Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution

By Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis

Book Overview

"Microcosmos is nothing less than the saga of the life of the planet. Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan have put it all together, literally, in this extraordinary book, which is unlike any treatment of evolution for a general readership that I have encountered before. A fascinating account that we humans should be studying now for clues to our own survival."--From the Foreword by Dr. Lewis Thomas

Microcosmos brings together the remarkable discoveries of microbiology in the later decades of the 20th century and the pioneering research of Dr. Margulis to create a vivid new picture of the world that is crucial to our understanding of the future of the planet. Addressed to general readers, the book provides a beautifully written view of evolution as a process based on interdependency and their interconnectedness of all life on the planet.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520210646
• ISBN13: 9780520210646
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

On microbes: the real rulers of the planet.

Microcosmos is a natural history of the unseen beings upon whom we depend every moment for survival: the microbes. Margulis, who is currently Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Massachusetts, did undergraduate work in biology and received her PhD in Genetics. She worked with James Lovelock on developing the Gaia theory, which posits that the earth can be regarded as a sort...

Extremely Good

This is one of the best histories of life on earth that I have ever read. I highly recommend it. It covers much of the often ignored very early history of life (3.8 billion years ago to the appearance of animals) in better deatil than I have found in any other book written at the popular level. In particular, the importance of the eukaryotic/prokaryotic symbiosis is emphasized as well as the development of photosynthesis that...

An excellent book, very informative

This book is an excellent scientific account of how life originated on earth. It tells how the earth's environment came to host organic molecules, leading up to bacterial communities and on to higher organisms.Chapter by chapter, this book outlines the progression of life from it's origin 3.9 billion years ago up to present day. Very well written, and easy to understand, I found it to be very enjoyable. Microcosmos is a...

The best non-fiction book I've read this year.

If you're one of those who has felt worried that the earth might not survive what we're doing to it, then worry no longer! We, as a species which has brought 'wholesale ecological carnage' to the planet may not survive, but the earth surely will! What soon emerges from this insightful book is that humankind is a relatively young species, still 'vulnerable, error-prone.' Humans are not seen as the dominant species - the...

The best biology book I ever read!

This is an outstanding and very readable book on the world of microbes. Beautifully written and filled with insights, it should be required reading for biology students. I couldn't put it down and I hated biology in high school! I takes you from the beginnings of our planet to the present time, showing the reader the crucial role of microbes in the creation and maintenance of all life. This book will also be of interest to...