Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi

Amazon.com

This is the be-all and end-all of mushroom books! Truly an encyclopedia of mushroom facts and lore, lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs, literally everything you need to know about mushrooms, edible or not. Arora has taught mycology for close to twenty years and has hunted and photographed mushrooms across the North American continent. Threaded through the book are his wry and humorous observations and comments, making what could have been a rather dull, "just-the-facts, ma'am" reference book into a really enjoyable read. The stunning photographs of the incredible variety of fungi are fascinating and eye-opening, and while the author gives clear and factual information, the mysterious allure of mushrooms in their countless shapes, sizes and colors is only increased by this huge and delightful book. --Mark Hetts

Book Description

Nothing is more elusive and mysterious than the wild mushroom. David Arora celebrates the gathering and study of wild mushrooms with engaging style, wit and simple terminology. Mushrooms Demystified includes descriptions, photographs, and keys to over 2,000 species. There is a Beginner's Checklist of the 70 most distinctive and common mushrooms plus detailed chapters on terminology, classification, habitats, mushroom cookery, mushroom toxins, and the meanings of scientific mushroom names.

Customer Reviews:

Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi .......2007-09-19

My son loves this book and has used it several times already. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in studying mushrooms.

Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi.......2007-01-19

Hands down, the best mushroom field guide available. Great pictures and excellent keys. Makes it easy to know what you're dealing with when you find a mushroom.

Great Companion Book.......2007-01-05

This hard to find book is great. Arora did a great job. The keys very good, are easy to use and the descriptions of each mushroom identified in the book are comprehensive and even entertaining. (A dicot' key can be a truly horrid thing.) The illustrations for key features also very helpful. Even for casual reading it is entertaining! The Fifth Kingdom is a great addition to this book for addl info about life cycles.

MUSHROOMS DEMYSTIFIED.......2007-01-03

A VERY GOOD REFERENCE, BUT ALMOST TOO MUCH INFO TO PROCESS FOR THE BEGINNER.

why do i need to write a title?.......2006-11-05

THE comprehensive guide to mushrooms. I own several that I like, and this is probably the best of them. It's large size makes it unsuitable for a field guide, but it's a great resource. Just get "All that the rain promises...," or the Audubon book for a field guide.

The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug

Average customer rating:

The Story of the Sulfa Drugs
Sulfanilamide is still on the American market
Great read
The first miracle drug...before penicillin. A story that deserved to be revived.
Before Penicillin

The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug
Thomas Hager
Manufacturer: Harmony
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Pharmacology | Medicine | Subjects | Books

History | Special Topics | Medicine | Subjects | Books

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver
The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History
The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery
Microbe Hunters

ASIN: 1400082137
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Book Description

The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered diseases, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of antibiotics. This incredible discovery was sulfa, the first antibiotic. In The Demon Under the Microscope, Thomas Hager chronicles the dramatic history of the drug that shaped modern medicine.

Sulfa saved millions of lives—among them those of Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.—but its real effects are even more far reaching. Sulfa changed the way new drugs were developed, approved, and sold; transformed the way doctors treated patients; and ushered in the era of modern medicine. The very concept that chemicals created in a lab could cure disease revolutionized medicine, taking it from the treatment of symptoms and discomfort to the eradication of the root cause of illness.

A strange and colorful story, The Demon Under the Microscope illuminates the vivid characters, corporate strategy, individual idealism, careful planning, lucky breaks, cynicism, heroism, greed, hard work, and the central (though mistaken) idea that brought sulfa to the world. This is a fascinating scientific tale with all the excitement and intrigue of a great suspense novel.

For thousands of years, humans had sought medicines with which they could defeat contagion, and they had slowly, painstakingly, won a few battles: some vaccines to ward off disease, a handful of antitoxins. A drug or two was available that could stop parasitic diseases once they hit, tropical maladies like malaria and sleeping sickness. But the great killers of Europe, North America, and most of Asia—pneumonia, plague, tuberculosis, diphtheria, cholera, meningitis—were caused not by parasites but by bacteria, much smaller, far different microorganisms. By 1931, nothing on earth could stop a bacterial infection once it started. . . .

But all that was about to change. . . . —from The Demon Under the Microscope

Customer Reviews:

The Story of the Sulfa Drugs.......2007-09-24

Within the first fifty pages this book took it's place in my top ten non-fiction works. It includes history, science, biography and business wrapped together in a fast-paced and clear manner. It's a shock to see some of the often fatal diseases our grandparents faced that today have been all but forgotten. A world where a boil, insect bite, or cut finger could result in an ugly death. The author states that this is a book about "antibiotics," he includes the sulfa drugs to be part of this class, rather than just the traditional antibiotics derived from molds. With his description the author is being a bit disingenuous, I suspect to help market his book. The book is about the sulfa drugs which were the first effective and industrially manufactured family of drugs. This entire class of drugs have been all but forgotten. The details of the discovery and use of traditional "antibiotics" is well documented. I personally might have skipped a book subtitled "The Story of the Sulfa Drugs". I am very happy to have been slightly mislead and directed to this excellent history.

Sulfanilamide is still on the American market.......2007-05-06

It's not mentioned in the book, but it is marketed as AVC Cream, most commonly placed on gauze and packed into the [...] after hysterectomy. Other dosage forms are long obsolete, but this one is still in use and probably always will be.

We hear all the time about antibiotic resistance, but most of us don't even think about what life was like before the drugs even existed. This is why home births really were safer prior to World War II, due to all the germs floating around in hospitals and NOTHING that could be done if infection struck. People, especially children like Hildegard Domagk, died from diseases we hardly bat an eye at now, and the drug got the ball rolling. I'm guessing we don't hear about it like we do with penicillin because it's not in general use any more.

This book is mostly the history of sulfanilamide, the first really effective systemic antibacterial drug. The drug had some really weird side effects, so it probably wouldn't be considered safe by modern standards. It also addresses political and business issues surrounding the drug and is a mini-bio of its discoverer, Dr. Gerhard Domagk. Who's Hildegard? His daughter, who got a deadly infection after being poked with a needle and was one of the first people who life was saved by this drug. Last I heard, she was still living and would be in her late 70s.

I purchased the book because of the chapter on the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster of 1937, a very dark chapter in American medical history that has largely been forgotten to the point where I have never conversed with a fellow pharmacist who has ever heard of it. We associate the Massengill corporation with douches (LOL) but yes, that's who made it, and no, nobody tested the concoction to see if it was safe for human consumption before sending it out on the market, where it could be sold without a prescription. Sulfanilamide does not dissolve readily in alcohol or water, but it does dissolve in diethylene glycol (antifreeze) so that's what was used, causing the deaths of 107 of the 353 people known to have taken it. The History Channel did a program on this a few years ago called "Elixir of Death"; the author who was working on a book of this title who was prominently featured in the program died in a car accident shortly before it aired in 2003.

