A Field Guide to Germs 1st Anchor Books Trade pbk. ed Edition

by Wayne Biddle (Author)

20 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0385484268

ISBN-10: 0385484267

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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.

A Field Guide to Germs

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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: 0.5 x 5.5 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,999,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4588 in Books > Reference > Encyclopedias & Subject Guides > Medical
- #6242 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology
- #8365 in Books > Textbooks > Medicine & Health Sciences > Reference

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Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars

5 star		65%
4 star		20%
3 star		5%
2 star		10%
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Top Customer Reviews

Witty and accessible guide for everyone

By K. L Sadler VINE VOICE on January 19, 2000

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

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

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Hostile takeovers, fungal sandwiches, & baby bottoms

By ealovitt HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER on February 25, 2001

Format: 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.

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Delightful

By A Customer on September 1, 1998

Format: Paperback

It is a heartwarming book about the many viruses, bacteria, and pests that have made life for homo sapiens interesting for thousands of years. Herein you can read all about mumps, measles, and malaria (if you want to read about the pleasant diseases) or plague, anthrax, and rabies (if you want to read about the unpleasant ones). Each has a fascinating story to tell.

What can you do with this book? Well, you can read aloud the descriptions of gastrointestinal diseases at the dinner table. You can describe the diseases that cause hives with someone who is itchy. Or you can cheer up an old friend suffering from a disease by describing several diseases that are worse. This book is a barrel of laughs, I tell you. Get yours today.

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a must read for the curious!

By A Customer on December 29, 1999

Format: 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.

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All your favorite diseases

By A. McFarland on July 7, 1998

Format: Paperback

From adenovirus to zika fever, the pantheon of germs is discussed here in an informative and fun manner. Biddle focuses especially on historical aspects and classic anecdotes (like the one about the Plague-infested corpses being catapulted over city walls as an early form of biological warfare). We get a lot on where the germs were first discovered, and what part of the world they are ravaging today. The book is illustrated with classic pictures from days of old, such as the cartoon which makes fun of Jenner's cowpox/smallpox vaccine by showing people with cows coming out of every part of the body. We also get lots of horrid descriptions of the tortures that passed for medical treatment in the premodern age, i.e. bleeding, purgatives.
All your favorite diseases are here from the familiar to the obscure: AIDS, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Anthrax, various cold viruses, Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, Q Fever, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Polio, Staph, Strep and all your other disease friends jostle for your attention in this nice little book that will make a wonderful addition to the library of any pathology enthusiast.

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Have a Field Day With this Guide

By Spudman TOP 50 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on November 8, 2009

Format: Paperback

The guide begins with adenoviruses and ends with zika fever, an exotic African affliction. In between those two are 71 eclectic essays about bacteria, viruses, fungi and a few other microorganisms of interest. With literally millions of topics from which to choose, how did Biddle select these chosen few? He tells us in the introduction that he used prevalence, power, and worry factor to narrow the field from the billions of potential organisms. Zika fever is included because he needed a "z".
In the sometimes laborious introduction (laborious because the reader is impatient to dig into the main course) the author philosophizes about the doctor/patient relationship, musing how just seeing a doctor can be palliative. Another thought, introduced here and repeated in subsequent essays, is the tendency of epidemics to affect the poor disproportionately, though as the reader will learn many of our buggy companions prey on us humans indiscriminately. Like a tour guide giving preparatory instructions, Biddle defines for the reader terms like germs, pathogens, antibiotics and mutagens.
After being advised to put away the disinfectant soaps, and turn off the television news, we fasten our seatbelts for an incredible ride on a slow moving train observing more than we can possible retain or remember. Then again, as Biddle reminds us, "Even a little information is better than zip."

Ever fall asleep reading a science textbook? Just looking at the cover knocks me out. This book not only holds the reader's rapt attention, but it also amuses, entertains, and teaches along the way. The author uses humor, understatement and mildly shocking irreverence to keep the text lively and the anticipatory reader alert. With thoughtful foresight the author's essays are mostly only one or two pages in length.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Four Stars

Be sure to check out the entry for Zika: "You'll never see it, but we need a Z."

Published 3 months ago by Del Monte

It has more logic and humor than you could possibly ...

It has more logic and humor than you could possibly imagine! The topics are important to know, and the writing is charming!

Published 10 months ago by Pam Biddle

good

Diseases and human evolution study on collages to understand and develop of the function that stud dens need in today class

Published on November 26, 2012 by Jorge Perez

I really love this book!

Any time I read about a sickness in the paper, I run to Biddle's A Field Guide to Germs to look it up. Quite recently, E. Read more

Published on October 18, 2007 by R. Birk

some misinformatoin

I've read only a few of the germ chapters described in this text and chose to read no more after encountering some blatantly incorrect information. Read more

Published on September 20, 2007 by toucan sam

Plenty to worry about here

This is the revised and updated edition of 2002 of the book originally published in 1995. The book is a "field guide" only in a metaphorical sense. Read more

Published on February 24, 2006 by Dennis Littrell

Good for those in the field, and for the curious

Usually, I approach texts such as this with some trepidation, because they have a tendancy of being the author's perception as well as some half-baked theory of a conspiracy. Read more

Published on January 18, 2004 by Racon2R

Germs by Biddle

This is an excellent work which diarizes practically every
major germ imaginable. The author depicts how physicians
dressed in special garb to guard against the bubonic... Read more

Published on November 5, 2003 by Dr. Joseph S. Maresca

Highly Accurate and Readable Guide

I'm a professional microbiologist (and plague expert) and find this book to be succinct, accurate, and a pleasure to read. Read more

Published on January 6, 2003

A few errors

I'm not a scientist, so I trusted all the facts in this book. However, a biologist friend of mine (a specialist in plagues, no less) took a look and she pointed out five or six big... Read more

Published on November 16, 2002