The New York Times Bestseller

From Pulitzer Prize winner Ed Yong, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin--a microbe's-eye view of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on earth.

Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light--less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are.

The microbes in our bodies are part of our immune systems and protect us from disease. In the deep oceans, mysterious creatures without mouths or guts depend on microbes for all their energy. Bacteria provide squid with invisibility cloaks, help beetles to bring down forests, and allow worms to cause diseases that afflict millions of people.

Many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us--the microbiome--build our bodies, protect our health, shape our identities, and grant us incredible abilities. In this astonishing book, Ed Yong takes us on a grand tour through our microbial partners, and introduces us to the scientists on the front lines of discovery. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.

Full of clear, accurate information and sound advice, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World will appeal to anyone wishing to expand their psychic and mycological horizons.--David Arora, author of Mushrooms Demystified

Throughout history, humans have incorporated psychoactive mushrooms into our lives in myriad ways, including religious ceremonies where the fungi were worshiped through consumption in annual Aztec feasts and the secretive ancient Greek Eleusinian mysteries.

In Psylocibin Mushrooms of the World, renowned mycologist Paul Stamets provides a fascinating overview of these misunderstood mushrooms and their continued significance in today's culture, detailing more than 100 species through colorful photographs, graphs, and the individual effects of each mushroom. He also explores the psychedelic mushrooms' deadly lookalikes and warns readers about the dangers of consuming wild mushrooms.

Complete with a glossary, supplemental resources, and comprehensive illustrations, Psylocibin Mushrooms of the World is the ultimate guide to demystifying and understanding psychedelic mushrooms.

Microbiology covers the scope and sequence requirements for a single-semester microbiology course for non-majors. The book presents the core concepts of microbiology with a focus on applications for careers in allied health. The pedagogical features of the text make the material interesting and accessible while maintaining the career-application focus and scientific rigor inherent in the subject matter. Microbiology's art program enhances students' understanding of concepts through clear and effective illustrations, diagrams, and photographs. Microbiology is produced through a collaborative publishing agreement between OpenStax and the American Society for Microbiology Press. The book aligns with the curriculum guidelines of the American Society for Microbiology.

Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. The Hidden Half of Nature reveals why good health--for people and for plants--depends on Earth's smallest creatures. Restoring life to their barren yard and recovering from a health crisis, David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé discover astounding parallels between the botanical world and our own bodies. From garden to gut, they show why cultivating beneficial microbiomes holds the key to transforming agriculture and medicine.

The next big human pandemic--the next disease cataclysm, perhaps on the scale of AIDS or the 1918 influenza--is likely to be caused by a new virus coming to humans from wildlife. Experts call such an event spillover and they warn us to brace ourselves. David Quammen has tracked this subject from the jungles of Central Africa, the rooftops of Bangladesh, and the caves of southern China to the laboratories where researchers work in space suits to study lethal viruses. He illuminates the dynamics of Ebola, SARS, bird flu, Lyme disease, and other emerging threats and tells the story of AIDS and its origins as it has never before been told. Spillover reads like a mystery tale, full of mayhem and clues and questions. When the Next Big One arrives, what will it look like? From which innocent host animal will it emerge? Will we be ready?

At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth. Countless times per second, viruses known as phages attack and destroy bacteria while leaving all other life forms, including us, unscathed. Vastly outnumbering the viruses that do us harm, phages power ecosystems, drive evolutionary innovation, and harbor a remarkable capacity to heal life-threatening infections when conventional antibiotics fail. Yet most of us have never heard of them, thinking of viruses only as enemies to be feared. The Good Virus prompts us to reconsider, and to discover, how these viruses could save countless lives if we can learn to harness their extraordinary abilities.