I also had the privilege of seeing Thomas Hager read from his book on C-Span II's Book TV. This was quite interesting to hear perspectives straight from the author.

Great read.......2007-04-14

What a wonderful sweep through a seemingly simple but world changing set of discoveries. How scary the world was before antibiotics! How much the discovery detailed in this book not only changed the world of pharmacy, it impacted who becomes an M.D. and how they do their job, and so one. I highly recommend this book.

The first miracle drug...before penicillin. A story that deserved to be revived........2007-04-11

Some dolt on a bicycle slammed into me yesterday. Fortunately I did not break any bones, but the bruises are giving me an uncomfortable time since then. After rinsing both knees with chlorhexidine and iodine, I was not concerned; if there was an infection, antibiotics would take care of it.

But it wouldn't have been that way seventy years ago, when the most you could do to prevent a wound from getting infected...was wait, and perhaps apply some crude remedies. That was how it had been for two hundred years. For all the progress we had made, bad bugs still mostly got the better of us. It is appalling that about fifty percent of deaths in WW1 were from infections that riddled shrapnel wounds, and not from explosives or gunfire themselves. Once infection set in and gas gangrene made its hideous appearance, all one could do was wait, and maybe hope that the suffering would end soon...until sulfa drugs appeared on the scene.

That era of sulfa drugs, and not the one of penicillin, was the first heroic age of antibiotics. Most of us, if asked to name the first wonder-drug antibiotic, would name penicillin. But long before penicillin, sulfa saved thousands of lives. Without sulfa around, Hoover's son died. With sulfa, FDR's son, and Winston Churchill, survived. Thomas Hager has done an excellent job in bringing this forgotten but extremely important story to life in "The Demon Under the Microscope". The former biographer of Linus Pauling has shown us how different it was to suddenly have a drug that cured infections that previously would have almost certainly killed you. The time until the 1930s was a scary time, with every kind of Strep and Staph waiting to kill you after entering your body through the slightest cut, and diseases whose names we don't even remember now were rampant and much feared. It was sulfa that first declared war on and largely eradicated all these infections.

At the center of the sulfa story is the remarkable doctor and biochemist Gerhard Domagk. Domagk was an officer in WW1 and saw thousands needlessly die around him in agony, all because nobody could prevent the infection that set in after they were hit. After the war, Domagk went through a succession of jobs and finally ended up at Bayer, where he had a trailblazing career in the discovery of new cures for old infections. Building upon Paul Ehrlich's convictions about azo dyes as bacteriocidal agents, he and his colleagues tested hundreds of analogs, until he hit on the right one. This was the beginning of SAR as we know it today. And here, we can see the chemist's tragedy. Domagk tested the compounds, but it were two chemists who actually made them. Yet, they were excluded from the prize that Domagk would gather. This was not his fault, but really the workings of the Swedish committee, which did not behave this way for the first and last time. Patriotic and yet conscientious, Domagk stayed put after Hitler came to power, losing himself in his work to distract himself from the injustice that was taking place around him. In 1939, he was awarded the Nobel prize, but the Nazis did not allow him to accept it. Bayer itself became connected with the notorious IG Farben, which designed hydrogen cyanide vials (Zyklon B) for the gas chambers.

There is much in the book that is eye-opening, and sulfa is only one chapter in a book that also deals with medical history and the social history of science. There were several things I was unaware of; one revelation was that the modern American university model is based on the German model. The Germans were the world leaders in both industry and academia, and the modern and highly successful trend of close collaboration between industry and academia was already widespread in Germany. For all their philosophical bent, the Germans never saw any contradiction between pure and applied research, and the university-industry collaboration and connection led to very fruitful research in engineering and medicine. The modern patent regime too was pioneered by German industry.

The most important fact which I was not aware of was the pivotal albeit unfortunate role that sulfa played in revitalizing the FDA and granting it powers to implement laws that made it mandatory for manufacturers to display warnings and ingredients labels on their products. Before that, almost anyone could set up shop and sell metals, elixirs, and liquids that promised cures for everything from syphilis to baldness, a practice that went back two hundred years. But in the 1930s, through a series of unfortunate events, a concoction of sulfa in, of all the things, ethylene glycol, was sold extensively in many states. Today, we would be horrified at such large-scale use of an industrial solvent for mixing a drug. But at the time, there were almost no laws that required manufacturers to list such petty things as solvents on their bottles. The FDA was a skimpy and ineffectual agency at the time, with a few dozen agents scuttling around to mainly keep a check on excessive profit making. After the sulfa-ethylene glycol concoction was sold, a wave of death began that did not stop until several hundred people died, and public outrage changed the face of the FDA- and the way in which drugs are developed, manufactured and sold in the US- forever. After the tragedy, the FDA acquired new powers that it could have only dreamt of before. Of course, it took the thalidomide tragedy to have the kind of strict FDA regime that we have today, but the sulfa tragedy started it all, and made drugs substantially safer for the public.

An amusing and ironic chemical fact also accompanies the discovery of sulfa. Even though it were the Germans who pioneered its development, it was a French group that discovered the most important fact about the drug; that it was not the azo chemical linkage, but the benzene sulfonamide group that was key to the action of the drug. Once they discovered this fact, all bets were off for the Germans, because the potent part of sulfa turned out to be benzene sulfonamide, a cheap bulk chemical that could not be patented! Even if the Germans tried to quickly get past this handicap by synthesizing new derivatives at a terrific pace to outnumber their French colleagues, the cat was out of the bag, and they could never top their initial success.

Gradually, sulfa made it everywhere, and into the United States through the perspicacity and interest of two Johns Hopkins researchers. It began to be marketed in every form and colour and flavour, as every derivative and analog. In the 1930s, it became the drug of choice for treating every imaginable kind of Strep or Staph infection, most of which it effectively tackled. Cure by sulfa was touted as a miracle cure, with its relentless and wondrous effect on cases that only ten years ago would have been totally hopeless. But as a drug, sulfa had already fallen behind. Penicillin had arived on the scene. In due course, resistance would develop to both drugs, albeit relatively gradually to sulfa.

Domagk spent the last days of his life in gloomy peace, distraught by his country's destruction, and somewhat validated by the thousands of lives he had saved. Sulfa is still used for topical purposes.

We now know that sulfa competes with PABA (para-amino benzoic acid) for the synthesis of dihydrofolate, an essential hub in the synthesis of folic acid. Sulfa and further related research led to, among other things, Methotrexate, a widely used current drug in cancer therapy. But in the end, what befell sulfa has befallen other antibiotics. The bugs have become resistant. When sulfa and penicillin were discovered, they were regarded as miracles. Perhaps we need another miracle for bad bugs today, and the age of fervent antibiotic research might be coming back to haunt us. But it should not be forgotten that sulfa was the first miracle drug, before penicillin.

