Fear of a Microbial Planet
How a Germophobic Safety Culture Makes Us Less Safe
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Narrated by:
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David Turner
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By:
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Steve Templeton
About this listen
Fear of a Microbial Planet, a sweeping treatise on the COVID era published by Brownstone Institute, offers desperately needed clarity and science on the organization and management of individual social life in the presence of pathogenic infection. It can be read as a definitive answer to expert arrogance, political overreach, and population panic.
For three years following the arrival of the virus that causes Covid, the dominant response from governments and the public has been to be afraid and stay far away through any means possible. This has further mutated into a population-wide germophobia that is actually being promoted by elite opinion.
Steve Templeton, senior scholar at Brownstone Institute and associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Indiana University School of Medicine: Terre Haute, argues that this response is primitive, unscientific, and ultimately contrary to individual and public health.
If a public health response is like an immune response, then consider this book as immunization against germophobia, politicized science, a self-defeating safety culture, and misplaced faith in experts. Dr. Templeton is our guide to helping us gain a new and more robust understanding of the relationship between the microbial kingdom and our own lives.
The pandemic forecasts in the United States were very grim. Experts were predicting that 60-70 percent of the population would ultimately be infected resulting in over 1.5 million deaths in just a few months. People on social media were in an absolute panic. Stories about empty shelves and runs on toilet paper were everywhere. Those who tried to refute these doomsday predictions were shouted down and eventually silenced.
And yet, the science on the virus was very clear. Disease severity was age-stratified. Extreme measures would not drive it away and would cause a tremendous amount of collateral damage. Even if the worse-case scenarios were true, it was extremely important that we take measures based on evidence.
But eventually, the cry to “do something” became overwhelming, and the costs no longer mattered. Trying to calm people with wisdom about infectious disease became nearly pointless. Germophobia swept through society and political culture.
Hardly anyone wanted to hear the truth that microbes are everywhere, and they cannot be avoided. There are an estimated 6x10^30 bacterial cells on Earth at any given time. By any standard, this is a huge amount of biomass, second only to plants, and exceeding that of all animals by more than 30-fold.
To live at peace with the microbial kingdom requires trained immune systems, as George Carlin said years ago. That means exposure and the protection of normal social functioning even under pandemic conditions with a new virus.
Many books have been and will be written about pandemic response mistakes, and that’s a good thing. There can’t possibly be enough reflection on what went wrong—otherwise we will be doomed to follow the same path, or an even worse one, next time. This book argues that the safety-at-all-costs culture will continue to result in counterproductive policies until it is challenged at its root.
How did people in our communities and around the world get to the point of hysteria over a pandemic with a clear age-stratified and comorbidity-amplified morality? Why were young and healthy people with very little risk for disease and death treated as if they were a grave danger to others?
It was always pointless to try to stop much less eradicate this virus. We’ve evolved with pathogens and need to learn to live with them without imposing mass psychological, social, economic, and public-health damage.
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Somewhat elemental
- By Bertha Watkins on 10-23-21
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Presidential Takedown
- How Anthony Fauci, the CDC, NIH, and the WHO Conspired to Overthrow President Trump
- By: Dr. Paul Elias Alexander, Kent Heckenlively
- Narrated by: Bob Johnson
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In January 2020, Donald Trump was on the fast track to an easy re-election. While his first two years had been stymied by House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the Democrats, his third year had been one of remarkable success. The United States had low unemployment and was making strides across the globe. The president's rallies were well-attended, and he was being projected to win four hundred electoral votes and about forty-five states. Then came COVID-19.
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Must listen!!
- By Christina Borkowski on 01-10-23
By: Dr. Paul Elias Alexander, and others
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Missing Microbes
- How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues
- By: Martin J. Blaser
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In Missing Microbes, Dr. Martin J. Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome, where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the health and equilibrium of our body. Now this invisible eden is being irrevocably damaged by some of our most revered medical advances-antibiotics-threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes with terrible health consequences.
