Power Unseen

This is a great book for general reading on microbes and microbiology. The short chapters make for easy and very entertaining reading, and it is one of those books that can really inspire an interest in science. Many people develop an interest microbiology after reading "The Microbe Hunters," and I agree with the previous reviewer who suggested that "Power Unseen" makes very good follow-up reading. It is more focused on the actual microbes rather than their discoverers, but the excellent storytelling and appeal to general audiences is similar. It is really a shame, and very surprising to me, that it is not currently in print. I highly recommend reading it if you have even the slightest interest in microbiology and can buy or borrow a used copy.

Being a junior doctor now, whenever I recall my 2nd year in the medical school I remember all these nights trying to understand what at time thought of a much more difficult course than anatomy (!)....microbiology. I never thought I would be following a microbiology career. This book changed it all. There is nothing to be afraid of microbes.....Hypochondriac as all med students are was also myself...all you must do is to consider it as part of our planet's natural history..The book correlates human history and microbes in the most exciting way! The language is readable by everyone and the new ideas jump out in every page....I could not stop thinking humanity as a microbe of the universe. There were chapters that i couldnt stop laughing and others that really put me thinking. Read it....it will make you appreciate the role of medicine and microbes in our lifes.