A Field Guide to Germs [Paperback]

Wayne Biddle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0385484267 | ISBN-13: 978-0385484268 | Edition: 1st Anchor Books Trade pbk. ed

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the title alone, you know it's going to be good. Biddle delves into anthrax and arboviruses, cholera and chlamydia, diphtheria, dengue, and dysentery, and on through the disease-ridden alphabet to Zika fever. Biddle explains in graphic detail the causes, symptoms and treatments for these germs, and it's all jolly good middle-of-the-night reading. You might become somewhat phobic if you read it from cover to cover, but no one will be more scintillating at parties. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?Historical and scientific information on the various bacteria, viruses, and other unfriendly critters with which humans must cope is presented in an informal, almost humorous manner. From the common rhinoviruses and Chinese restaurant syndrome (msg overdose) to the unusual Q fever or yersinia pestis (bubonic plague), each microorganism is discussed in the same factual, but witty style. Alphabetically arranged, each article varies in length but is generally two-to-four pages. Biddle gives the origin of the scientific words, which helps readers understand the disease itself, and then discusses how it has influenced history and thus today's social attitudes. Although medically accurate, the level of technical difficulty makes this a perfect choice for both browsers and biology researchers. It is too bad the cover is drab and unappealing. Fifty black-and-white photographs of germs under a microscope, posters showing the beliefs of the time, or doctors at work highlight the topics under discussion. The index is vital as the disorders are examined under their more scientific name.?Gary Filmore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 1st Anchor Books Trade pbk. ed edition (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385484267
• ISBN-13: 978-0385484268
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,485,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wayne Biddle was born in Baltimore and educated at Cornell University, where he was an undergraduate in the school of electrical engineering and a graduate student in the English department's master of fine arts program. He has been a contributing editor at Harper's magazine, a reporter for The New York Times (where he won a Pulitzer prize for writing about the "Star Wars" anti-missile system), and a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Technical University in Berlin. He has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the American Medical Writers Association, the National Press Club, and the Newspaper Guild of New York. He lives on a farm in rural Maryland.

An interview with the author on Canadian Broadcasting radio about his book, Dark Side of the Moon, may be accessed at:
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2009/12/19/holiday-book-show-polar-obsession-poseidons-steed-dark-side-of-the-moon/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and accessible guide for everyone, January 19, 2000

By 

K. L Sadler "Dr. Karen L. Sadler" (Freedom, Pa. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Field Guide to Germs (Paperback)

I am always on the look out for books which explain scientific phenomenon in ways that junior high school, high school, and undergraduate students will enjoy. Books that tweak their interest so they will go on and read the boring textbooks that so many professors and educators feel are necessary as drudgework. Biddle's book is a nice change of pace from the usual textbooks on viruses, germs, etc. and is enough to get the kids interested. It is also very readable, cynical, and caustic which is right up my creek. He deftly explains our own responsibilities in the cycle of viral infections world-wide and brings up the fact that we are ignoring the problems in Third World countries, which will eventually hurt us. Only suggestion I have is next time include prions and mad cow disease/Jakob-Crutzfeld/kuru! Too bad he can't write about politicians this way... Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hostile takeovers, fungal sandwiches, & baby bottoms, February 25, 2001

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Field Guide to Germs (Paperback)

"A Field Guide to Germs" is a mordantly funny series of one or two-page essays on the microscopic life forms that can make our lives nasty, brutish, and short. This book is organized like a field guide to birds, but instead of browsing through a description of the shy and spritely wren and its habitat, you will read about the not-so-shy and spritely 'Candida albicans', its description and habitat (the human mouth, baby bottoms, etc.). In fact it is in the 'Candida albicans' section where Wayne Biddle maintains that, "even the most squeaky-clean aesthete has a lot in common with rotten tree trunks."

The essays are in alphabetical order, so yeasts are jumbled together with other fungi, viruses, and bacteria. You may be able to read some of essays with a superior smirk on your face ("I don't think I have to worry about catching chikungunya or o'nyong-nyong."). This inevitably sets you up for a bruising in a following essay, in this case the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome."

Did you ever wonder where monosodium glutamate, aka MSG comes from? According to Biddle, this Chinese restaurant stalwart is a byproduct of 'corynebacterium glutamicum', a kissing cousin of the diptheria germ.

Let's hope you don't find a mutated version in your egg foo yung!

"A Field Guide to Germs" is very funny and easy to read - the very antithesis of a textbook - but it is not recommended for the weak-of-stomach or the hypochondriac.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read for the curious!, December 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Field Guide to Germs (Paperback)

This was an informative, interesting & often hilarious book. I have used it for several years as a resource while teaching about microbes at a science museum in Chicago. But don't get me wrong, this book is written to be enjoyed by non-science folk, as well as, the science teacher. It is easy to navigate through when used as a resource and fun to read cover to cover, like a book of well written essays.