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The Amoeba in the Room: Lives of the Microbes

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by Nicholas P. Money (Author)



"Money enthusiastically presents evidence of diversity everywhere, no matter the magnification. ... This is a lucid and informative book. There is an impressive afterword of references and notes, and fine line drawings. So much that is lyrical and little-known waits to be discovered here - novelties

that will appeal to new undergraduates as well as to incorrigible microbial enthusiasts like myself." --Nature


"Nicholas P. Money, mycologist and professor of biology at Miami University, has made an excellent contribution to science in popular culture with his new book, The Amoeba in the Room."--Kansas City Star


"Money succeeds, intellectually in convincing you that multicellular creatures count for little in the grand scheme of biology" --Wall Street Journal


"Writing passionately about a subject he clearly loves, Money, professor of botany at Miami Univ. (Ohio), explains the critically important, but largely overlooked, roles microbial organisms play in the world." --Publishers Weekly


A cup of seawater contains 100 million cells, which are preyed upon by billions of viruses. Fifty million tons of fungal spores are released into the atmosphere every year. And the human gut is home to somewhere between 500 and 1,000 species of bacteria. The more we learn about microbial biodiversity, the clearer it becomes that the vast majority of life has long gone unseen, and unobserved. The flowering of microbial science is revolutionizing biology and medicine in ways unimagined only a few years ago, and is inspiring a new view of what it means to be alive.


In The Amoeba in the Room, Nicholas Money explores the extraordinary breadth of the microbial world and the vast swathes of biological diversity that can be detected only using molecular methods. Although biologists have achieved a remarkable level of understanding about the way multicellular organisms operate, Money shows that most people continue to ignore the fact that most of life isn't classified as either plant or animal. Significant discoveries about the composition of the biosphere are making it clear that the sciences have failed to comprehend the full spectrum of life on earth, which is far more diverse than previously imagined. Money's engaging work considers this diversity in all its forms, exploring environments from the backyard pond to the ocean floor to the "mobile ecosystem" of our own bodies.


A revitalized vision of life emerges from Money's lively narrative of the lowly, one in which we are challenged to reconsider our existence in proper relationship to the single-celled protists, bacteria, and viruses that constitute most of life on earth. Proposing a radical reformulation of biology education and research in the life sciences, The Amoeba in the Room is a compelling romp through the least visible and yet most prodigiously magnificent aspects of life on earth.



ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00I6I8NI4

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Illustrated edition (February 20, 2014)

Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 20, 2014

Language ‏ : ‎ English

File‏ : ‎PDF, 1806 KB

Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages

You will get a PDF (2MB) file

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