The Invisible Kingdom: From the Tips of Our Fingers to the Tops of Our Trash, Inside the Curious World of Microbes

by Idan Ben-Barak

Book Overview

With the wit of Bill Bryson and the spirit of Natalie Angier, Idan Ben- Barak takes us on a fantastic voyage into the infinitesimal world of microbiology. In The Invisible Kingdom, he introduces us to the amazing lives and workings of genes, proteins, bacteria, and viruses, and the ways in which they interact to shape life on Earth. Exploring everything from radioactive waste and insect sex-change operations to the inner workings of antibiotics, Ben-Barak reveals how important these tiny critters are to all of us. He brings this largely unseen world to life with refreshing analogies and metaphors: cells "pop like bubbles" and bacteria "dream of rain." On the journey, we learn about the teamwork required to rot human teeth, the origins of diseases, what really goes on inside cow stomachs, and the ways in which microbes benefit human life. An infectious and informative scientific exploration, The Invisible Kingdom will change the way we see the world around us.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465018874
• ISBN13: 9780465018871
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Information is great but writing style is annoying

The book is great but with an annoying writing style but as the previous review states it is more geared toward a teenager with stupid attemps at being funny or using "cool" words and phrases. It appears that the author is as much interested in writing comedy as he is about writing about microbes. Regarding the comedy he should go back to his day job. That said this is still a book worth reading. I devoured it in one sitting, albeit one annoying sitting. I learned alot. I can recommend it but just be forewarned about the attempts at humor. He was trying to make the topic more palatable but went overboard.

Fascinating, informative, easy to read, and short

This short introduction (only 192 pages plus a glossary) to the world of microbes is extremely well-written and remarkably easy to read. Without using technical language, Idan Ben-Barak conveys the variety and importance of the hidden but in some ways all-powerful world of bugs. As he notes in one typically startling passage, if we could wipe out all microbes, all life, including our own, would cease immediately. Ben-Barak covers genes, proteins, bacteria, fungi, and viruses and gives vivid examples of the role each of them plays in the biology of life, in health, in agriculture, in science, and in industry. We learn how microbes develop, how they cooperate, how they evolve, and how they control our bodies. It is remarkable that he can pack in so much information and still keep his story clear and enjoyable. (The writing is very lively and never dry or academic.) While this is a book for adults, I have to say it would make a remarkably good gift for any smart teenager who has an interest in health, in biology, or in science in general. Or of course, an interest in bugs!