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A Planet of Viruses Hardcover – September 15, 2011
| Carl Zimmer (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Viruses are the smallest living things known to science, yet they hold the entire planet in their sway. We are most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or the flu, but viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long, in fact, that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in caves miles underground.
This fascinating book explores the hidden world of viruses—a world that we all inhabit. Here Carl Zimmer, popular science writer and author of Discover magazine’s award-winning blog The Loom, presents the latest research on how viruses hold sway over our lives and our biosphere, how viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, how viruses are producing new diseases, how we can harness viruses for our own ends, and how viruses will continue to control our fate for years to come. In this eye-opening tour of the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life as we know it, we learn that some treatments for the common cold do more harm than good; that the world’s oceans are home to an astonishing number of viruses; and that the evolution of HIV is now in overdrive, spawning more mutated strains than we care to imagine.
The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer “as fine a science essayist as we have.” A Planet of Viruses is sure to please his many fans and further enhance his reputation as one of America’s most respected and admired science journalists.
- Print length109 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUniversity Of Chicago Press
- Publication dateSeptember 15, 2011
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-100226983358
- ISBN-13978-0226983356
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Editorial Reviews
Review
(Forbes)
"For those with long memories, not much seems to have happened in fundamental physics and cosmology since Carl Sagan's Cosmos, 30 years ago. . . . The real action is in biology, where amazing new facts just keep coming. The techniques of genome analysis make it remarkably easy at the moment to make unexpected observations. [A Planet of Viruses] is packed with them, carefully assembled by another talented populariser, the science writer and Yale University lecturer Carl Zimmer."—Times Higher Education (Times Higher Education)
"Science writer Carl Zimmer has a penchant for writing about things most humans like to avoid; his previous works include Microcosm: E. Coli And The New Science Of Life, and Parasite Rex. Each chapter of his latest work is dedicated to a different type of virus, providing a brief synopsis on what makes a certain species unique, and using the example to launch into fascinating information about what it teaches about the nature of viruses and life in general." (A.V. Club)
“Absolutely top-drawer popular science writing. . . . Zimmer’s information-packed, superbly readable look at virological knowledge awakens readers to the fact that not only are viruses everywhere but we couldn’t live without them."
(Booklist (starred review))
“A smart, beautiful, and somewhat demented picture book that's likely to give you a case of the willies. In the best way possible."
(Maggie Koerth-Baker Boing Boing)
“Carl Zimmer is one of the best science writers we have today. A Planet of Viruses is an important primer on the viruses living within and around all of us—sometimes funny, other times shocking, and always accessible. Whether discussing the common cold and flu, little-known viruses that attack bacteria or protect oceans, or the world’s viral future as seen through our encounters with HIV or SARS, Zimmer’s writing is lively, knowledgeable, and graced with poetic touches.”
(Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks)
“I’m a serious fan of Carl Zimmer, and A Planet of Viruses provided a new treat. It’s thoughtful, precise, and engrossing, page by page. Zimmer has an uncanny ability to tell cool tales about nature that leave you with new thoughts and understanding, always keeping precisely to the science.”
(Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone)
“This little book will interest anyone on this planet who has ever played host to a virus. It is beautifully clear, eminently sensible, and fascinating from beginning to end—like everything Carl Zimmer writes. I don’t know how Zimmer does it! Neither does anyone else who follows and enjoys his work.”
(Jonathan Weiner, author of Long for This World)
“An accessible and gripping narrative on a serious topic that manages to explain, in plain English, how viruses are changing the world. Carl Zimmer has found great stories and woven them into an honest, optimistic book. It is a wonderfully vivid and compelling read.”
(Nathan Wolfe, founder and CEO of Global Viral Forecasting)
"As with any great journey, this virtual tour opens your eyes and expands your horizons. You’ll learn amazing facts. But this is no textbook. Zimmer does not do boring or stuffy; reading his work is like hanging out with the smartest, most interesting guy you have ever met as he regales you with tales of his travels and fascinating finds along the way."—ScienceNews
(ScienceNews)
“I hope Carl Zimmer lives a long, long time so we can get more and more books from him. . . . [A Planet of Viruses is] a short read . . . but intense and well explained.”
(Julia Sweeney)
“A contagious fear pervades the public perception of viruses, and rightly so, because they cause many serious diseases; but they are not all bad. In A Planetof Viruses Carl Zimmer seeks to convey this message, elegantly communicating the history of viruses, their symbiotic relation with life, and their influence on mankind’s development.” (Lancet Infectious Diseases)
“In A Planet of Viruses, science writer Carl Zimmer accomplishes in a mere 100 pages what other authors struggle to do in 500: He reshapes our understanding of the hidden realities at the core of everyday existence. . . . Whether he’s exploring how viruses come to America or picking apart the surprisingly complicated common cold, Zimmer’s train of thought is concise and illuminating.” (Washington Post)
“Although most everyone is familiar with the word "viruses," few people are aware of the major role they play as powerful agents of change on Earth. Zimmer presents an intriguing journey into the world of viruses, providing a fascinating historical perspective. . . . This is an insightful book that serves as an excellent resource for understanding viruses and their relationship to humans. . . . Highly recommended.” (Choice)
“This book is pure reading pleasure. It is amazing how seamlessly Carl Zimmer tells the stories of viruses in short chapters, describing the history, microbiology, and impacts of viruses in interesting, informative, readable chapters.” (Microbe Magazine)
(Booklist)
About the Author
Carl Zimmer is a lecturer at Yale University, where he teaches writing about science and the environment. He is the author of numerous books, including Microcosm; Parasite Rex; Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea; At the Water’s Edge; and Soul Made Flesh. His numerous essays and articles on the life sciences have appeared in the pages of the New York Times, Scientific American, Discover, Time, Science, Popular Science, and National Geographic. His work has been anthologized in both The Best American Science Writing and The Best American Science and Nature Writing series.