Before Penicillin.......2007-01-18

Everyone knows how penicillin revolutionized medical treatment of infections, most know about how Alexander Fleming discovered it, and some even know how Howard Florey and Ernst Chain took the discovery and made it something that could be used practically. Everyone knows that penicillin was a miracle drug, but almost everyone has forgotten that it was not the first miracle drug. The sulfa drugs came a decade before, producing unprecedented cures that physicians and patients thought of as miraculous; and then the penicillin-type antibiotics surpassed them. The history of the sulfa drugs is told in _The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug_ (Harmony Books) by Thomas Hager. It is clear that sulfa deserves much more attention in the history of medicine than it has gotten. By some definitions, since they are not made by living organisms, sulfa drugs are not really antibiotics, but they certainly fought microbial infections in their time, and got medicine beyond the limits of mere antisepsis or disinfecting. They also proved a model for scientific evaluation of drug effectiveness.

Chances are that you have never even heard the name of the doctor whose work is the backbone for this story, Gerhard Domagk. Domagk makes a tenacious but unspectacular hero, working day after day through clinical trials, mostly with mice, but he was inspired by his harrowing experiences as a medic in the First World War to fight against the infections he had seen there caused by the strep germ, a feared killer, one that killed in many different ways, infecting tissue, blood, or spinal fluid. For five years, there were no results of his labwork, until he was sent a molecule with sulfonamide attached to it. Sulfa worked in mice; did it work in humans? It is quite amazing to read about how the drug was tested for human use, because it is nothing like the trials of any new drug today. The tests did not involve, for instance, assigning patients randomly to drug versus placebo groups, or doing double blind testing. The drug was simply leaked to hospitals who had serious cases, patients who had gotten all the usual treatments and were simply going to die if nothing out of the ordinary was tried. Domagk was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1939, and was thrilled to be following his heroes Koch and Ehrlich. But because four years previously, the Peace Prize had been awarded to a German pacifist, Hitler had forbidden any German citizen to accept any further Nobel. Not only could Domagk not claim his award, he was put in jail for being "too polite to the Swedes" who awarded the prize. After the Nazi blight was cleared away, Domagk was able to claim his prize in 1947, when sulfa was old news. When he gave his speech of acceptance, he alluded to the emergence of resistant strains of bacteria, a prescient warning which could not have been fully appreciated by his audience at the time.

The main reason the sulfa revolution has been forgotten, of course, is that the first miracle drugs were followed by more broadly powerful antibiotics starting with penicillin. Researchers testing the new medicines used many of the laboratory procedures Domagk's team had initiated, and also did not have to face the previous pessimism that taught that chemicals would never be able to fight infection. It might be that sulfa's greatest contribution to medical history was a needed increase in medical confidence. Hager's fine history highlights sulfa's role in industrial, medical, social, and military changes of the time; sulfa did far more than just kill strep germs.

Average customer rating:

Preserved for History
Good history, inspiring
Extraordinary Books of Summer
Transition in Time
Ripping good stories, better than any fiction

Microbe Hunters
Paul de Kruif
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Microbiology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Medical Detectives (Plume)
Arrowsmith (Signet Classics)
The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA
The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug
Naturalist

ASIN: 0156027771

Book Description

In this classic bestseller, Paul de Kruif dramatizes the pioneering bacteriological work of such scientists as Leeuwenhoek, Spallanzani, Koch, Pasteur, Reed, and Ehrlich. This seventieth anniversary edition features a new introduction by F. Gonzalez-Crussi. Index.

Customer Reviews:

Preserved for History.......2006-04-24

I read this book as a child and it was fascinating reading. Some of what is described is still current (Pasteur's rabies vaccine) while some treatments are long out of use (Ehrlich's "magic bullet" for syphillis was actually derived from arsenic and had a fair amount of side effects-an accurate cure would not be developed until the discovery of Penicillin). Also some of the attitudes taken by the writer are racist such as the quip along the lines that "you couldn't tell the Africans with sleeping sickness apart from the healthy ones because they were all lazy". This should remind people of the dichotomy that existed in society then. Also biology then was like a manic gold rush. There were no restrictions on testing medicenes so that famous scientific figures would test the treatments on friends, family or if they were brave, themselves. One thing that was strongly prevalent then was the optimism of a cure for the various diseases. There was no sense of a pharmeceutical industry trying to quickly bring to market a highly profitable drug, whether or not it was safe or effective or even more than slightly different from other medications. There was no sense of cynicism then. Once the germ theory was developed, people realized what lived amidst their world and sought to find ways to have people live better and healthier lives. So you can dismiss some of the outdated attitudes and ideology and see this book as specimen on a microscope slide, frozen in time, to be examined from a new perspective

Good history, inspiring.......2005-12-21

This is kind of a history told by those who lived it - almost. First published in 1926 when this new science of biology (that we all now take for granted) was the thing of wonder and mystery Kruif writes a timeless classic about the first explorers of the microbe universe.

The writing is a bit heavy and the story is told in a dramatized fashion. Still, though, the book is a great read and very inspiring. A fascinating look into the world of science and discovery.

Extraordinary Books of Summer.......2005-08-02

Being in Nursing school, it is required that I take the course Microbiology. Part of our reading materials were The Hot Zone, Demon In The Freezer, and this wonderful book I've just finished, Microbe Hunters.

Never have I read such wonderful books one right after the other. After I finished each one, I thought that one was the best book on microbes. They are all wonderful in their own ways, but this book on how it all started is endearing in that it was written so long ago (1926). When the author speaks of something happening in the 1890's, that's over a hundred years ago to us, but was just yesterday to the author.

Today, we think of ourselves as medically advanced and very knowledgeable in science. However, one hundred years from now they will look at our methods and shake their heads in wonder at how we could have done such silly things. Likewise, we wonder about microbe hunters of 100 years ago. But we would be wise to understand the baby steps they all had to take to get us where we are today.

This is truly a remarkable book on the history of how we got to where we are today. If only De Kruif could have written a similar book that takes us from 1926 until today. Alas, he died in 1971, having left us with a masterpiece.

Transition in Time.......2002-09-06

"The Microbe Hunters" charts the amazing shift in medical knowledge from both the historical and philisophical viewpoints. Dr. de Kruif's genius lies in the fact that he can transform the highly technical jargon of medicine into a compelling story of men versus nature. It is very readable!
He maps the course that men such as Pasture and Koch blazed into the realm of scientific methodology that is still revered today. You will feel the heat of the battle as the individuals depicted herein challenged the conventional wisdom of their day and transformed medicine from superstition to a healing art.
I was first introduced to the book in a class on microbiology, but obtained a true education in how curiosity, dedication and perserverance on the part of a few pioneers changed our view of nature forever. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to undrstand numan nature or the strange and wonderful word of pathogens. As a college professor I recomend this book to anyone who wants to find the inspiration for education in one book.

Ripping good stories, better than any fiction.......2001-11-02

Wonderful book, lively prose, vivid descriptions of the dawn of modern medicine as it was developed in army hospitals, jungles, swamps, and cramped attic "laboratories." And lines like "... the fundemental sadness of Pasteur's life, ....the crown of thorns that madmen wear whose dream it is to change a world in the little seventy years they are allowed to live."

