Synopses & Reviews
Leading experts explain infectious disease in an illustrated companion to the acclaimed American Museum of Natural History's exhibit. Epidemic! explores the world of infectious disease with essays by Nobel Prize-winning experts, profiles of scientists and researchers, and case studies. Written for the general reader, Epidemic! offers a clear understanding of the threat of infectious diseases, from the flu and mad cow disease to HIV and tuberculosis. Leaders of organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control cover topics from controlling outbreaks and the emergence of new diseases to the problem of drug resistance. Individual case studies explore disease around the world, including the work of Doctors Without Borders, the cultural dimension of malaria, solving the riddle of cholera, and the race to find the AIDS virus. Published to coincide with the American Museum of Natural History's traveling exhibit called “the most impressive and informative exhibition the Museum has mounted in years” (New York Times), this book illustrates the important issues of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention throughout history and across cultures with more than eighty photographs and images. A resource section includes lists of organizations and Web sites, an annotated bibliography, and a glossary. Examining infectious disease from a natural history perspective, Epidemic! allows us to understand one of the most critical issues of the coming millennium.
Review
Careful, logical, and intriguing instruction on an important subject. . . . This is all current and immediately relevant, and we’re in the hands of expert teachers.” —
Kirkus ReviewsFor medically and biologically inquisitive readers of almost any age.” — Publishers Weekly
A top priority choice for public libraries. . . . If subsequent series entries succeed as well as this one, the museum will deserve high praise.” — Booklist
Review
andldquo;This is a really great read and a timely summary of a field that has just exploded. The authors do a great job of reviewing the literature in an accessible and accurate way, and the vignettes are really entertaining.andrdquo;andmdash;Paul J. Planet, M.D., Ph.D., Columbia University
Review
andldquo;andlsquo;In, On, and Around Youandrsquo; gets it rightandmdash;we are specks in the microbial world. We must deeply understand that fact, so we can make smarter decisions about our health.andrdquo;andmdash;Martin Blaser, author of Missing Microbes
Review
andldquo;Leave it to two scientists and a scientific illustrator from our unsurpassed American Museum of Natural History to deliver such a delightful addition to our growing tome of literature on the microbial communities in, on and around us. Kudos!andrdquo;andmdash;Jessica Snyder Sachs, author of Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World
Review
andldquo;In Welcome to the Microbiome DeSalle and Perkins provide nothing short of a primer to being human, a primer from the perspective of our ancient associations with microscopic species, the species that live in your teeth, ears and colon, the species that are sometimes described as being andlsquo;on you,andrsquo; but as DeSalle and Perkins make clear, really are you. If you want to understand yourself, your flesh, your existence and struggles, what it is that you see and donand#39;t see when you stand naked in the mirror, read this book.andrdquo;andmdash;Rob Dunn, author of The Man Who Touched His Own Heart
Review
andldquo;Desalle and Perkins have produced a beautifully comprehensive guide to the microbes that inhabit our body and how we know about them. This book should be of tremendous interest to anyone looking to peer behind the microbiome headlines and understand what is really going on.andrdquo;andmdash;Rob Knight, author ofandnbsp;Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes
Synopsis
"Epidemic!" explores the world of infectious diseases with essays by Nobel Prize-winning experts, profiles of scientists and researchers, and case studies. 60 photos, 22 illustrations.
Synopsis
Revolutionary research is revealing how the trillions of microbes living on and in our bodies can keep us healthy . . . or make us sick
Synopsis
and#160;Suddenly, research findings require a paradigm shift in our view of the microbial world. The Human Microbiome Project at the National Institutes of Health is well under way, and unprecedented scientific technology now allows the censusing of trillions of microbes inside and on our bodies as well as in the places where we live, work, and play. This intriguing, up-to-the-minute book for scientists and nonscientists alike explains what researchers are discovering about the microbe world and what the implications are for modern science and medicine. and#160;
and#160;
Rob DeSalle and Susan Perkins illuminate the long, intertwined evolution of humans and microbes. They discuss how novel DNA sequencing has shed entirely new light on the complexity of microbe-human interactions, and they examine the potential benefits to human health: amazing possibilities for pinpoint treatment of infections and other illnesses without upsetting the vital balance of an individual microbiome.
and#160;
This book has been inspired by an exhibition, The Secret World Inside You: The Microbiome, at the American Museum of Natural History, which will open in New York in early November 2015 and run until August 2016. It will then travel to other museums in the United States and abroad.
About the Author
Rob DeSalleand#160;is curator of entomology in the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. He is author or coauthor of dozens of books, several based upon exhibitions at the AMNH, includingand#160;
The Brain: Big Bangs, Behaviors, and Beliefsand#160;andand#160;
A Natural History of Wine,and#160;coauthored with Ian Tattersall and published by Yale University Press.and#160;He lives in New York City.and#160;
Susan L. Perkinsand#160;is curator of microbial systematics and genomics at AMNH. She lives in New York City.
and#160;
Table of Contents
Evolution, ecology, and culture -- Exposure -- Infection -- Outbreaks -- Epidemics and pandemics -- Action.