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Customer Review
Great addition to anyone's science library. Well done!
Ms. Maczulak did an excellent job with this book. It's factually correct and well-written, making it both pleasurable and educational to read. That's really saying something, considering that college texts on the subject of microbiology have a reputation for being rather challenging to read and understand. It's not that those books are badly done, it's that the topic is complex. Ms. Maczulak removes the complexity to bring us a good overview of the role of bacteria in our lives and in the larger world around us. She exposes and corrects many myths, while also keeping her narrative in a framework that moves forward and helps the reader get "the big picture." Without crossing it, she walks the fine line between eye-glazing detail and enough detail to be a rich read. My eyes didn't glaze over once, during my reading of this book. When I started reading this book, I thought it would be a good academic refresher. Before I finished reading it, that thought changed...
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August 30, 2010
(Merriam, KS USA) | Helpful Votes: 15 | Rating: 5
A broad overview of microbiology today...
One of my concerns about science books for the general public has been that they tend to over simplify their subject. Science in these books seems to be little more than a set of facts presented in a shallow way. But this is not one of those books. This is a book for someone who knows some biology. This is not a simplified version of microbiology, but a very good and comprehensive overview of the field; perfect for someone with a good high school or college freshman bio course under their belt. It expects the reader to understand something of genetics, chemistry and cell biology, and is comfortable with the vocabulary. In places there seems to be a bit too much effort to state a series of facts, and the writing feels strained. I had the impression that the author had a specific page count limit to meet, and was trying to get as much material in as possible. Overall, I found the the coverage of microbiology exceptionally broad; the more of the book I read, the better it...
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October 26, 2010
| Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5
Product Description
Bacteria are invisible, mysterious, deadly, self-sufficient…and absolutely essential for all life, including yours. No other living things combine their elegant simplicity with their incredibly complex role: Bacteria keep us alive, supply our food, and regulate our biosphere. We can’t live a day without them, and no chemical, antibiotic, or irradiation has ever successfully eradicated them. They’re our partners, like it or not--even though some of them will happily kill us.
Allies and Enemies tells the story of this amazing, intimate partnership. Authored by Anne Maczulak, a microbiologist who’s hunted and worked with an extraordinary array of bacteria, this book offers a powerful new perspective on Earth’s oldest creatures. You’ll discover how bacteria work, how they evolve, their surprising contributions and uses, the roles they’ve played in human history, and why you can't survive without them. No form of life is more important, and in Maczulak’s hands, none is more fascinating.
Outlasted, outnumbered, outsmarted
They’ve been here four billion years--and they even outnumber you in your own body
How bacteria keep you alive…
…and how to keep them from killing you
“Humans Defeat Germs!”
But not for long…
The Invisible Universe
The stunning hidden relationships between bacteria and the rest of nature
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Perfect for a High School Library
Don't take the title of my review as a slur, it's actually a complement. A sharp high school student wouldn't have a problem reading this book and an adult won't feel either talked down to or bored. Every student should read a book like this in school. I think a lot of people in general need to read books like this for a little perspective. When you're at the gym, at the mall, or at work, you'll see people putting on hand sanitizer after they touch anything and freaking out about germs. Watch some TV for a short time and you're bound to see some product that will protect your kids because it's antibiotic implying you're obviously a bad parent if you don't run out and buy it right now! Woo...the germs are gonna get ya! Well, no they're probably not. You have this thing called an immune system that tends to handle most of that kind of thing and it pre-dates these products by quite a while. That's not to say the stuff is useless, just that soap and water and avoiding...
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September 4, 2010
(Upstate New York) | Helpful Votes: 10 | Rating: 4
It Doesn't Work As Advertised. But it is a good bio additive.