Left and Right Agree on Microcosm!

Had another author told me his publisher was sending me a copy of a book on Escherichia coli, I would have been perhaps quietly unenthusiastic. But best selling science writer Carl Zimmer is a master story teller and superb researcher. He's also renowned for effortlessly slipping a giant payload of scientific knowledge into the reader, sweetened with human drama, one so comprehensive a student struggling with a dry textbook would have had to hammer into their head over the course of an entire semester.

Carl didn't disappoint: within a few short pages he had me completely, delightfully hooked. Not until I sat down to write this review did it really hit me just how packed this book is with science, each chapter written so well it can stand alone as a specific object lesson, and each lesson coming together in the book with biology, historical characters, and eureka moments in a scrumptious blend of mind candy.

--From a review of Microcosm at Daily Kos, which comes a few days after another enthusiastic review in the right-leaning New York Sun. E. coli can bring us together!

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Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer Pantheon: 2008, 256 pages. Buy now! (Amazon) I come face-to-face with Escherichia coli every day. In a sense, we all do--as billions of E. coli inhabit every individual's intestines. But for me, E. coli is a protein factory. I'm a…
Three weeks away from the publication of Microcosm, and another kind review has come out, this time from Library Journal: To display a broad swath of the people, scientific processes, and discoveries involved in biology, science writer Zimmer (Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain-and How It…
tags: Microcosm, microbiology, bacteria, E coli, evolution, Carl Zimmer, book review I lived through Seattle's outbreak of the "killer E. coli strain O157:H7" that charged into the world's consciousness after it mercilessly destroyed the kidneys and other vital organs of hundreds of children and…
After a lot of writing and a lot of waiting, the first review of my next book, Microcosm, has just come out. Actually, it's coming out on Monday in Publisher's Weekly, but they apparently couldn't wait, sending out a link to it today in their weekly newsletter: When most readers hear the words E.…

Hey! I liked Microcosm a lot! I have to read your other books now!

I bought Microcosm to read on the flight back home, but ended up giving it as a gift to one of my Mongolian hosts instead. So I predict soon you'll be huge in Mongolia...

i just received the review copy of your book and will begin reading it very soon!

I know that my recommendation is not needed to tip the scales, so I'll just say that it may be the best Zimmer book to date.

That's intended as high praise. And based on past Zimmer books, I paid it the ultimate compliment - without opening it, I bought a copy with my own money. :-)

By Scott Belyea (not verified) on 18 May 2008 #permalink

To you and your publisher: thanks for the Kindle edition!

By TexasYellowDog (not verified) on 18 May 2008 #permalink

congrats on the DailyKos bump!

By Brian Baker (not verified) on 19 May 2008 #permalink

My pre-ordered Amazon-ordered copy *finally* arrived yesterday - but it's really badly made (badly cut pages, already wrinkled by damp, etc). Has anyone else found this?