I Contain Multitudes (Ed Yong): Book Review

What are microbes and bacteria? They are the tiny creatures that you either love or hate. The book that I am discussing in today's review, "I contain multitudes", has answers to all your questions about microbes and bacteria. The book was written by Ed Yong in 2016, and it is a perfect example of a non-fiction work that makes science, biology in particular, understandable, interesting and available to masses. It investigates lots of different questions. Any questions that you may have, such as: "Are bacteria good or bad? Why and how did we turn out the way we are?" and others are answered in the book. Let's talk about the author first though, to fully understand who he is and what he does for a living.

Ed Yong is an award-winning best-selling science writer. He is best-known for this book, "I contain multitudes". Yong's works appeared in many famous magazines such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, Nature, The Guardian, The Wired and others. He lives in Washington, DC, and in London. I hope that gave you a better understanding of who Ed Yong is. Now let's get into the book review!

"I contain multitudes" is a book that explores a bigger view of everything, of all life. It is called that way because you, the person behind the screen, and I, contain multitudes of different bacteria and microbiomes inside of us. We are all made up of different microbes that do our work. We are the hosts and they are "employees", I suppose. We live in a symbiosis. Until comparatively recently, or to be exact, until 1674, we couldn't see any of those little helpers. When they came into biology, we didn't see them as very important creatures. On the opposite, people saw them as germs that needed to be destroyed, or otherwise, they would destroy us. This confusion only cleared up a few centuries later, when it became clear that there are no good or bad bacteria. Microbes that cause disease in animals may be beneficial to humans, and vice versa. The idea that all bacteria is bad is simply wrong. These tiny organisms are invaluable parts of us and our lives! They make up our organisms, tissues, educate our immune system, and defend us. But they can also rebel in the form of cancer and diseases.

So, sure. They aren't excellent. But they definitely should not be destroyed. There are several interesting, well-researched topics in the book that discuss various aspects of bacteria. I advise you to read all of them!