So Very Small - by Thomas Levenson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Two out of three soldiers who perished in the Civil War died of infected wounds, typhoid, and other infectious diseases. But no doctor truly understood what was happening to their patients. Twenty years later, the outcome might have been different following one of the most radical intellectual transformations in the history of the world: germ theory, the recognition that the tiniest forms of life have been humankind's greatest killers. It was a discovery centuries in the making that transformed modern life and public health. This revolution has a pre-history. In the late-sixteenth century, scientists and hobbyists used the first microscopes to confirm the existence of living things invisible to the human eye. So why did it take two centuries to make the connection between microbes and disease? As Thomas Levenson reveals in this globe-trotting history, the answer has everything to do with how we see ourselves. For centuries, people in the west, believing themselves to hold God-given dominion over nature, thought too much of humanity and too little of microbes to believe they could take us down. When scientists finally made the connection by the end of the 19th-century, life-saving methods to control infections and contain outbreaks soon followed. The next big break came with the birth of the antibiotic era in the 1930s. And yet, less than a century later, the promise of the antibiotic revolution is already receding from years of overuse. Why? In So Very Small, Thomas Levenson follows the thread of human ingenuity and hubris across centuries--along the way peering into microscopes, spelunking down sewers, traipsing across the battlefield, and more--to show how we came to understand the microbial environment and how little we understand ourselves. He traces how and why ideas are pursued, accepted, or ignored--and hence how human habits of mind can, so often, make it terribly hard to ask the right questions"--

Book Synopsis

"An elegant, wide-ranging history" (The New York Review of Books) of the centuries-long quest to discover the critical role of germs in disease thatreveals as much about human reasoning--and the pitfalls of ego--as it does about microbes.

"Levenson takes readers through an entertaining . . . journey of missed opportunities in microbiology and the eventual advances that arose in this field."--Science

Scientists and enthusiastic amateurs first confirmed the existence of living things invisible to the human eye in the late seventeenth century. So why did it take two centuries to connect microbes to disease? As late as the Civil War in the 1860s, most soldiers who perished died not on the battlefield but of infected wounds, typhoid, and other diseases. Twenty years later, the outcome might have been different, following one of the most radical intellectual transformations in history: germ theory, the recognition that the tiniest forms of life have been humankind's greatest killers. It was a discovery centuries in the making, and it transformed modern life and public health.

As Thomas Levenson reveals in this globe-spanning history, it has everything to do with how we see ourselves. For centuries, people in the West, believing themselves to hold God-given dominion over nature, thought too much of humanity and too little of microbes to believe they could take us down. When nineteenth-century scientists finally made the connection, life-saving methods to control infections and contain outbreaks soon followed. The next big break came with the birth of the antibiotic era in the 1930s. And yet, less than a century later, the promise of the antibiotic revolution is already receding due to years of overuse. Is our self-confidence getting the better of us again?

So Very Small follows the thread of human ingenuity and hubris across centuries--along the way peering into microscopes, spelunking down sewers, visiting army hospitals, traipsing across sheep fields, and more--to show how we came to understand the microbial environment and how little we understand ourselves. Levenson traces how and why ideas are pursued, accepted, or ignored--and hence how human habits of mind can, so often, make it terribly hard to ask the right questions.

Review Quotes

"In So Very Small, Levenson provides not only the backstory to resistance to variolation but an elegant, wide-ranging history of the discovery of microorganisms and their relation to disease."--New York Review of Books

"With extraordinary detail and authoritative prose (and not a few very graphic descriptions), the author describes the suffering brought about by ignorance and prejudice. . . . What Mr. Levenson's book makes clear is that the battle against germs never ends. . . . If we want to preserve the victories accumulated over two centuries against the worst killers of the microbe world, we must rebuild public-health systems, monitor disease, protect and fund science, and recognize that we are not the only 'actors.'"--The Wall Street Journal

"Levenson takes readers through an entertaining, if frustrating, journey of missed opportunities in microbiology and the eventual advances that arose in this field. . . . Levenson concludes that 'we aren't smarter than the microcosmos, ' and despite centuries of advances, it is clear that he is correct."--Science

"[So Very Small] offers a compelling story of how microbes have influenced society, seamlessly intertwined with fascinating historical events, while vividly bringing the characters and scientific discoveries to life."--Alanna Collen, author of 10% Human

"In So Very Small, Thomas Levenson brings to brilliant life the social history of medical detective work, notably the long quest to understand and to combat infectious disease. In a world where the next pandemic waits ahead, this is essential reading."--Deborah Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Poison Squad

"A penetrating chronicle of humanity's fight against microorganisms . . . Buoyed by the author's lucid prose, this is a first-rate work of popular science."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Never has science been so compelling, exciting and accessible as it is in the hands of Thomas Levenson. . . . Brilliant!"--Simon Sebag Montefiore, New York Times bestselling author of The World

"This is exactly the sort of book that a literate citizen, keenly interested in science, reads for enlightenment, perspective, and fun."--David Quammen, New York Times bestselling author of Breathless

"Both an opus and a page-turner, So Very Small is a work of grand-scale ambition, elegantly achieved."--Jason Roberts, author of Every Living Thing and A Sense of the World

"By peering through the lens of the modern germ theory, and our protracted battle with disease, Levenson has crafted a vivid, engaging, and timely reminder that we are not as omnipotent nor as clever as we often believe ourselves to be."--Timothy C. Winegard, New York Times bestselling author of The Mosquito and The Horse

"A thought-provoking, engrossing account of one of the most momentous transformations in our understanding of the world and our place in it."--Jonathan Kennedy, author of Pathogenesis

"An engaging survey of the discovery of microbes, their role in disease, and the efforts to combat them."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"[A] timely and robust medical history."--Booklist

About the Author

Thomas Levenson is a professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of several books, including Money for Nothing, The Hunt for Vulcan, Einstein in Berlin, and Newton and the Counterfeiter. He has also made ten feature-length documentaries (including a two-hour Nova program on Albert Einstein), for which he has won numerous awards.