Taking us inside the ongoing quest to use phages' powers for good, Tom Ireland introduces us to the brilliant, often eccentric, scientists who have fought to realize phages' potential in the face of doubt and political intrigue. We meet the renegade French-Canadian scientist who discovered phages and pioneered their use as medicine over a century ago, leading them to be hailed as the world's first genuine antibiotic years before penicillin. We learn why, in some pockets of the former Soviet Union, drinking a vial of phages remains as common as taking an over-the-counter drug. We follow the intrepid scientists and doctors now racing to make phage therapy work worldwide as the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grows ever more urgent--even as other researchers uncover how phages bolster our everyday immunity, help generate the oxygen we breathe, and furnish the origins for breakthrough technologies like CRISPR.

Unveiling the hidden rulers of the microbial world and celebrating the surprising power of viruses to heal, not harm, The Good Virus forever changes how we see nature's most maligned life forms.

The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with hot agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.

Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world's most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers-at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.

Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government' s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill.

Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.

A fascinating and terrifying peek into the devastating outcomes of antibiotic misuse-and what happens when standard health care falls short. -Scientific American

Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist Tom Patterson, were vacationing in Egypt when Tom came down with a stomach bug. What at first seemed like a case of food poisoning quickly turned critical, and by the time Tom had been transferred via emergency medevac to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where both he and Steffanie worked, blood work revealed why modern medicine was failing: Tom was fighting one of the most dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world.

Frantic, Steffanie combed through research old and new and came across phage therapy: the idea that the right virus, aka the perfect predator, can kill even the most lethal bacteria. Phage treatment had fallen out of favor almost 100 years ago, after antibiotic use went mainstream. Now, with time running out, Steffanie appealed to phage researchers all over the world for help. She found allies at the FDA, researchers from Texas A&M, and a clandestine Navy biomedical center -- and together they resurrected a forgotten cure.

A nail-biting medical mystery, The Perfect Predator is a story of love and survival against all odds, and the (re)discovery of a powerful new weapon in the global superbug crisis.

Strictly off limits to the public, Plum Island is home to virginal beaches, cliffs, forests, ponds -- and the deadliest germs that have ever roamed the planet. Lab 257 blows the lid off the stunning true nature and checkered history of Plum Island. It shows that the seemingly bucolic island in the shadow of New York City is a ticking biological time bomb that none of us can safely ignore.

Based on declassified government documents, in-depth interviews, and access to Plum Island itself, this is an eye-opening, suspenseful account of a federal government germ laboratory gone terribly wrong. For the first time, Lab 257 takes you deep inside this secret world and presents startling revelations on virus outbreaks, biological meltdowns, infected workers, the periodic flushing of contaminated raw sewage into area waters, and the insidious connections between Plum Island, Lyme disease, and the deadly West Nile virus. The book also probes what's in store for Plum Island's new owner, the Department of Homeland Security, in this age of bioterrorism.

Lab 257 is a call to action for those concerned with protecting present and future generations from preventable biological catastrophes.

In this Very Short Introduction Nicholas P. Money explores not only the traditional methods of microscopy and laboratory culture but also the modern techniques of genetic detection and DNA sequencing, genomic analysis, and genetic manipulation. In turn he demonstrates how advances in microbiology have had a tremendous impact on the areas of medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Microbiology For Dummies (9781119544425) was previously published as Microbiology For Dummies (9781118871188). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

Microbiology is the study of life itself, down to the smallest particle

Microbiology is a fascinating field that explores life down to the tiniest level. Did you know that your body contains more bacteria cells than human cells? It's true. Microbes are essential to our everyday lives, from the food we eat to the very internal systems that keep us alive. These microbes include bacteria, algae, fungi, viruses, and nematodes. Without microbes, life on Earth would not survive. It's amazing to think that all life is so dependent on these microscopic creatures, but their impact on our future is even more astonishing. Microbes are the tools that allow us to engineer hardier crops, create better medicines, and fuel our technology in sustainable ways. Microbes may just help us save the world.

Microbiology For Dummies is your guide to understanding the fundamentals of this enormously-encompassing field. Whether your career plans include microbiology or another science or health specialty, you need to understand life at the cellular level before you can understand anything on the macro scale.

