Written by Ed Yong in 2016
Synopsis: Science journalist Ed Yong explores the monumental role of bacteria in human life and our ecosystems. He walks through the history of microbial science and our changing attitudes toward our omnipresent tiny companions, meets with a balanced variety of scientists across disciplines, and offers an altered perspective of life on Earth, where plants and animals evolved in an environment already chock-full of microbes and our existence has always been completely intertwined with theirs.
Review: Yong is an insightful and entertaining science writer (How to Tackle a Giraffe), and I picked up this book ⅔ for broad faith that he had written this for good reason, and ⅓ for interest in the subject matter, cultivated by some fun research on how microbial infections might affect our personalities. And overall, Yong did not disappoint.
The author’s explanations are clear, leaning into analogies enough to get across an image or point and usually not leaning too much further into anthropomorphization or poetic waxing. His profiles of scientists create memorable characters and anchors to follow. And while the content I was initially excited about didn’t come up in the sections I read, I was fascinated by and moved to care about plenty of other bacterial qualities and applications. There is simply some really cool stuff bacteria do, and if you’re even one part per million a science enthusiast, or you sometimes wonder what people are on about when they say gut bacteria affect your health, this is worth checking out.
But I didn’t finish I Contain Multitudes. I can’t really pinpoint anything wrong that turned me off from reading further—no anecdotes stretched too long, no blind, probiotic fanaticism. It’s just that no amount of quality writing is going to keep me, and probably most of you, invested in microbes for 92,000 words. Coming in as a Yong fan instead of a bacteria fan, I just felt about halfway through the book that I was done. I expect to come back to the rest within a couple years when I need another science fix.
I won’t go so far as to say that Yong was ill-equipped to transition from short articles to a full-length book—though I do wish he had given the chapters more concrete names so that readers could jump to what excites them most. But since this book isn’t easy to read all at once, I hope that next time an author like him will consider making a website or series of articles as a better vessel to transmit their information.
Strengths:
Coming off my last review—this book did a much better job of keeping the metaphors and puns in moderation.
Weaknesses:
Yong wisely addresses that much of the research that has made headlines needs to be replicated or may have alternate explanations. Given that, some sections needed a longer disclaimer about whether a particular idea was well-established or still hotly debated.
Rating: 16/20 microballs*
Ideal Setting: Read this somewhere that will not cause you to be frightened when the book informs you that you are not alone.**
*“I want to call them bioballs,” he adds. “Or maybe microballs.” I tell him that he cannot call them microballs. He sniggers, proving my point.”
**Just a personal thought here: “You’re not alone” is either the scariest or most reassuring thing you can hear, depending on context.
