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About this item
Highlights
- The centuries-long quest to discover the critical role of germs in disease reveals as much about human reasoning--and the pitfalls of ego--as it does about microbes.
- About the Author: Thomas Levenson is a professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- 432 Pages
- History, World
Description
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
The centuries-long quest to discover the critical role of germs in disease reveals as much about human reasoning--and the pitfalls of ego--as it does about microbes. Scientists and enthusiastic amateurs first confirmed the existence of living things invisible to the human eye in the late sixteenth 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, author 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 doing so he illuminates the fascinating world of pathogenic microbes, the often unexpected ways we've achieved protection, and the often self-destructive ways we've undermined--and continue to undermine--our own public health successes. In a world where the next pandemic waits ahead, this is essential reading."--Deborah Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century "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
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.Dimensions (Overall): 9.25 Inches (H) x 6.13 Inches (W) x .91 Inches (D)
Weight: 1.37 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 432
Genre: History
Sub-Genre: World
Publisher: Random House
Format: Hardcover
Author: Thomas Levenson
Language: English
Street Date: April 29, 2025
TCIN: 93073664
UPC: 9780593242735
Item Number (DPCI): 247-45-7663
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
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Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 0.91 inches length x 6.13 inches width x 9.25 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 1.37 pounds
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