Product details
- Publisher : University Of Chicago Press; 1st edition (September 15, 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 109 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0226983358
- ISBN-13 : 978-0226983356
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #959,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #442 in Microbiology (Books)
- #522 in Viral Diseases (Books)
- #632 in Communicable Diseases (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Carl Zimmer is the author of fourteen books about science. His latest book is Life’s Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive.
Zimmer’s column Matter appears each week in the New York Times. His writing has earned a number of awards, including the Stephen Jay Gould Prize, awarded by the Society for the Study of Evolution. His previous book, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, won the 2019 National Academies Communication Award. The Guardian named it the best science book of 2018.
Zimmer is a familiar voice on radio programs such as Radiolab and is professor adjunct at Yale University. He is, to his knowledge, the only writer after whom both a species of tapeworm and an asteroid have been named.
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How many kinds of virus are there? The truth is, we don't know. There are new strains being discovered every day, most of which do not effect humans at all. But they are everywhere, in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, in our bodies and on our bodies. Some viruses are harmful, even lethal to the organism they use to reproduce, but most are harmless and in fact may even be necessary for all life, serving a useful function for the life forms around them. If their numbers are astounding then so too is their variety and most are specific to a particular kind of host organism. It's not just animal life that they target but plants, fungi, bacteria and even other viruses. Some are so incredibly small that they can hide in cells, by the millions. At the other end of the spectrum there are viruses so large that they can be mistaken for a bacterium. The largest found so far is the Mimivirus and I can't even guess as to the smallest. Some viruses can change hosts when necessary, like the cowpox virus that moved from cows to humans and became smallpox. The more we live and work around animals the more we risk exposure to new kinds of viruses. After a time we may develop an immunity to some of those viruses and although those particular viruses may not harm us we can still carry them with us when we travel and infect any strangers we meet. Viruses make more viruses by invading the cells, or cell, of another organism, commandeering that organisms genetic material to make as many viruses as is needed. So, can viruses exist without a proper host? It appears not, but what does that tell us about the Cave of Crystals virus? Are they truly alone in those pools or is there another, as yet unknown, organism present. Or is there a way for them to use other viruses as a host? Or maybe they have an incredibly long life span. Zimmer doesn't address that issue but he does cover a lot of ground, including one very special questions. Are viruses alive? Some specialist say yes, others say no and the debate has been going on since viruses were first discovered. They do seek out their specific host and invade it's cells to make more viruses, so they do have a kind of unconscious purpose. They can evolve to change hosts if necessary. They move about to find suitable environmental conditions. Sounds like life to me, but your guess is a good as mine. If the specialist don't know for sure then where does that leave the layperson reader? With plenty of reading material, that's for sure. There are other questions that occurred to me. How did viruses evolve? Were they the very first organisms or did they evolve later from from some, as yet, unknown prokaryotic bacterium that shed its unneeded genetic material for a parasitic life style? The debate goes on with no end in sight. For more on this subject and on the Mimivirus see James L. VanEtten's fine article: Giant Viruses in American Scientist July-August 2011. I had no technical or formatting problems with this Kindle edition.
LastRanger
My rating of 4 stars indicates a very good read for the viral novice but also reflects my rating for the more knowledgeable reader. I had hoped Zimmer, as a master storyteller, would go into more detail and tell stories about some unusual viruses not already widely discussed in other places. Unlike his 5 star Parasite Rex, where he more fully develops his storytelling and includes unusual organisms, I wanted more. For example, he piqued my curiosity with the story about finding viruses 1000 feet underground, where no other organisms exist within which viruses can replicate, but then fails to elaborate. I did learn many interesting tidbits, though, and highly recommend the book.
Zimmer looks at the history of discovery and the mechanism of the common cold and flu viruses to the cancer causing potential of papillomavirus. Going beyond these common infectious pathogens, Zimmer shows us how ubiquitous (and mostly harmless or beneficial) viruses are from oceans and the Mexican crystal caves, deep within the earth, to the inner sanctum of the human genome. He makes a good argument for how important the tiny virus is to the macrocosm of the globe. Zimmer tells the stories of other remarkable viruses from the eradication of smallpox on earth to the emerging epidemics of HIV, West Nile Virus, and SARS. His epilogue about the giant mimivirus, which Zimmer explains gets its name because it mimics the size of bacteria and fooled its discoverer, engages the reader into a discussion whether or not viruses are alive. Zimmer tantalizes us with a potential paradigm change as to the place of viruses within the web of life. Parasite Rex Parasite Rex (with a New Epilogue): Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures
Top reviews from other countries
many thanks!
The downside is that it left a lot of questions unanswered and unfortunately most of the references are in expensive journals that most of us have no access too. (But do chase down the one to "Defining Life: The virus viewpoint" - Zimmer hints at this enough that I guessed, but did not really reveal the fascinating insight in this paper).
Now we know just how prevalent viruses are and how important they are to all life on earth, you owe it to yourself to get at least an introduction and this is a very good, easy-to-read start.





