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Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - System biology approach foe e. coli
The book is excellent, presenting classical and recent work about e. coli and integrating this knowledge with a general perspective for life.
The book emphasizes a system biology perspective for the e. coli, discussing the different networks that interact to produce the rich behavior of these bacteria.
There are also some discussions about the ethics of biotechnology, showing clearly that the genome is not a static object, but a dynamical one. Probably if the general public had a a clear idea about these issues some critical issues such as stem cells, could be framed in a clearer perspective.
Rating:  - excellent read
for any laymen / person interested in life's secrets this is a very recommendable and understandable book; read it
Rating: - The Wonderful Earth and It's Creation
Carl Zimmer explains with clarity what is E. coli and how we cannnot survicd without it, as it is one of the bases of all our genetic makeup: aniumcal or plant. Should be consider as required reading for all schools.
Rating: - Read it even if you don't like little critters
Carl Zimmer is a terrific writer. I picked this book up because I enjoy his blog and online articles so much. Although I majored in Biology as an undergrad, I have to admit I was never terribly fired up about anything that was smaller than I could see with the naked eye. Too bad this book wasn't around back then, or I might have gone on to grad work in microbiology, genetics, or cell biology!
Along with a most facinating study of E. coli, Zimmer takes us from the micro to the macro, explaining how E. coli fits into the grander scheme of life among the animals it inhabits (including us), and into evolution. So this is probably not a good book for ID folks -- but I have to say that, unless you are truly firm in your ID beliefs this book might very well convince you of the veracity of evolution.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. It flows really well, it's logical, it's simple enough for a science novice to understand, yet Zimmer never talks down to the reader in a way that might offend those of us who have some science background. It will give you new or renewed respect for E. coli and its kin.
Rating: - A Tale of E.coli
In Microcosm, Zimmer has eloquently condensed a century of scientific study surrounding Eschericia coli into an accurate and flowing story readable by anyone with even just a modest understanding of biology.
As Zimmer points out, E.coli has held a central role in microbiology since its first description by German pediatrician Theodor Escherich in the 19th century. This simple bacterium and its various strains have always been there since we first started looking for the microbes involved in human disease. E.coli's normal and pathological roles in the animal body have taught us volumes about the inventive potential of life.
The theme running throughout is that E.coli is a microcosm for understanding all of life. Zimmer reinforces this theme with repeated mention of a Jacques Monod quote, "What is true for E.coli is true for the elephant. Most pointedly, E.coli populations offer clues into the nature of cooperation and competition, altruism and spite.
And of course no book on E.coli would be complete without re-tracing its role in molecular biology. A long series of discoveries, made with E.coli as the experimental system, have elucidated the mechanisms of DNA replication and transcription, regulation of gene expression, and basic metabolism.
Even genetic engineering techniques were pioneered in E.coli, which Zimmer describes in the chapter on "Playing Nature" - a nice twist on the old saying "Playing God," that is actually more appropriate.
Then there's the story of E.coli's vast evolutionary potential - from antibiotic resistence to immune evasion tactics, the simple and rapid replication cycle of bacteria have enabled natural selection, ecological niches, and population divergence to be studied over the course of tens of thousands of generations.
In the process of his story, Zimmer explains how the bacterial genome is more of a palimpsest rather than an instruction manual - a book that's been written and re-written many, many times. It's that palimpsest that serves as both a history book of how it has been modified from its ancestors, but also as an example of "Open Source" text available to modification by its descendents and accessible to horizontal gene transfer.
My only complaints with this book are the obvious: This book presents one perspective, focused on one type of microbe. As such, it misses out on much of bacteriology in favor of molecular genetics, barely mentioning Pasteur and Robert Koch not at all. If Zimmer had included those items in his history lesson, it wouldn't be subtitled "*E.coli* and the New Science of Life" then, would it?
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