I Contain Multitudes

Ed Yong is an award-winning science writer on the staff of The Atlantic. His blog Not Exactly Rocket Science is hosted by National Geographic, and his work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Wired, the New York Times, Nature, the BBC, New Scientist, Scientific American, the Guardian, the Times, Aeon, Discover, The Scientist, Slate, Mosaic, and Nautilus. He splits his time between London and Washington DC. You can find him on twitter @edyong209 and sign up to his weekly newsletter, The Ed’s Up, on http://tinyletter.com/edyong209/.

出版者:Ecco

作者:Ed Yong

页数:256

出版时间:2016-8-9

价格:USD 27.99

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780062368591

图书标签:科普生物微生物生物科学英文原版美国biology科学和心理学

A groundbreaking, marvelously informative “microbe’s-eye view” of the world that reveals a radically reconceived picture of life on earth.

For most of human existence, microbes were hidden, visible only through the illnesses they caused. When they finally surfaced in biological studies, they were cast as rogues. Only recently have they immigrated from the neglected fringes of biology to its center. Even today, many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us—the microbiome—are invaluable parts of our lives.

I Contain Multitudes lets us peer into that world for the first time, allowing us to see how ubiquitous and vital microbes are: they sculpt our organs, defend us from disease, break down our food, educate our immune systems, guide our behavior, bombard our genomes with their genes, and grant us incredible abilities. While much of the prevailing discussion around the microbiome has focused on its implications for human health, Yong broadens this focus to the entire animal kingdom, giving us a grander view of life.

With humor and erudition, Ed Yong prompts us to look at ourselves and our fellow animals in a new light: less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are. When we look at the animal kingdom through a microbial lens, even the most familiar parts of our lives take on a striking new air. We learn the secret, invisible, and wondrous biology behind the corals that construct mighty reefs, the glowing squid that can help us understand the bacteria in our own guts, the beetles that bring down forests, the disease-fighting mosquitoes engineered in Australia, and the ingredients in breast milk that evolved to nourish a baby’s first microbes. We see how humans are disrupting these partnerships and how scientists are now manipulating them to our advantage. We see, as William Blake wrote, the world in a grain of sand.

I Contain Multitudes is the story of these extraordinary partnerships, between the familiar creatures of our world and those we never knew existed. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.

读后感

在风车王国-荷兰首都阿姆斯特丹有一座全世界唯一的博物馆——微生物博物馆（Micropia Museum）。与其说它是个博物馆，不如说这是一个大型的互动式实验室。馆内不仅培养着700多种微生物，还有很多有趣的互动装置。 “0米亲吻”（Kiss-0-Meter）装置：它可以显示人们接吻过程中交...  

“自2006年以来，另一种真菌已经横扫北美洲的蝙蝠种群：它会导致一种致命的白鼻综合征（white nose syndrome），在蝙蝠洞内留下了数以百万计的尸体” 01 — 关于微生物的科普书。每个人随身携带的微生物大约有39万亿个，种类繁多，因此说每个人都“包罗万象”，这就是书名的由...  

自闭症患者又被称为“星星的孩子”，他们“有视力却不愿和你对视，有语言却很难和你交流，有听力却总是充耳不闻，有行为却总与你的愿望相违……”就像星星一样独自闪烁，难以与外人交流。 但是，你可曾知道，脑病其实可以用肠医的。 小鼠也会得自闭症？！ 那是2001年的事了，神...  

在风车王国-荷兰首都阿姆斯特丹有一座全世界唯一的博物馆——微生物博物馆（Micropia Museum）。与其说它是个博物馆，不如说这是一个大型的互动式实验室。馆内不仅培养着700多种微生物，还有很多有趣的互动装置。 “0米亲吻”（Kiss-0-Meter）装置：它可以显示人们接吻过程中交...  

用户评价

自然届里最奇妙的关系-共生关系、和最强大的力量-微生物们，居然都是看不见的。最有效的生命机制都在微生物世界里：迄今还没有那种环境它们不能适应，哪种物质它们无法降解，哪种挑战它们无法解决。人有大脑，能画出美丽的油画出来，又如何呢？小微生物只擅长一样，就是生存：见招拆招，环境需要它分泌啥它就能分泌啥，要变成啥就变成啥，且不用花N代慢慢进化而来，而是直接就能。就因为这一系列技能使得这些小东西根本无需进化就可以存活几十亿年。还觉得人类很NB么？人迄今这才存在了几年，还能在存在几年？人到现在已经被各种生存问题困恼的步履蹒跚了，生命的最初态目的就是存活，越有效越好，而不是越美丽越好。微生物有点像终极病毒/程序，几乎不占内存，但是一放进来就可以无限下去。自然界里好玩的还真不是动物世界，是生物和植物。

想起了牛顿说过的 我们最终实在是微粒子。

挺有意思，总之就是 blame the microbes, thanks to the microbes

致病的细菌，或者说病原体，其实是极少数，绝大多数人体内的细菌，都能与人和平相处。人和细菌其实是一种共生的关系 （母乳好其实是因为其内HMO多糖可以喂养婴儿肠胃的细菌，对宝宝发育好）人体内的菌群平衡 即殖民抵抗很重要，体内拥有多元化的菌群，就不太会给导致疾病的细菌留下生长空间。

I contain multitudes, or I provide a multiplicity of deficiencies to get KO'd.