Relayed Without Comment

From the blog of Steven Johnson, author of The Ghost Map and Mind Wide Open

Go Buy Microcosm Right Now

Carl Zimmer may be my favorite science writer around today (others seem to agree), so I’m excited to report that his new book Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life hit the shelves yesterday. I had the opportunity to read it in manuscript form, and it’s really an exceptional book — what Carl calls an "(un)natural history of E. coli" — the world’s most famous microbe. Having just published a book that partially starred a bacterium myself, I know how hard it is to make a book about microbial life engaging to human readers, but Carl pulls it off brilliantly here — it’s creepy, mind-twisting, and delightful all at the same time. It’s the kind of book that literally expands your perspective on the world — it helps you see how this alternative universe of tiny life forms is bound up crucially in our own day-to-day experience. So go check it out now….