I Contain Multitudes
The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
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Narrated by:
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Charlie Anson
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By:
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Ed Yong
About this listen
Joining the ranks of popular science classics like The Botany of Desire and The Selfish Gene, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin - a "microbe's-eye view" of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on Earth.
Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light - less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are.
The microbes in our bodies are part of our immune systems and protect us from disease. In the deep oceans, mysterious creatures without mouths or guts depend on microbes for all their energy. Bacteria provide squid with invisibility cloaks, help beetles to bring down forests, and allow worms to cause diseases that afflict millions of people.
Many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us - the microbiome - build our bodies, protect our health, shape our identities, and grant us incredible abilities. In this astonishing book, Ed Yong takes us on a grand tour through our microbial partners and introduces us to the scientists on the front lines of discovery. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.
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It may be a wonderful world, but as Dan Riskin explains, it's also a dangerous, disturbing, and disgusting one. At every turn, it seems, living things are trying to eat us, poison us, use our bodies as their homes, or have us spread their eggs. In Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You, Riskin is our guide through the natural world at its most gloriously ruthless. Using the seven deadly sins as a road map, Riskin offers dozens of jaw-dropping examples that illuminate how brutal nature can truly be.
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Just a bunch of random animal behaviors.
- By Goddess on 05-18-23
By: Dan Riskin
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Human Errors
- A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes
- By: Nathan H. Lents
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
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We humans like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are supposedly evolution's greatest creation, why do we have such bad knees? Why do we catch head colds so often - 200 times more often than a dog does? How come our wrists have so many useless bones? And are we really supposed to swallow and breathe through the same narrow tube? Surely there's been some kind of mistake. As professor of biology Nathan H. Lents explains in Human Errors, our evolutionary history is nothing if not a litany of mistakes, each more entertaining and enlightening than the last.
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From Pointless Bones to Broken Genes to...Aliens?
- By Katy.LED on 12-04-18
By: Nathan H. Lents
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The Cancer Chronicles
- Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery
- By: George Johnson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way - an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of cancer research that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease.
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A quick read - hard to put down
- By Digital Dilema on 09-06-13
By: George Johnson
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Population Wars
- A New Perspective on Competition and Coexistence
- By: Greg Graffin
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
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From the very beginning, life on Earth has been defined by war. Today, those first wars continue to be fought around and literally inside us, influencing our individual behavior and that of civilization as a whole. War between populations - whether between different species or between rival groups of humans - is seen as an inevitable part of the evolutionary process. The popular concept of "the survival of the fittest" explains and often excuses these actions.
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Life Changing Book. No other like it.
- By Abraham R. Herrick-Rough on 05-16-16
By: Greg Graffin
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The Most Perfect Thing
- By: Tim Birkhead
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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How are eggs of different shapes made, and why are they the shapes they are? When does the shell of an egg harden? Why do some eggs contain two yolks? How are the colours and patterns of eggshells created, and why do they vary? And which end of an egg is laid first - the blunt end or the pointy end?
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Great book about eggs!!
- By Timothy on 03-24-21
By: Tim Birkhead
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Pandemic
- Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond
- By: Sonia Shah
- Narrated by: Sonia Shah
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Interweaving history, original reportage, and personal narrative, Pandemic explores the origin of epidemics, drawing parallels between the story of cholera - one of history's most disruptive and deadly pathogens - and the new pathogens that stalk humankind today, from Ebola and avian influenza to drug-resistant superbugs.
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You will probably enjoy "Spillover" more
- By serine on 03-01-16
By: Sonia Shah
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Seven Modern Plagues
- And How We Are Causing Them
- By: Mark Jerome Walter
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
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According to veterinarian and journalist Mark Walters, we are contributing to - if not overtly causing - some of the scariest epidemics of our time. Through human stories and cutting-edge science, Walters explores the origins of seven diseases: Mad Cow Disease, HIV/AIDS, Salmonella DT104, Lyme Disease, Hantavirus, West Nile, and new strains of flu. He shows that they originate from manipulation of the environment, from emitting carbon and clear-cutting forests to feeding naturally herbivorous cows “recycled animal protein.”
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Frightening, truthful and a real eye opener
- By RobJD on 02-23-15
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What's Eating You?
- People and Parasites
- By: Eugene H. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
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In What's Eating You? Eugene Kaplan recounts the true and harrowing tales of his adventures with parasites, and in the process introduces readers to the intimately interwoven lives of host and parasite.
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Squirm-inducing, horribly fascinating stories
- By Karin W. on 04-03-12
By: Eugene H. Kaplan
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The Ancestor's Tale
- A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
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In The Ancestor's Tale, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey, Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and riveting in its telling.
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Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
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I, Mammal
- By: Liam Drew
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
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A list of the attributes that define a mammal is a ragbag of things - fur, live birth, three bones in the middle ear, a brain whose two halves are robustly joined together.... But this curious collection of features contain the roots of all the biology that makes us what we are: monkeys with massive brains who parent extensively, enjoy sport and think lots. Which is to say, what makes us mammals makes us human.
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Who knew?