Too bad descriptions of blacks as "darkies" (1924) will keep this book out of the hands of some kids. But come on, these scientists risked their lives and very often died trying to cure the sick in Africa. So can we can cut them a little slack for not being as gloriously enlightened as us, even if they were infintely braver ?

People familiar with biethics or medicine will see a world where many ethical questions that had not been defined. For instance, informed consent and double blind trials were hardly known - almost *none* of the experimental treatments could be done legally today, even though the researchers often used themselves as subjects and died.

The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle (John MacRae Books)
Average customer rating:

The Full Story of Penicillin

Ok, the textbooks need to change!

Florey et al - Bringing Penicillin to the World

This was a good book

Credit Where Credit Is Due

The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle (John MacRae Books)
Eric Lax
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Research | Education | Science | Subjects | Books
Methodology & Statistics | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books
Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Pharmacology | Medicine | Subjects | Books
History | Special Topics | Medicine | Subjects | Books
Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
General | Pharmacology | Medical | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail

Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug

The Doctors' Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever, and the Strange Story of Ignac Semmelweis (Great Discoveries)

Splendid Solution

The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history

ASIN: 0805067906

Book Description

he discovery of penicillin in 1928 ushered in a new age in medicine. But it took a team of Oxford scientists headed by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain four more years to develop it as the first antibiotic, and the most important family of drugs in the twentieth century. At once the world was transformed-major bacterial scourges such as blood poisoning and pneumonia, scarlet fever and diphtheria, gonorrhea and syphilis were defeated as penicillin helped to foster not only a medical revolution but a sexual one as well. In his wonderfully engaging book, acclaimed author Eric Lax tells the real story behind the discovery and why it took so long to develop the drug.He reveals the reasons why credit for penicillin wasmisplaced, and why this astonishing achievement garnered a Nobel Prize but no financial rewards for Alexander Fleming, Florey, and his team. The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat is the compelling story of the passage of medicine from one era to the next and of the eccentric individuals whose participation in this extraordinary accomplishment has, until now, remained largely unknown.

Customer Reviews:

The Full Story of Penicillin.......2007-03-06

Many people associate Alexander Fleming with Pencillin. However, if it were not for Dr's Florey and Chain, Penicillin would not have come into use until much later, certainly too late for WWII. The way the author presents the story is very readable and not dry. The author does not get too technical but yet brings in enough science to satisfy the lay person with an interest in science.

Ok, the textbooks need to change!.......2005-03-30

Like most other students in medicine of any kind, especially those of us with a predeliction for books and information about viruses, bacteria, and our 'failing' fight against them, I was under the impression that Fleming discovered penicillin. I guess you could still say that, but he sat on it for over 10 years and never did have much to do with its development as an antibiotic. Typical. Our textbooks are inaccurate because in the rush to make money off of textbooks, publishers don't bother to actually use people who know the history of medicine, to research and read what is known now about such situations as the development of penicillin. Like the exclusion of Rosalind Franklin from recognition of her very valuable part in the understanding of the DNA molecule (thanks a lot to Watson), in most medical histories or books that med students read, Franklin's name never comes up.

Same thing with Florey, and the many other young men such as Chain and Heatley...these guys never received credit for the immense work they did in developing penicillin. It is not enough to find something. Many people discover things everyday, things that could be useable, things that are important...but the 'prepared mind' must be accompanied by plain old work ethics, even grubby work, repetitious work.

I was interested to see how much the pharmaceutical industry has changed, and medical universities along with it. Everyone is out for the money now. The thought of doing the right thing, and sharing information, sharing technology in order to save lives, rather than merely to make a profit seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird.

A very interesting book. I hope that others will read and use Lax's book, especially in setting the textbooks right, and getting these men and women the credit they are due. I also think it may be time to possibly set up another committee, such as the one that awards the Nobel prize, only this time, make it so that even those who are dead are recognized for their enormous contribution to medicine. The prize money can go to their families or institutions or charities. That's the least important part of all this...to encourage other young people to spend years working on possible solutions to current plagues like AIDS and Alzheimer's, they need to see that other researchers are recognized, and that mentorship has rewards outside and beyond monetary awards.

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

Florey et al - Bringing Penicillin to the World.......2004-12-29

Eric Lax has written a fine and very readable book about the story of penicillin. I found myself not able to put it down. Eric Lax has put in perspective where the true credit should be for the discovery and commercialisation of penicillin, with the consequence the rise of the antibiotic industry.

The book is well research and documented. It is a great shame that Florey has not gone down in history as the person to bring penicillin to the world. It was his persistence in gaining money to equip a modest lab and his judgement in getting the right people involved (Chain and Heatley). Thisresulted in the isolation, purification, efficiency and toxicity testing and finally commercialisation of penicillin that has saved countless lives.

An excellent book that I recomend to all interested in historical accuracy.

This was a good book.......2004-12-23

The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: the Story of the Penicillin Miracle By Eric Lax was a really good book. It was very informative and, surprisingly, not deathly boring. Most people associate the discovery and production of penicillin with Alexander Fleming. Alexander Fleming was the first one to discover penicillin, but he gave up on it when he could not isolate the penicillin from its surrounding liquid. The real people to isolate, produce and test penicillin were, Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman Heatley. However, these great men were forgotten when it came time to name the champion of penicillin. This book tells about the real men behind the great miracle, their lives, how they went about studying and creating penicillin, and why they never received their proper credit. It is actually a little sad. The men didn't want the drug to get a lot of press attention due to the fact that it was still experimental and could still fail. So when Fleming was wrongly credited they did not correct it thinking the matter would soon die down. It did not and Fleming made no move to correct people either. In fact he benefited financially and award wise for something that he had basically nothing to with! The meaning behind the title is also a very interesting story, no, it does not mean that Dr. Florey discovered penicillin in his coat. The scientists worked on penicillin during a very dangerous time, World War II. With the always looming threat of a Nazi invasion, there was the possibility that they would have to destroy their work so it did not fall into enemy hands. Not wanting to lose all their precious work and have to start from scratch they devised a clever plan. The penicillin spores could lie dormant for many years and then be grown and studied. With the hope that at least one man from the group would survive, they all rubbed the spores into the cotton fibers of their clothing. Fortunately, the invasion never happened and they went on to discover the great miracle drug of their day.

Credit Where Credit Is Due.......2004-09-09

Most of us, if asked who discovered penicillin, would answer that it was Alexander Fleming. The answer is correct as far as it goes. Most of us would probably also think that having discovered how penicillin could fight infection, Fleming got the word out and manufacture of the miracle drug began, to the benefit of all humankind. The truth is that Fleming discovered the mold's antibiotic potential in 1928, and the drug went nowhere. He was not able to find a way to extract the active component of the mold and so he never made any use of it. He gave up trying in 1935. It was only three years later that a researcher unconnected with Fleming got curious about the mold's potential, and thought it would be worth investigation by his team at Oxford. Credit is given where credit is due in _The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle_ (Henry Holt) by Eric Lax. Without the Oxford researchers, to whom Fleming was unconnected, the benefits of the drug would not have been available to Allied troops during the war, and Lax shows that developing the drug was a real wartime effort.

