Customer Reviews

The Third Domain

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Tim Friend's recent book The Third Domain is an odd book on two levels -- first of all, the story that one would think it tells, that of Carl Woese's discovery of the Archaea, the initial hostile reaction that the discovery met with at the hands of the scientific establishment, and its eventual acceptance by the majority -- makes up only one chapter (chapter 3) of the book. The rest of the book mostly follows field microbiologists like Karl Stetter and Eric Mathur as they collect samples (often, but not always, of archaea) from hot springs and thermal vents. Secondly, rather than being one unified whole, each chapter reads as its own story (which it may well have been; Friend is a former USA Today science writer and may be simply fleshing out articles he's already written). I'm of two minds about this book; as a evolutionary microbial genomicist (and one who has had the honor of working with Woese), I'm glad that there's a new book for the general public that acknowledges that microbes are worth studying for things other than their effect on human health; but on the other hand, I can't help but wonder if the story of the Archaea couldn't have been told in a more engaging manner. Bill Bryson, in his A Short History of Nearly Everything managed to tell Woese's story (if a bit too simplified) in an exciting chapter there. In conclusion, The Third Domain is worth a read (especially if you are interested in the subject), but the definitive book on Woese and the archaea has yet to be written.

The first great era of bacteriology was begun when Louis Pasteur proved that fermentation of wine was a biologic process and the organisms responsible could be cultured and identified. He went on to show that disease was also caused by these new creatures and, with Robert Koch, proved that the disease could be prevented by immunizing the population at risk. For the next 60 years, infectious diseases and the prevention of them was the principle focus of medicine. With the discovery of antibiotics, infection was conquered and medicine moved on to the prevention and treatment of degenerative diseases like cancer and heart disease. Bacteriology, which was a formal course when I attended medical school 45 years ago, is no longer part of the curriculum except as part of more general courses on disease.

This book introduces the new era of bacteriology that began with the discovery of Archaea by Carl Woese in 1977. Archaea were originally thought to be rare and to exist only at the extremes of the environment, in hot volcanic vents on the ocean floor and in geysers at Yellowstone Park and other such volcanic fields. In the past few years, random sampling of ocean water by Craig Venter and others has shown that they are ubiquitous. They are not bacteria and show interesting genetic and metabolic features that suggest they may be the oldest form of life. One variety, the parasitic Nanoarchaea, may even represent the origin of the cell nucleus in evolution.

The book is, as pointed out by another reviewer, cut up into episodes that emphasize the expeditions the writer participated in. Still, the chapter on the Titanic and the speculation about the role the "rusticles" play in evolution is worthwhile in itself. The writer is a member of the Explorers Club in New York and has had some very interesting experiences, diving on the Titanic in a deep submersible and SCUBA diving in Yellowstone Lake with a scientific expedition. Some of his theories about how all these organisms play a role in the evolution of life are worthwhile. The story is interesting and, while some might wish more detail on Archaea, the introduction is well done. I liked the book and recommend it to those who want to know more about the growing interest in bacteriology that is leading to the second era. One significant note that is not emphasized enough is the fact that Archaea are not pathogens and have never been implicated in any human disease. They appear to be part of an enormous biosphere that will become increasingly important during the rest of this century. This book is a good place to start.

Friend writes on a difficult subject to popularize and this is popularized science. He cycles between tutorials on genetic science and microbes, the state of genetic engineering and technology, brief bios of the principal scientific personalities and adventures in sample collection. The book turns on Archaeia, a new class of microbes differing from bacterial only in subtle but critical elements of their genetic makeup. Friend reveals the surprising disarray in the taxonomy of microbes and attempts to describe the new way (based on genetics) forward in classifying microbes. He describes nanoarchaeia which may be the ur-nucleus which when embedded in bacterial, formed eukaryotes (organism with true nuclei) and describes the Thing that's eating the Titanic, a corporation of many types of bacteria, archaeia and molds that cooperate in the disassembly of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic. It may show what the ur-multicell organism the evolved into us was like.

I was really interested in learning about what scientists know about archaea. This unfortunately this book is very poorly arranged. Names are dropped like bread crumbs, there is constant shifting around in time, and the focus seems to be more about the bio-prospectors than about actually conveying anything about the archaea. What makes this worse is that the author tries to get you interested by telling you how interesting it is instead of actually including things that would be interesting. The author does a lot of back-patting as well, almost deifying the bio-prospectors and certainly pumping-up the drama so much that it just seems saccarine.

When you compare this book to one say written by Carl Zimmer - there can be no comparison of the quality of the writing. This book is not engaging, not insightful, and reads almost like a sales pitch.

I had high hopes for this book based on a review I read in Nature, expecting something with enchanting illustrations, and perceptive prose. It has a few small B and W photos, printed on what feels like thick card stock, stuck into the middle of the book. The author is a science writer, and tries hard to make a dramatic and exciting book about bacteria. These are not marauding lions or sharks. Mostly they differ from regular bacteria by their chemistry, never big crowd pleser, and the author spends considerable time reviewing basic aspects of nucleic acids. He tosses in some human interest to spice things up, from time to time. It comes across as a low budget effort that tries too hard, and lacks depth and style.

Thank you -- all of you -- who reviewed the book. I'm the author. I take to heart your comments and regard your critiques a privilege. Honesty makes us grow. This was a tough book to write. Wanted initially to write third person. My publisher liked my experiences over the years as a reporter. So we ended up, for better or worse, with the first person narrative. I guarantee the stories are accurate, much more to be told.