• Explore the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
• Understand the basics of cell function and metabolism
• Discover the differences between pathogenic and symbiotic relationships
• Study the mechanisms that keep different organisms active and alive

You need to know how cells work, how they get nutrients, and how they die. You need to know the effects different microbes have on different systems, and how certain microbes are integral to ecosystem health. Microbes are literally the foundation of all life, and they are everywhere. Microbiology For Dummies will help you understand them, appreciate them, and use them.

At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth. Countless times per second, viruses known as phages attack and destroy bacteria while leaving all other life forms, including us, unscathed. Vastly outnumbering the viruses that do us harm, phages power ecosystems, drive evolutionary innovation, and harbor a remarkable capacity to heal life-threatening infections when conventional antibiotics fail. Yet most of us have never heard of them, thinking of viruses only as enemies to be feared. The Good Virus prompts us to reconsider, and to discover, how these viruses could save countless lives if we can learn to harness their extraordinary abilities.

Taking us inside the ongoing quest to use phages' powers for good, Tom Ireland introduces us to the brilliant, often eccentric, scientists who have fought to realize phages' potential in the face of doubt and political intrigue. We meet the renegade French-Canadian scientist who discovered phages and pioneered their use as medicine over a century ago, leading them to be hailed as the world's first genuine antibiotic years before penicillin. We learn why, in some pockets of the former Soviet Union, drinking a vial of phages remains as common as taking an over-the-counter drug. We follow the intrepid scientists and doctors now racing to make phage therapy work worldwide as the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grows ever more urgent--even as other researchers uncover how phages bolster our everyday immunity, help generate the oxygen we breathe, and furnish the origins for breakthrough technologies like CRISPR.

Unveiling the hidden rulers of the microbial world and celebrating the surprising power of viruses to heal, not harm, The Good Virus forever changes how we see nature's most maligned life forms.

New York Times Bestseller

New York Times Notable Book of 2016 - NPR Great Read of 2016 - Named a Best Book of 2016 by The Economist, Smithsonian, NPR's Science Friday, MPR, Minnesota Star Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, The Guardian, Times (London)

From Pulitzer Prize winner Ed Yong, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin--a microbe's-eye view of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on earth.

Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light--less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are.

The microbes in our bodies are part of our immune systems and protect us from disease. In the deep oceans, mysterious creatures without mouths or guts depend on microbes for all their energy. Bacteria provide squid with invisibility cloaks, help beetles to bring down forests, and allow worms to cause diseases that afflict millions of people.

Many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us--the microbiome--build our bodies, protect our health, shape our identities, and grant us incredible abilities. In this astonishing book, Ed Yong takes us on a grand tour through our microbial partners, and introduces us to the scientists on the front lines of discovery. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.

Leading textbook presenting all aspects of food microbiology

Food Microbiology: An Introduction presents the basics of microorganisms that impact food safety and quality, the roles of beneficial microbes, food safety regulations, and proper practices for safe and healthy foods throughout all aspects of the supply chain. This Fifth Edition has been updated to reflect advances in research and technology and threats to the global food supply while retaining the pedagogy and structure that students and professors appreciate.

Written in a clear and easy-to-understand style, the book is divided into four sections: Part I introduces the fundamentals of food microbiology, including a brief history of the field, the growth processes of food microorganisms, the biology of spores and sporeformers, techniques for enumeration and detection of organisms in food, description of rapid and automated microbial methods, and a new chapter focused on antimicrobial resistance. Part II addresses important regulatory issues and focuses on foodborne pathogenic microorganisms with chapters describing the most common bacterial species that cause foodborne diseases, as well as discussion of parasites, viruses, and prions. Part III explores nonpathogenic microbes important in food, including those responsible for fermentations and food spoilage. Part IV focuses on the control of microorganisms in food, including chemical antimicrobials, biological and physical methods of food preservation, nonthermal processing, and food safety systems.