- By Fitmen on 04-25-18
By: Liam Drew
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How to Build a Dinosaur
- Extinction Doesn't Have to Be Forever
- By: Jack Horner, James Gorman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In movies, in novels, in comic strips, and on television, we've all seen dinosaurs - or at least somebody's educated guess of what they would look like. But what if it were possible to build, or grow, a real dinosaur without finding ancient DNA? Jack Horner, the scientist who advised Steven Spielberg on the blockbuster film Jurassic Park and a pioneer in bringing paleontology into the 21st century, teams up with the editor of the New York Times's Science Times section to reveal exactly what's in store.
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Good book but misplaced title
- By Robert on 06-19-15
By: Jack Horner, and others
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What listeners say about I Contain Multitudes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- RealWoman8
- 12-26-17
If you're the least bit curious about microbes...
This book wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. I thought it would focus on the human microbiome, but instead, it's about microbes in a wide variety of environments. You will learn more than you ever needed to know about microbes on pangolins, in insects, on plants, etc. It was interesting to learn that there are microbes in clouds that seed them for rain and snow, and how microbes have evolved along with life, and how they were discovered by scientists who sometimes guarded their secrets and often were ridiculed. I have a vastly greater appreciation for our microbial companions now than I ever did. However, if you're interested in learning about human gut flora specifically, this may not be the book for you. The narrator did a great job with some potentially dry material. Overall, I'm glad I listened to I Contain Multitudes.
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43 people found this helpful
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- See Reverse
- 09-02-16
A Summary of Our Future
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes! There is an emerging understanding of how microbiological systems can work to address some of the challenges of civilization. In a world that has declared war on the microscopic, I highly recommend this fairly approachable discussion of applied multitudes.
What was one of the most memorable moments of I Contain Multitudes?
I enjoy the contrast between awareness and speculation, with clinical experiment. Although humanity has been studying our microscopic environment for several generations, it is starting to feel as though we're on the verge of a multitude of important, and in some case miraculous applications.
Which scene was your favorite?
The discussion of coral reefs was especially enlightening. In this story, the impact of microbes is seen to be much more foundational for complex environments than I had previously understood.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No - not at all. I'm not especially familiar with microbes, and there are a number of varieties and rules (and exceptions) to sink in if I would have raced through the book.
Any additional comments?
There are starting to be a lot of different books on the microbiome. I enjoy the author's approach - he clearly distinguishes between speculation, correlation, and causation. The microbiome is getting a lot of hype, and this book acknowledges the hype and goes beyond into the facts, theories, and outlines information that still eludes the experts.
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42 people found this helpful
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- Steve Hatch
- 11-23-16
great insight into the world in us and around us.
This is an incredibly well written, easy to follow audio book. I feel like a curtain was lifted and I see the world in a different light
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10 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 05-23-17
Good story, bad editing
Though I enjoyed the story, and learned quite a bit from this book, the number of edits or re-takes spliced into the recording was so high as to be distracting. The narrator's performance was fine. The relatively low rating is due to the recording.
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- Kenneth Mattes
- 01-01-20
Symbiosis, microbe and Man
Wonderful and fascinating journey into the world of microbes and their symbiosis with other loving creatures.
Well worth the listen.
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- lorrrraaaaine
- 12-15-21
Thought this book would officially tip me into mysophobia, but thankfully not!
If anything, this book made me appreciate and like bacteria more. I read about how we all have “germ clouds” back in 2016, and I was not thrilled about it, so when Covid made its appearance, I was definitely more prepared than most. But certain bacteria can be our friends and a we wouldn’t survive in a completely sterile world as exampled by the octopus study outlined in this book.
Ed Yong is the most readable contemporary science writer and this is one of my most favorite science books. I can only describe it as a children’s science book for adults. Also as an American, I happen to just adore British narrators.
It covers the evolution of bacteria since the beginning of time all the way to how the future of medicine might be envisioned based on targeted probiotics containing specific strains depending on the individual.
It is widely accepted these days in the medical community that a significant part of our immunity is based in our guts, so a healthy and balanced microbiome is fundamentally important for our health. I am one of those people that needs to experience things myself before I believe in them and in my experience the right probiotic does indeed work. Better if you have a proper diet with the correct prebiotics too.
Fantastic book and something I am planning on listening to again as I am sure I did not catch everything the first go around.
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- Andy 1234567890
- 03-24-18
Good primer, poorly edited audio
Audio was clearly done in multiple takes. Good intro, last three chapters are most interesting / relevant to having a better understanding of the recent explosion of interest in the microbiome. Recommend, but only because I haven’t found a better pop science book on the same materials.
Perfect for a 16 yr old, a bit too flowery and unstructured for my taste.
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- Aksunai
- 09-22-17
Well worth the read!
GREAT information, occasionally dry, but mostly very interesting with good illustrative examples. I like the running story about Walbackia.
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- Paul
- 01-27-17
Fantastic and fantastical
life is stranger than fiction and the world this book reveals is doubly awesome because it is real.
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- MIGTRA
- 04-18-20
me encantó
De mucha utilidad para comprender virus y bacterias en tiempo de pandemia. El autor lo explica simple, directa y con ejemplos que permiten una mejor comprensión de ese mundo al que por desconocimiento le tenemos tanto miedo. me quedo con la convicción de que podemos creceremos como civilización en la medida que comprendamos mejor a estos seres y podamos beneficiarnos de su inmenso aporte.
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