It was only by sheer luck in 1938 that the brilliant German biochemist Ernst Chain found Fleming's paper, and was immediately interested. Chain worked within the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford. He was part of a team that had been assembled by Howard Florey, an Australian physician devoted to research, a man who combined acute scientific instincts with skillful capacity to manage scientific team effort. Also recruited was Norman Heatley, a wizard in the lab with equipment and microscopic observation and analysis. It was this team that gave the world penicillin as a working drug. Throughout the book, Lax has put in reminders of military developments as the Oxford team made its progress. A picture shows boffins in the decidedly unscientific effort of digging an air raid shelter behind their research facility. Within the pages are descriptions of getting about by bicycles in the black-out, having to make do on rations (and amazement at the good food that was available when they traveled internationally), and worrying about what to do if there should be not just a Nazi air attack but an actual invasion. The title of the book comes from contemplation of that possibility. The team planned that if an invasion of their lab was imminent, they would destroy the lab and burn their research papers. The most valuable part of the research, the mold itself, was smeared into the coats of Dr. Florey and four colleagues, where it could be covertly carried if they had to flee the country.

The patents were lost to America, but the Nobels went to the British. Fleming, Florey, and Chain got the prize in 1945. Heatley, the author argues, with his tireless and inspired tinkering, was neglected. His contribution was belatedly recognized in 1990 when Oxford University gave him its first ever honorary doctor of medicine degree. The real lack of recognition, of course, is that Fleming in most people's minds is the only one to get the credit. Part of the reason for this is that Florey's team worked in quiet determination and did not seek publicity. When news of the effectiveness of penicillin became a topic in the popular press, Fleming made himself available for comments, and though he acknowledged the work of Florey's team, he did little to counter the impression that the team was working on his discovery and even at his behest. Florey, always idealistic, was horrified that publicity would raise the hopes of patients who could not expect to get any of the then minute quantities of the drug, so he refused to meet with reporters. Fleming gained publicity, and thus powerful patrons, while Florey and his team were obscure at the start and remain so. This is an illuminating story that reminds us that there was a time when people used to die because of being scratched by a thorn (and with resistance ever a problem, such times may come again). It is a fascinating tale full of chance and error that affect significant outcomes, and of foibles and mistakes as all-too-human scientists attempt and finally achieve a miracle.

Psilocybin Mushrooms Of The World: An Identification Guide

Average customer rating:

An interesting read
Completes the collection
Why this book is vital to humanity as a whole
This is the one...
Outstanding guide by one of the world's leading mycologists

Psilocybin Mushrooms Of The World: An Identification Guide
Paul Stamets
Manufacturer: TEN SPEED PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Fungi | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Psilocybin Mushroom Handbook: Easy Indoor and Outdoor Cultivation
Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
Hallucinogenic and Poisonous Mushroom Field Guide
Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide: A Handbook for Psilocybin Enthusiasts
Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home

ASIN: 0898158397

Customer Reviews:

An interesting read.......2007-09-28

This is a detailed and fun book. It's probably what you're looking for. It contains clear descriptions, many quality pictures, suggestions about variations among species, safety considerations, and a helpful rating scale of very low to very high potency, also making it clear when the potency is unknown. For me, I chose to partner this book with a larger book which includes all species, just so I'm clear what I'm looking at and for, especially when it comes to ingestion, better to be extra careful, right?

Completes the collection.......2007-09-02

Most mushroom guides don't include these specimens, so a good addition to your field guides....

Why this book is vital to humanity as a whole.......2006-06-12

So many people are utterly consumed with their work life that they are avidly avoiding a spiritual experience, which is at the heart of what is ideal. This book may help serve as a gentlemenly guide to embarking on an organized hunt for fungi and an organized understanding of how to incorporate them into personal experience. Although some may argue with me, I would say this is actually high level reading.
The book provides the following:
The effects of psilocybin mushrooms
How to identify them while hunting outdoors
Tips on ingesting them and experiencing them
Pictures and diagrams to help identify them
Individual species descriptions
Poisonous look alikes
Includes a forward by renowned physician Dr. Andrew Weil

There is a wealth of info in this book and it is the best book on this subject.

This is the one..........2006-05-18

...you're looking for. I've read a few books on the subject. If you want to hunt with confidence, than here ya' go.

Outstanding guide by one of the world's leading mycologists.......2005-03-04

This lavishly photo-illustrated and smoothly-written book details all of the psilocybin-containing mushrooms generally known up to the date of publication, including those outside of the species Psilocybe and some extremely rare ones known only from a single location or from a single event (sometimes mysterious magic mushrooms crop up after storms but are never seen again unless spores are taken from them and grown under controlled conditions).

Stamets explains the often-conflicting taxonomy of Psilocybe mushrooms (one species, for example, received two different names because two writing teams who had travelled together wrote it up separately -- one published first and *their* name has "priority," even though some people use the name given by the other team; despite the name difference the mushroom described is the same species).

Stamets is no prude. He writes quite bluntly about psilocybin-containing mushrooms (including his own tripping on them), and he is EXTREMELY (and justly) critical of other mycologists who not only refuse to describe such mushrooms, but, in one case Stamets cites, have said that it is better for people to die from eating poisonous mushrooms than for people to be able to safely identify psilocybin-containing mushrooms! Stamets gives descriptions and photos of poisonous look-alike mushrooms and gives a step-by-step identification procedure for the psilocybin 'shrooms. In most cases identification is straightforward and can be done within a few minutes; in other cases look-alikes can be lethal and suspect mushrooms have to be carefully gone over to avoid poisoning.

One extemely curious phenomenon which Stamets describes are cases in which people have "tripped" on mushrooms which are generally considered non-poisonous and which were from species which are not supposed to contain *any* psychoactive chemicals; Stamets speculates that if these cases are genuine, they may represent instances in which the biochemistry of one individual reacted in a completely unpredictable and near-unique way to a "normal" mushroom. (I have heard of some people whose bodies can *naturally* manufacture ethanol from the ordinary sugars in food in sufficient quantites to become drunk without ever having consumed liquid alcohol; these freak instances of people tripping on non-pyshoactive mushrooms may represent something similar -- rare individuals whose bodies can convert innocuous chemicals into psychoactive ones; since the reported cases have been people who didn't intend to eat a magic mushroom in the first place, and who have probably sworn off mushroom eating forever as a result of their experience, the likelihood of a repeat occurence with a given individual is probably close to zero. Still, the fact that such an unexpected event has occurred at all underscores a couple of points which Stamets makes again and again: don't eat any wild mushroom which you have not positively identified, and don't gorge yourself on a species which you *have* identified until you have taken a small sample to see how your own body reacts to them.)

