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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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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.

 Animals Biological Sciences Biology Physics Science Natural History Bacteria Physiology
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Critic Reviews

Super-interesting... He just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best (Bill Gates)
[A] marvellous, thrilling and richly annotated book… I call it marvellous: everything about the microbial world is to be marvelled at. And it is a page-turner in a very old-fashioned sense. All life is here, and death too, and sex and violence, including deviations of which you had never dreamed ... We have an inner life, in every sense, and are the richer for it: richer still for this witty and compelling book. (Tim Radford)
Beyond fascinating. An amazing book. It'll change the way you think about the world. It'll change who you think you are. (Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk)
Momentous ... an essential read (Bryan Appleyard)
I Contain Multitudes makes the importance of popularising science…sparklingly clear... From his vibrant introduction to his witty endnotes, Yong’s expertise and narration hold no less wonder than a sacred text. (Kate Womersley)
Masterful ... smart, canny, and often quite beautiful ... In the realm of the life sciences there is a noble tradition of popular books that ... have reshaped our view of the world ... In my own reading I think of Schrödinger’s What is Life, Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and, more recently, Nick Lane’s The Vital Question. Among such company, I Contain Multitudes can hold its head high.
I Contain Multitudes has a terrific story to tell … Ed Yong is a talented British science writer … his first book covers a huge amount of microscopic territory in clear, strong, often epigrammatic prose … He is infectiously enthusiastic about microbes and he describes them with verve … Even the book’s endnotes are rich with interesting asides, swarming with interesting sidelights, a teeming microbial world. (Jonathan Weiner)
I also very much enjoyed and admired I Contain Multitudes. (Bill Bryson)
An account that is far, far more entertaining than an exploration of microbes should be. (Tom Whipple)
[An] utterly absorbing and hugely important book… [Yong] is an extraordinary adept guide. Writing with lightness and panache, he has a knack of explain complex science in terms that are both easy to understand and totally enthralling… I Contain Multitudes is popular science writing at its best. Reading this book will make you view the world differently. (Wendy Moore)
All stars
Most relevant
A really fantastic and eye opening book, about the overall importance of bacteria and other microbes for all living things. Young discusses how new gene technologies are revealing the ways in which we are essentially controlled by our bacteria, and how to use these in the prevention of diseases and overall environmental management.

Enjoyable and very interesting

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If I’d been able to read a book like this in high school, instead of a boring textbook, I would have learned so much more!

Absolutely Fascinating!

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An amazing book full of fascinating information, well narrated and one of my favourite books so far on the microbiome.

Amazing

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An amazing cornucopia of fascinating facts, exciting viewpoints, and amusing anecdotes. Well researched and brilliantly written. One of my new favouritest favourite books!
Well narrated too, despite a few minor recording inconsistencies.

Truly magnificent!

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amazing read so informative and interesting lots more discovery to be had in the world of microorganisms

cool journey

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