Random House New Releases - Science - Microbiology

A Field Guide to Germs by Wayne Biddle

2012-11-14T00:30:00-05:00

A Field Guide to Germs Revised and Updated
Written by Wayne Biddle

eBook, 240 pages | Anchor | Science - Microbiology | $11.99 | 978-0-345-80463-1 (0-345-80463-5)

From the ravages of the Ebola virus in Zaire to outbreaks of pneumonic plague in India and drug-resistant TB in New York City, contagious diseases are fighting back against once-unconquerable modern medicine. Public concern about infectious disease is on the rise as newspapers trumpet the arrivals of new germs and the reemergence of old ones.

In A Field Guide to Germs, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Wayne Biddle brings readers face to face with nearly one hundred of the best-known (in terms of prevalence, power, historical importance, or even literary interest) of the myriad pathogens that live in and around the human population. Along with physical descriptions of the organisms and the afflictions they cause, the author provides folklore, philosophy, history, and such illustrations as nineteenth century drawings of plague-induced panic, microscopic photographs of HIV and Ebola, and wartime posters warning servicemen against syphilis and gonorrhea.

From cholera to chlamydia, TB to HIV, bubonic plague to Lyme disease, rabies to Congo-Crimean encephalitis, anthrax to Zika fever, and back to good old rhinitis (the common cold), A Field Guide to Germs is both a handy reference work to better understand today's headlines and a fascinating look at the astonishing impact of micro-organisms on social and political history.

Microcosm by Carl Zimmer

2009-07-14T00:30:00-05:00

Microcosm E. Coli and the New Science of Life
Written by Carl Zimmer

Trade Paperback, 256 pages | Vintage | Science - Microbiology; Science - Biotechnology | $15.00 | 978-0-307-27686-5 (0-307-27686-4)

A Best Book of the YearSeed Magazine • Granta Magazine • The Plain-DealerIn this fascinating and utterly engaging book, Carl Zimmer traces E. coli's pivotal role in the history of biology, from the discovery of DNA to the latest advances in biotechnology. He reveals the many surprising and alarming parallels between E. coli's life and our own. And he describes how E. coli changes in real time, revealing billions of years of history encoded within its genome. E. coli is also the most engineered species on Earth, and as scientists retool this microbe to produce life-saving drugs and clean fuel, they are discovering just how far the definition of life can be stretched.

Smallpox: The Death of a Disease by D. A. Henderson, M.D.

2009-06-23T00:30:00-05:00

Smallpox: The Death of a Disease The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer
Written by D. A. Henderson, M.D.

Hardcover, 334 pages | Prometheus Books | Science - Microbiology; Medical - History; Medical - Diseases - Communicable | $27.99 | 978-1-59102-722-5 (1-59102-722-5)

For more than 3000 years, hundreds of millions of people have died or been left permanently scarred or blind by the relentless, incurable disease called smallpox. In 1967, Dr. D.A. Henderson became director of a worldwide campaign to eliminate this disease from the face of the earth.

This spellbinding book is Dr. Henderson’s personal story of how he led the World Health Organization’s campaign to eradicate smallpox—the only disease in history to have been deliberately eliminated. Some have called this feat "the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the past century."

In a lively, engrossing narrative, Dr. Henderson makes it clear that the gargantuan international effort involved more than straightforward mass vaccination. He and his staff had to cope with civil wars, floods, impassable roads, and refugees as well as formidable bureaucratic and cultural obstacles, shortages of local health personnel and meager budgets. Countries across the world joined in the effort; the United States and the Soviet Union worked together through the darkest cold war days; and professionals from more than 70 nations served as WHO field staff. On October 26, 1976, the last case of smallpox occurred. The disease that annually had killed two million people or more had been vanquished–and in just over ten years.

The story did not end there. Dr. Henderson recounts in vivid detail the continuing struggle over whether to destroy the remaining virus in the two laboratories still that held it. Then came the startling discovery that the Soviet Union had been experimenting with smallpox virus as a biological weapon and producing it in large quantities. The threat of its possible use by a rogue nation or a terrorist has had to be taken seriously and Dr. Henderson has been a central figure in plans for coping with it.

New methods for mass smallpox vaccination were so successful that he sought to expand the program of smallpox immunization to include polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccines. That program now reaches more than four out of five children in the world and is eradicating poliomyelitis.

This unique book is to be treasured—a personal and true story that proves that through cooperation and perseverance the most daunting of obstacles can be overcome.

Microcosm by Carl Zimmer

2008-05-06T00:30:00-05:00

Microcosm E. coli and the New Science of Life
Written by Carl Zimmer

eBook, 272 pages | Vintage | Science - Microbiology | $13.99 | 978-0-307-37756-2 (0-307-37756-3)

A Field Guide to Germs by Wayne Biddle

2002-06-25T00:30:00-05:00

A Field Guide to Germs Revised and Updated
Written by Wayne Biddle

Trade Paperback, 240 pages | Anchor | Medical - Reference; Health & Fitness - Health Care Issues; Science - Microbiology | $15.00 | 978-1-4000-3051-4 (1-4000-3051-X)

Biography of a Germ by Arno Karlen

2001-05-15T00:30:00-05:00

Biography of a Germ
Written by Arno Karlen

Trade Paperback, 192 pages | Anchor | Science - Microbiology | $14.00 | 978-0-385-72066-3 (0-385-72066-1)

Arno Karlen, author of Man and Microbes, focuses on a single bacterium in Biography of a Germ, giving us an intimate view of a life that has been shaped by and is in turn transforming our own.

Borrelia burgdorferi is the germ that causes Lyme disease. In existence for some hundred million years, it was discovered only recently. Exploring its evolution, its daily existence, and its journey from ticks to mice to deer to humans, Karlen lucidly examines the life and world of this recently prominent germ. He also describes how it attacks the human body, and how by changing the environment, people are now much more likely to come into contact with it. Charming and thorough and smart, this book is a wonderfully written biography of your not so typical biographical subject.

Random House New Releases - Science - Microbiology

A Field Guide to Germs by Wayne Biddle

A Field Guide to Germs Revised and UpdatedWritten by Wayne Biddle

Microcosm by Carl Zimmer

Microcosm E. Coli and the New Science of LifeWritten by Carl Zimmer

Smallpox: The Death of a Disease by D. A. Henderson, M.D.

Smallpox: The Death of a Disease The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide KillerWritten by D. A. Henderson, M.D.

Microcosm by Carl Zimmer

Microcosm E. coli and the New Science of LifeWritten by Carl Zimmer

A Field Guide to Germs by Wayne Biddle

A Field Guide to Germs Revised and UpdatedWritten by Wayne Biddle

Biography of a Germ by Arno Karlen

Biography of a Germ Written by Arno Karlen

A Field Guide to Germs Revised and Updated
Written by Wayne Biddle

Microcosm E. Coli and the New Science of Life
Written by Carl Zimmer

Smallpox: The Death of a Disease The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer
Written by D. A. Henderson, M.D.

Microcosm E. coli and the New Science of Life
Written by Carl Zimmer

A Field Guide to Germs Revised and Updated
Written by Wayne Biddle

Biography of a Germ
Written by Arno Karlen