Arno Karlen, author of
Man and Microbes
, focuses on a single bacterium in
Biography of a Germ
, giving us an intimate view of a life that has been shaped by and is in turn transforming our own.
Borrelia burgdorferi
is the germ that causes Lyme disease. In existence for some hundred million years, it was discovered only recently. Exploring its evolution, its daily existence, and its journey from ticks to mice to deer to humans, Karlen lucidly examines the life and world of this recently prominent germ. He also describes how it
attacks the human body, and how by changing the environment, people are now much more likely to come into contact with it. Charming and thorough and smart, this book is a wonderfully written biography of your not so typical biographical subject.