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Very enlightening and information well supported
- By James on 05-03-15
By: Martin J. Blaser
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The Panic Virus
- A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear
- By: Seth Mnookin
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Panic Virus is a gripping scientific detective story about how grassroots radicals, snake-oil salesmen, and cynical journalists have perpetrated the biggest health-scare hoax of all time. It explores what happens when the media treats all viewpoints as equally valid, regardless of facts, from parents who are convinced that vaccines caused their children's autism to right-wing radicals who believe that climate change is a myth
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Incredible thorough journey
- By Rachel Dewald on 03-22-11
By: Seth Mnookin
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Plague of Corruption
- Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science
- By: Dr. Judy Mikovits, Kent Heckenlively, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Narrated by: Mariel Hemingway
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Judy Mikovits is a modern-day Rosalind Franklin, a brilliant researcher shaking up the old boys' club of science with her groundbreaking discoveries. And like many women who have trespassed into the world of men, she uncovered decades-old secrets that many would prefer to stay buried.
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If only most of the public knew these facts
- By David Getoff, CCN on 06-18-20
By: Dr. Judy Mikovits, and others
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Viruses, Plagues, and History
- Past, Present, and Future
- By: Michael B. A. Oldstone
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of viruses and humanity is a story of fear and ignorance, of grief and heartbreak, and of great bravery and sacrifice. Michael Oldstone tells all these stories as he illuminates the history of the devastating diseases that have tormented humanity, focusing mostly on the most famous viruses. For this revised edition, Oldstone includes discussions of new viruses like SARS, bird flu, virally caused cancers, chronic wasting disease, and West Nile. Viruses, Plagues, and History paints a sweeping portrait of humanity's long-standing conflict with our unseen viral enemies.
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very detailed, but very statistical
- By ekhensel15 on 01-12-19
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Denialism
- How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives
- By: Michael Specter
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter has twice won the Global Health Council’s Excellence in Media Award, as well as the Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In Denialism, he fervently argues that people are turning away from new technologies and engaging in a kind of magical thinking that is hindering scientific progress.
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A compelling read
- By S on 05-17-11
By: Michael Specter
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An Epidemic of Absence
- A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases
- By: Moises Velasquez-Manoff
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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An Epidemic of Absence asks what will happen in developing countries, which, as they become more affluent, have already seen an uptick in allergic disease: Will India end up more allergic than Europe? Velasquez-Manoff also details a controversial underground movement that has coalesced around the treatment of immune-mediated disorders with parasites. Against much of his better judgment, he joins these do-it-yourselfers and reports his surprising results.
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The point of view from a Veterinarian immunologist
- By rtgymnast on 11-03-17
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Chronic
- The Hidden Cause of the Autoimmune Pandemic and How to Get Healthy Again
- By: Steven Phillips MD, Dana Parish, Kristin Loberg
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt, Thomas Allen
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In this timely book, Steven Phillips, MD, and his former patient, Sony singer-songwriter Dana Parish, reveal striking evidence that a broad range of common infections, from COVID-19 to Lyme and many others, cause a variety of autoimmune, psychiatric, and chronic conditions. Chronic explores the science behind what makes them difficult to diagnose and treat, debunks widely held beliefs by doctors and patients alike, and provides solutions that empower sufferers to reclaim their lives.
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A must read book
- By Amazon Customer on 03-01-21
By: Steven Phillips MD, and others
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The Language of Life
- DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine
- By: Francis S. Collins
- Narrated by: Greg Itzin
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A scientific and medical revolution has crept up on us, based on study after study, from hundreds of laboratories around the world. It is no longer just a theoretical shift: every one of us will be touched by it, and many of us already have been. The meaning of disease, our understanding of the human body, and crucial decisions about what we all need to know and what choices we make about our health are at stake. Welcome to the new world of personalized medicine.
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The future of medicine
- By Ronald E on 04-12-10
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10% Human
- How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness
- By: Alanna Collen
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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You are just 10% human. For every one of the cells that make up the vessel that you call your body, there are nine impostor cells hitching a ride. You are not just flesh and blood, muscle and bone, brain and skin, but also bacteria and fungi. Over your lifetime, you will carry the equivalent weight of five African elephants in microbes. You are not an individual but a colony. Until recently, we had thought our microbes hardly mattered, but science is revealing a different story, one in which microbes run our bodies and becoming a healthy human is impossible without them.