Food Microbiology: An Introduction also includes updated information on:

• The growing threats of antimicrobial resistance and climate change and their potential impacts on the global food supply
• Use of next-generation sequencing techniques in the identification of microbes in food
• Expanded discussion on sanitizers, disinfectants, and nonthermal processing treatments
• Up-to-date information on the Food Safety Modernization Act, hazard analysis and critical control points, and good manufacturing practices

Food Microbiology: An Introduction is an essential textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in food science, nutrition, and microbiology, providing the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the complexities of food microbiology in the 21st century.

The term 'microbiomes' encapsulates an important scientific breakthrough of recent years. This is the realization that humans, other animals, and plants harbour communities of microorganisms which are mostly beneficial but can occasionally cause or exacerbate disease. Our quickly developing understanding of microbiomes is being translated into novel microbial therapies for human disease and is contributing to sustainable practices in agriculture and food production. On the flipside, there is a growing concern that some claims for microbiomes, especially in relation to human health, far exceed the scientific data.

This Very Short Introduction is an essential guide to the fast-moving discipline of microbiome science. It accessibly distills the key facts about our resident microbiomes, explains how and why our health and wellbeing depend on them, and provides readers with the fundamental knowledge they need to judge the reliability of claims about microbiome-based applications.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introduction series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

It isn't easy to be a phage. First, what is a phage? A phage is a virus that infects Bacteria. To succeed, a phage must encounter, recognize, and enter a particular type of bacterial cell, then coerce it to make more phages rather than more cells. Of course, the cell resists this hostile takeover in numerous ways, all of which the successful phage overcomes. The triumphant phage then proceeds with its replicative business. In this engaging book, Merry Youle relates some of the tactics used by 21 pheatured phages to outwit their host and successfully maintain their own lineage generation after generation.

This ongoing contest of wits is a matter of life and death for both players. A phage chromosome arriving in its intended host cell is met by the cell's state-of-the-art defenses. Unless it dodges or neutralizes every one, it will be chopped into a nutritious snack for the cell. If the phage survives, it then quickly diverts the cell's machinery to production of more phages, rather than more cells. Under skillful phage supervision, manufacture of phage components proceeds at top speed, with all parts produced when needed and in the quantities required. As the pieces come off the assembly line, they self-assemble into sophisticated transport packages, each carrying a phage chromosome and capable of delivering it into a new host cell. When a new crop of progeny is ready - perhaps 25, 100, or more of them - the phage ruptures the cell to free them all and send them out into the world in quest of hosts of their own. Overall, a balance is maintained so that both the phages and their hosts thrive.

Many phages have the option to instead follow a different script. When they arrive in a host, they can opt to delay immediate hostile takeover and to instead form a coalition with the host for mutual benefit. In this case, as the cell grows and divides, the phage is replicated and inherited by both daughter cells. This can continue for many generations. However, if the cell encounters life-threatening difficulties, the phage ends the alliance and switches to rapid replication. Cell rupture and release of the new generation follows quickly.

Each step of the way presents challenges that test the ingenuity of the phages. In this book, tales of phage prowess are accompanied by pertinent electron micrographs; every chapter is enlivened by informative illustrations created by San Diego fine artist Leah Pant a. The writing focuses on strategies and underlying principles, with a minimum of jargon. Since some knowledge of molecular biology is required to appreciate phage wizardry, a primer of the needed basics is provided for those unfamiliar with that subject. Thus, these phage adventures can be enjoyed by a wide audience.

Despite being the most abundant life form, the phages - being much smaller than even the microbes they infect - elude our everyday perception. Thinking Like a Phage offers a tour of this unseen dimension of life on Earth. Whether you are an expert or new to the phage world, these vignettes drawn from phage life will intrigue you. Awareness of this vast, creative, yet invisible realm can enrich your appreciation for the living world of which we, as Homo sapiens, are only a small part.