyed the depth and detail this book goes to, though it presents information in a way that it’s accessible to all

Fantastic listen with detailed and interesting information

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Clear and well thought work, which clearly conveys the depth and breadth of research undertaken to write this. Funny, insightful & most importantly - intriguing! Can't help wanting to learn more!!!

Exceptional

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