One interesting feature of the book is an estimate of the relative potency of psilocybin-containing mushrooms and an explanation of why some cultivated mushrooms differ widely in potency even though they belong to the same species. Some members of the species Psilocybe actually don't contain any psilocybin at all, but apparently all members of the species either taste bad or are too chewy to be used for food, even the non-psychoactive ones.

The only weakness of the book is that it does not contain a section describing the numerous cultivated varieties of P. cubensis, which vary greatly in appearance and growing requirements (and, according to the vendors, at least) in potency. Many of these varieties have doubtless "gone wild" (Stamets says that the grounds of universities and the outside of courthouses are two of the best places to hunt "wild" psilocybin mushrooms!), but there is only one listing for the species with photos of what are presumably wild varities not derived from artificial selection by growers.

Stamets is a true fan of mushrooms and his commercial website (he doesn't sell psilocybin mushrooms, by the way) gives examples of how mushrooms can be used in bioremediation of polluted lands and used to improve the yields of crops. Stamets points out that one of the best places to look for wild muchrooms is on land which has just been hit by a storm or where humans have just ravaged it to put up or tear down a building. Although Stamets has not gone as far off the deep end as did Terrence McKenna and his brother (writing under their own names or as "Ott and Osric"), it is apparent that he, like many other partakers of magic mushrooms, believes them to be a vital part of Gaia and their spread by humans to be part of planetary evolution. As a simple example, those hunting for "magic" mushrooms will (whether deliberately or not) carry magic mushroom spores back from where they are found, but they will also carry the spores of other species which grow nearby and are, in their turn, vital ecological components even if they aren't psychoactive: just growing *near* a psychoactive mushroom gives other mushrooms an evolutionary advantage as their spores are dispersed by primates anxious to go tripping but whose hair or fur or clothes brush against other species of mushroom and carry their spores to another location. It becomes easy to see why some people believe that psychoactive mushrooms (especially the Psilocybe species) have co-evolved with humans as a means to enhance the biosphere of Gaia.

I give this book five well-deserved stars. I know of know other book which contains so much information about magic mushroom history and mycology and provides such clear-cut and easy to follow steps for identifying the psilocybin-containg species. If nothing else it is beautiful to look at. *****

Texas Mushrooms: A Field Guide (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

Average customer rating:

Excellent identification guide
Must Have Field Guide for Identifying Texas Wild Mushrooms
Best and Only Guide to the Mushrooms of Louisiana and Texas

Texas Mushrooms: A Field Guide (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)
Susan Metzler , and Van Metzler
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest: A Practical Guide
Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States
100 Edible Mushrooms
North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi (Falconguide)
Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

ASIN: 0292751265

Book Description

Mushrooms in Texas? Yes, it's true. One of the best-kept secrets in the Lone Star state is that mushrooms can be found in almost every region. Thousands of species of mushrooms flourish in Texas from the desert and semiarid regions of West Texas to the moist and acid soils of East Texas, where species that can also be found in South America live alongside those that might be spotted in Malaysia and Europe. At last, here is the Texas mushroom book--a colorful, easy-to-follow guide that will surprise and delight uninitiated nature enthusiasts and at the same time provide the experienced mushroom hunter with the first field guide of its kind in Texas. Excellent color photographs and precise descriptions of over 200 species will enable the mushroom hunter--even the amateur--to make quick, careful easy distinctions between the edible varieties and the potentially toxic ones. In addition, kitchen-tested recipes are included along with a microscopic spore chart, glossary, and blbllography. In Texas, mushroom hunting can be a year-round, state-wide activity, and with this enticing introduction, collecting, identifying, and preparing wild mushrooms will become an activity the entire family can enjoy while appreciating the beauty of Texas from a new and fascinating angle.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent identification guide.......2006-12-15

This book really does Texas wild mushrooms well. Susan and Van Metzler present Texas mushrooms in a vivid format with many pictures, and information. You can tell these two have a passion for hunting mushrooms. They take a conservative approach when it comes to what types of mushrooms are edible, and which ones are not.

Their book has pictures of every type of mushroom they mention. They give time of year they may appear and where you may find the mushrooms. Careful details is added to whether or not the mushroom may be edible. I like that they mention some are edible, but they caution against eating a particular type of mushroom. They also mention which mushrooms it is not known if they are deadly or not.

You can tell these two have a passion for mushroom hunting and it shows in this book. Vivid color photographs, detailed information about their growing seasons, locations, are all included. They also slip in some recipes with this mushroom guide. I would recommend adding this book to your collection if you are hunting mushrooms in Texas.

Must Have Field Guide for Identifying Texas Wild Mushrooms.......2001-04-28

Fall 2000 and so far this Spring 2001, I have found thirteen types of wild mushrooms growing on my ranch in Bandera Texas (amazing what some good rains can do!). So far, I have been able to identify all of them with this single reference book. Pictures are clear, and descriptions are detailed. I highly recommend this book. By the way, I found morels---first time they've been seen in over 20 years here in the Hill Country, according to the locals.

Best and Only Guide to the Mushrooms of Louisiana and Texas.......2001-03-16

This book is wonderful. A thorough guide by the legendary Metzlers, famous experts on the subject. Color photos of every mushroom are beautiful and helpful. Complete descriptions, including interesting history, tips and cooking advice, make this book a fun, fascinating aid to any mushroom hunter. Other books will not suffice. Texas mushrooms are unique and strange, with many species that only occur in Texas. Other books will have dangerous gaps. You need this book. I'd buy it again, if I didn't already have it. The Deity-Man Van deserves our worship.

Average customer rating:

Not like rainforest
Great book, but with some errors
Great Illustrations
Excellent book
Covers all aspects of human life

Human (Dk Smithsonian Institution)
Robert Winston
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Earth
Universe
Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife
Plant
Ocean

ASIN: 0756605202

Book Description

A highly comprehensive and illustrated account of what makes us what we are: how we evolved, how our bodies work and develop, and how we think and behave, this unbelievable reference examines the qualities all humans share but also highlights the diversity of human society and culture. Profiling more than 250 peoples who inhabit the world and examining fascinating facts - from environmental and health issues to beliefs and customs - Human is the definitive illustrated guide to our species.

Customer Reviews:

Not like rainforest.......2007-07-15

Informative and interesting. Don't like that it's beginning is based in evolution but other things interesting. Lots of reading, like an encyclopedia.

Great book, but with some errors.......2006-10-26

This book is so fantastic! But it has some errors. We Korean say, "dirt on diamond'. First of all, in p68, there are wrong photomicrographs about muscle types. 2nd one is of skeletal muscle, not cardiac muscle as typed in this book. And third one is of cardiac muscle, not visceral or smooth muscle. But still I really love this book as a professor of anatomy.

Great Illustrations.......2006-10-25

This book was great for me as a student. The Photographs and Illustrations were wonderful. I Love this book!

