Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites that Make Us Who We Are by Marlene Zuk is a book that I picked up due to a book review in Science News.
Started: 5/27/2016
Completed: 8/6/2016
Recommendation: Very interesting, worth the time
Recommended By: Science News
Words for which I sought help:
facile -- easily achieved, effortless
Review:
Yuk. OK, so that is out of the way. Parasites are gross and this book digs into them. There is no doubt that there is a tremendous amount of cross-fertilization between animals and parasites. This book makes that remarkably clear. Parasites are not all bad, however, as some of the stuff they do actually helps us out.
The author would pretty much have you believe that evolution is simply the story of this interactive battle between animals and parasites. This is a strong conclusion to draw and, when faced with it directly, the author demurs. The scale of data, however, and the arguments in the book say otherwise. This is timely information as well. The author makes a strong argument for infection in general causing some other ancillary long-term illnesses. The author does not extend to the likelihood that vaccinations could induce these long-term illnesses, but the argument is a logical extension.
So, there is a huge amount of information involved here and the reading is rather dry. The argument is made clearly, however, that bacteria in particular and parasites in general aren't going to go away no matter what we do. They will adapt to the environment we present for them. We are simply irresistible and they have evolutionary capabilities that facilitate adaptations to deal with everything we can throw at them. To some extent, in the end, we are going to have to figure out how to live with them--this will be particularly true when antibiotics are no longer effective.
In the meantime, it makes sense to pay attention to the stuff that grows in you and lives on you. Should you eat dirt? Maybe, it probably should have clay in it if you do. This book is not a big cautionary tale, it is more of an effort to just let all of us know a little more about stuff that most microbiologists know really well. Should you eat sushi? Those in the know simply don't take the risk, even if it is small.
The book is well worth reading, the material is interesting, there is, however, a yuk factor.
Yuk. OK, so that is out of the way. Parasites are gross and this book digs into them. There is no doubt that there is a tremendous amount of cross-fertilization between animals and parasites. This book makes that remarkably clear. Parasites are not all bad, however, as some of the stuff they do actually helps us out.
The author would pretty much have you believe that evolution is simply the story of this interactive battle between animals and parasites. This is a strong conclusion to draw and, when faced with it directly, the author demurs. The scale of data, however, and the arguments in the book say otherwise. This is timely information as well. The author makes a strong argument for infection in general causing some other ancillary long-term illnesses. The author does not extend to the likelihood that vaccinations could induce these long-term illnesses, but the argument is a logical extension.
So, there is a huge amount of information involved here and the reading is rather dry. The argument is made clearly, however, that bacteria in particular and parasites in general aren't going to go away no matter what we do. They will adapt to the environment we present for them. We are simply irresistible and they have evolutionary capabilities that facilitate adaptations to deal with everything we can throw at them. To some extent, in the end, we are going to have to figure out how to live with them--this will be particularly true when antibiotics are no longer effective.
In the meantime, it makes sense to pay attention to the stuff that grows in you and lives on you. Should you eat dirt? Maybe, it probably should have clay in it if you do. This book is not a big cautionary tale, it is more of an effort to just let all of us know a little more about stuff that most microbiologists know really well. Should you eat sushi? Those in the know simply don't take the risk, even if it is small.
The book is well worth reading, the material is interesting, there is, however, a yuk factor.
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