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Must read for anyone that wants to be healthy
- By T. Kalinowski on 06-05-21
By: Alanna Collen
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Less Medicine, More Health
- 7 Assumptions That Drive Too Much Medical Care
- By: H. Gilbert Welch
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of the highly acclaimed Overdiagnosed describes seven widespread assumptions that encourage excessive, often ineffective, and sometimes harmful medical care. You might think the biggest problem in medical care is that it costs too much. Or that health insurance is too expensive, too uneven, too complicated - and gives you too many forms to fill out. But the central problem is that too much medical care has too little value.
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The truth will set you free
- By Rene B Milner on 04-01-16
By: H. Gilbert Welch
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The Pandemic Century
- One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris
- By: Mark Honigsbaum
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. From the Spanish flu to the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles to the 1930 "parrot fever" pandemic, through the more recent SARS, Ebola, and Zika epidemics, the last one hundred years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms.
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Pretty good
- By Baz 12345 on 04-03-20
By: Mark Honigsbaum
What listeners say about Fear of a Microbial Planet
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Pappy
- 08-12-23
An Outstanding Review of Infectious Diseases!
The author tackles what has been a very emotional topic for all people for a variety of reasons. He does this in an informational and unemotional way.
The reader’s performance is outstanding. Many times, I’ve wondered how narrators are able to tackle a subject where they may not have agreed with the content of the author’s work. This narrator’s performance hits all the right inflections in all the right places! I walked away from listening to this book learning more and enjoying it more than if I’d read the hard copy.
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- svan
- 01-02-24
Highly recommended
This book was referred to me by a friend of mine that is a surgeon. This is more than just a recap of the pandemic, but went over a history of viruses and how they were treated by scientists and the public at large. There was a lot of great material in here around natural childbirth versus C-section, and many others that I took away from it, and I’ve already shared with some friends. it’s a must read to better understand how our body works within this world.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-17-23
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!
That quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the beginning of WWII is the perfect encapsulation of the point of this book by Steve Templeton. The author shows how our desire to kill germs and keep ourselves safe from viruses and bacteria is actually counterproductive in many cases. Our bodies are amazingly designed machines and the microbes we are saturated in every day have both risks and benefits to our health and wellbeing.
While this is a highly technical subject and the text is liberally sprinkled with polysyllabic terms, the author manages to present the material in a way that is accessible through the use of humor and real-world metaphors. It is quite entertaining to listen to, especially as he takes a sledge hammer to some of the myths we have believed about germs throughout our lives.
I also want to give props to narrator David Turner whose clear and expressive voice and excellent diction makes this a thoroughly enjoyable listen! Two thumbs up from this vantage point!
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- PBuck1983
- 01-05-24
Essential microbial perspective through COVID lens
Bottom line up front: I after going through this book in audiobook format, I picked it up on Kindle just so I could search, revisit, highlight, and re-read multiple parts. It was THAT good. An immunologist writes about COVID and the toxic underlying germophobic and safety culture that turned the response to COVID into such a disaster.
The discussions of Sweden, Florida and immune response tradeoffs, alone, make this book worth the price of admission. I found the mask-related section to be especially edifying, because I have personally read all the studies he discusses, and can vouch for his analysis. This book has earned a permanent place in my personal digital library of books on the COVIDcrisis.
The writing is astute, engaging and the audiobook production quality was excellent (though the pronunciation of a handful of medical terminology words was off, this did not detract from the overall quality). Its essential perspective about the complex and often mutually-beneficial relationship between humans and microbes – including infectious microbes – was a welcome dose of sanity after the mass psychosis of the COVIDcrisis. I wish more doctors and everyday citizens had shared his perspective on microbes and safety in general, as well as the core philosophy of individual liberty, and done a fraction of his research. The author supports his statements with careful citations to scientific sources (which is one of the reasons I picked up the book in kindle, to use as a convenient link to those papers he cites).
This book also gets 5 stars for its content, style, presentation, and structure. The audiobook production quality was good, though the narrator mispronounced a couple dozen names and medical terms.
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- Deborah Ogun
- 11-04-24
The level of opinion was wild.
At first it was okay then it was just a never ending rant. This was painful and exhausting. I want my 12 hours back. I have never hated a book before. I genuinely did not enjoy this book. Lots of contradictions. No offense to the author. I learned less than I expected. I regret using my credit to listen. Calling black people blacks is like calling. Lack people n words with er…
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