Excellent book.......2006-06-15

This book is an excellent reference to the species called Human. This gives you top down view of the societies and their elements. This book is a must if you love humanity and civilization.

Covers all aspects of human life.......2004-12-08

What does it mean to be human? Human: The Definitive Visual Guide is a collaborative effort the DK Publishing and Smithsonian team of Robert Winston, Don E., Dr. Wilson, Don E. Wilson who collaborative to answer this question. With its superb visual illustraitons, this only book to cover all aspects of human life ranging from how humans evolved and how bodies develop, to how humans function as individuals and as members of society. The visual approach packs in lovely color on ever page to accompany facts about human changes, societies and traditions, while timelines, diagrams, photo tabs for each chapters and beautiful artwork supplement pages of in-depth detail. Whether it's being used for research or leisure browsing, Human: The Definitive Visual Guide should not be missed.

A Field Guide to Bacteria (Comstock Book)

Average customer rating:

At Last: A Guide to Charismatic Microflora!
Excellent even for professional microbiologists
Brilliant concept, great execution, fun book

A Field Guide to Bacteria (Comstock Book)
Betsey Dexter Dyer
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Biotechnology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

A Field Guide to Germs
Human Wildlife: The Life That Lives on Us
Microbiology: A Photographic Atlas for the Laboratory
Guide To Microlife
The Secret Life of Germs: What They Are, Why We Need Them, and How We Can Protect Ourselves Against Them

ASIN: 0801488540

Book Description

"Although most people are aware that bacteria are all around us, few would guess that they produce such distinctive and accessible signs. Whether you're walking on the beach, visiting a zoo or aquarium, buying groceries, looking for fossils, drinking beer, traipsing through a swamp, or cleaning scum from beneath a dripping outdoor faucet, you're surrounded by bacterial field marks. You don't need a laboratory or fancy equipment to find out what kind of bacteria are there—this guide will tell you how."—from the Introduction

Bacteria are an integral aspect of every habitat in which they occur and affect the lives of humans, other animals, and plants in many ways. Too often, we equate "bacterium" with "pathogen" and think of bacteria as things to avoid. In a fascinating guide perfect for naturalists, students, teachers, and tourists alike, Betsey Dexter Dyer lets the reader know that it is possible to observe bacteria with all the senses. Many groups of bacteria can be easily identified in the field (or in the refrigerator) without a microscope.

Written for curious souls of all ages, A Field Guide to Bacteria opens our eyes—and noses and ears—to this hidden (or neglected) world around us. Useful illustrations, including 120 color photographs, accompany Dyer's lively text throughout.

Customer Reviews:

At Last: A Guide to Charismatic Microflora!.......2004-02-23

Betsey Dexter Dyer has written a book in "A Field Guide to Bacteria" that, once it is opened, you wonder why no one has written before. The premise is so obvious that it seems to have been totally overlooked! Location, visual appearance, activity, smell and other characteristics that do not always require a high-powered microscope can be used to identify bacterial colonies! Fortunately the "wait" for such a book (which, until now, we probably did not even know we needed) has been worth it because Dyer has done an excellent job of writing it! In this book she introduces the reader to the teaming microflora of bacteria of earth in a way that cannot help but increase the number of people who appreciate these invisible true owners of the planet.

The huge bacterial flora is well covered and the author's grasp of the multitudinous habitats where bacteria live and thrive, sometimes under the most extreme conditions, is impressive. Everything from sulfur bacteria, halophytes and causes of desert varnish to internal symbionts and more are covered in fascinating detail. Dyer has opened up a whole new way of looking at the world that give us a more accurate view of the pervasiveness of the tiny. Not all bacteria are out to get us by any means and this book provides a much needed balance to the "killer bacteria" usually featured in popular literature.

A necessary book for amateur and even professional microbiologists, it will also, I think, provide a good read for anyone interested in the natural world as it really is.

Excellent even for professional microbiologists.......2004-02-17

While this book is intended for the general public, and is certainly accessible to those without microbiological training, don't pass it up even if you have microbiological training -- in many ways it is a condensed version of Balows' _The Prokaryotes_, and likewise quite useful for reminding oneself what obscure groups of bacteria do "for a living".

Of course, Dyer's book is a lighter, more amusing read than Balows', and chock full of the sort of anecdote that is fun to slip into a lecture -- such as the explanation of Charles Dickens' cryptic reference to a "bad lobster in a dark cellar" in _The Christmas Carol_, and the fact that the oddly named cyanobacterium _Nostoc_ was named by the alchemist Paracelsus!

In addition, I was pleasantly surprised that despite identifying herself on the very first page as a former student of Lynn Margulis, Dyer doesn't try to defend her mentor's continued rejection of the discoveries of molecular phylogeny, but even goes so far as to praise Woese and Sogin by name! It is refreshing to finally see a work of popular science that acknowledges how the pioneers of molecular phylogeny have changed microbiology over the last couple decades.

Brilliant concept, great execution, fun book.......2003-06-13

This fun and informative book starts with the brilliant idea of identifying bacteria by their MACROscopic field marks (colors, smells, effects) rather than by microscope. You would never believe how many bacteria one can identify by "field marks" alone, and readers will be surprised at how much fun the identification and discussion of bacteria can be. The author's execution of the guide -- her excellent and enthusiastic writing style and her choices of which bacteria to discuss -- makes this the rare field guide that one can read from cover to cover. The book discusses everything from bacteria in hot springs to those that make cheese or pickles, to those in animal intestines. There are beautiful (yes, beautiful) color plates, great suggested experiments, and guides to finding different kinds of bacteria. The author makes the subject interesting, funny and captivating -- and she uses exclamation points without irony! All in all an excellent book -- don't be scared off by the title; any nature- or science-lover you know will thoroughly enjoy it.

Epidemics And Genocide In Eastern Europe, 1890-1945

Average customer rating:

Epidemics And Genocide In Eastern Europe, 1890-1945
Paul Weindling
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Eastern | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

World War I | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Public Health | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

History | Special Topics | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Biostatistics & Epidemiology | Medicine | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

History | Medicine | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

General | Medicine | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

Nursing | Medicine | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0198206917

Book Description

During the First World War, delousing became routine for soldiers and civilians following the recent discovery that the louse carried typhus germs. But how did typhus come to be viewed as a "Jewish disease" and what was the connection between the anti-typhus measures during the First World War and the Nazi gas chambers in the Second World War? In this powerful book, Professor Weindling draws upon wide-ranging archival research throughout East and Central Europe to the United States, to provide valuable new insight into the history of German medicine from its response to the perceived threat of typhus epidemics from its Eastern borders. He examines how German experts in tropical medicine took an increasingly racialised approach to bacteriology, regarding supposedly racially inferior peoples as carriers of the disease.So they came to view typhus as a "Jewish" disease. By the Second World War as migrants and deportees had become conditioned to expect the ordeal of delousing at border crossings, ports, railway junctions and on entry to camps, so sanitary policing became entwined with racialisation as the Germans sought to eradicate typhus by eradicating the perceived carriers. Typhus had come to assume a new and terrifying genocidal significance, as the medical authorities sealed the German frontiers against diseased undesirables from the east, and gassing became a favoured means of disease eradication.

Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It

Average customer rating:

A very compelling read
grasping the true nature of the virus!!
Outstanding book!
Get sick, get well, hang around the inkwell.
History of the great 20th century flu

Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It
Gina Kolata
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

Bacteriology | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

History | Special Topics | Medicine | Subjects | Books

The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history
America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918
The Devil's Flu: The World's Deadliest Influenza Epidemic and the Scientific Hunt for the Virus That Caused It
Purple Death : The Mysterious Flu of 1918
The Bird Flu Preparedness Planner

ASIN: 0374157065

Amazon.com

Feeling tired, achy, and congested? You'll hope not after reading science writer Gina Kolata's engrossing Flu, a fascinating look at the 1918 epidemic that wiped out around 40 million people in less than a year and afflicted more than one of every four Americans. This tragedy, just on the heels of World War I and far more deadly, so traumatized the survivors that few would talk about it afterward. Kolata reports on the scientific investigation of this bizarre outbreak, in particular the attempts to sequence the virus' DNA from tissue samples of victims. She also looks at the social and personal effects of the disease, from improved public health awareness to the loss of productivity. (The disease affected 20- to 40-year-olds disproportionately.)

How could this disease, now almost trivial to healthy young people, have become so virulent? The answer is complex, invoking epidemiology, immunology, and even psychology, but Kolata cuts a swath through medical papers and statistical reports to tell a story of an out-of-control virus exploiting an exhausted world on the brink of transition into modern society. Through letters, interviews, and news reports, she pieces together a cautionary tale that captures the horror of a devastating illness. Research marches onward, but we're still at the mercy of something as simple as the flu. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

The fascinating, true story of the world's deadliest disease.

In 1918, the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young and healthy virtually overnight. An estimated forty million people died as the epidemic raged. Children were left orphaned and families were devastated. As many American soldiers were killed by the 1918 flu as were killed in battle during World War I. And no area of the globe was safe. Eskimos living in remote outposts in the frozen tundra were sickened and killed by the flu in such numbers that entire villages were wiped out.

Scientists have recently rediscovered shards of the flu virus frozen in Alaska and preserved in scraps of tissue in a government warehouse. Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. Delving into the history of the flu and previous epidemics, detailing the science and the latest understanding of this mortal disease, Kolata addresses the prospects for a great epidemic recurring, and, most important, what can be done to prevent it.

Download Description

The Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918 killed an estimated 40 to 100 million people, striking people in every corner of the globe. In this fascinating book, Gina Kolata examines the devastating impact of the most deadly infectious disease epidemic in recorded history and delves into the mysteries that still surround it. She takes readers into labs where scientists today are working with samples of the virus, detailing in easy-to-follow language their latest findings. And, in a chilling discussion, she addresses the prospects for a recurrence of an equally lethal pandemic.

Customer Reviews:

A very compelling read.......2007-01-09

This book reads like a work of fiction, but every word is fact. The story of the devastation of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the subsequent decades-long search for the virus that caused it will frighten even the most jaded among us. That this deadly virus could one day return and kill hundreds of millions makes most other potential disasters pale by comparison. Gina Kolata tells the story with skill. Everyone needs to read this book.

grasping the true nature of the virus!!.......2006-05-24

Gina Kolata's book is an informative look at the influenza pandemic of 1918. The author provides an opportunity to see the shortcomings of the world of science and medicine during that era. She also describes the search for the genetic make-up of this virus during the 1990's and the difficulties encountered even with the advancements in those fields.
She reveals the devastation wrought upon the human race around the globe using stories compiled from survivors and published accounts. From stories involving families dying together, to the barracks of the Army, to the streets of Philadelphia the loss is nearly inconceivable. Few places on Earth were spared the death and ravaging effects of this influenza. She details the excruciating symptoms of the virus and the rapid speed with which it was transmitted. The numbers are staggering with estimates of the dead ranging from 20 to more than 100 million. The death toll was so high that life expectancy in the United States dropped by 12 years in 1918. The equivalent numbers today would equate to the death of 1.5 million in the United States alone.
What the future will hold if an outbreak of this virus should strike again makes this book a compelling read. Ms. Kolata has researched and crafted a finely honed book that provides an open and honest vision of the potential disaster that lurks in the shadows. She has cast light onto this subject in a comprehensive as well as comprehensible manner. She has grasped the true nature and significance of the avian flu, as well as the importance of public awareness in the ability to cope with a future outbreak.

Outstanding book!.......2006-02-26

This is a rare book. A history book that reads like a popular book. The author did an excellent job of covering a difficult subject with enough science to make it relevant, but with a style that makes it very interesting to read. Highly recommend it.

Get sick, get well, hang around the inkwell........2006-01-06

First the good. This timely and credible treatment of influenza fills a critical void. The book is very readable. Although concentrating on historical vignettes to the exclusion of scientific explanations, the book provides a helpful background for the consideration of risk, public policy, and personal preparation that arise from confusing, contradictory, and incomplete news items about flu outbreaks and related public health initiatives.

Kolata clearly communicates the uncertainties in current understanding of how the flu virus evolves and flue epidemics spread. But she is even-handed to a fault in her descriptions of competing theories and scientists - showing for example way too much patience for the narcissistic Kirsty Duncan.

The major faults in this book are defects of omission. On the policy side, Kolata describes the epidemic of bogus lawsuits that arose from the swine flu scare, but she neglects to follow through with information about the indemnification laws and the excessive industry consolidation that followed. While inferring that dangerous new flu strains emerge from Southeast Asia, she makes no effort to address the distinct possibility of stopping the cycle by regulating China's poultry industry. On the scientific side, Kolata provided no information about the process of "reassortment" that drives the evolution of flu viruses. Also conspicuously absent is clear advice about how to minimize the risks of influenza.

History of the great 20th century flu.......2005-09-16

I found Gina Kolata's book, FLU to be quite entertaining, very informative and pretty engrossing as she traces the cause and effects of the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 which killed millions of people. While it was interesting to read about the affect of this great epidemic that most people really don't know much about, it was even more intriguing to read about how group of researchers tried to traced down this flu with the technology given during their days. This book is a history about the 1918 flu and its aftermath where researchers tries to see what the flu look like so they can find out what made it so deadly and to find the cure if it ever crop up again.

I believed some of the other reviewers misunderstood the intention of the book but I thought the author did a good job in educating us on the subject on the search of the 1918 flu bug that went from Alaska to Norway to Hong Kong. I supposed its possible that many of the modern flu carried the traces of that 1918 flu in some form or another. Author does a good job showing how some of the major flu outbreaks like the swine flu of mid-1970s, actions taken at that time was influence by what happened back in 1918.

Overall a pretty good science/history book on the subject.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books