Overview

CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY WATERSTONES AND THE TIMES 'Superb ... This is luxury-class science writing' DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5* review 'One of the best books of any genre that I've read in 2023, this superbly-written book ... will fascinate absolutely everyone' FORBES 'A delight. To learn more about phages is to discover fascinating details about a hidden world' NATURE __________ Not all viruses are out to get us - in fact, the viruses that do us harm are vastly outnumbered by viruses that can actually save lives. At every moment, within your body and all around you, trillions of microscopic combatants are fighting an invisible war. Countless times per second, 'good' viruses known as phages are infecting and destroying bacteria. These phages are the most abundant life form on the planet and have an incredible power to heal rather than harm. So why have most of us never even heard of them? The Good Virus reveals how personalities, power and politics have repeatedly crashed together to hinder our understanding of these weird and wonderful life forms. We explore why Stalin's Soviet Union embraced using phages to fight disease but the rest of the world shunned the idea. We find out why scientists only recently realised phages are central to all ecosystems on Earth. And we meet the often eccentric phage heroes who have shaped the strange history of this field and are unlocking its exciting future. Faced with the threat of antibiotic-resistance, we need phages now more than ever. The Good Virus celebrates what phages could do for us and our planet if they are at last given the attention they deserve.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tom Ireland
Publisher:   Hodder & Stoughton
Imprint:   Hodder & Stoughton
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.40cm , Length: 23.20cm
Weight:   0.480kg
ISBN:  

9781529365252

ISBN 10:   1529365252
Pages:   400
Publication Date:   29 June 2023
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Reviews

Incredible and thought provoking. Phages are the superheroes of the human biome. A truly enlightening read that makes you realise what we really don't yet know. -- Professor Dame Sue Black This thrilling book will amaze you. Viruses have been attacking bacteria since the dawn of time, but in the last century some scientists have been able to enlist them in the fight against bacterial infections. Tom Ireland's limpid writing tells the exciting story of the past and future of phage therapy , balanced by a sober exploration of the problems involved in turning the good viruses into treatments. Highly recommended. -- Professor Matthew Cobb A masterful blend of jaw-dropping science and absorbing storytelling shows that we live on a planet run by super-abundant, sub-microscopic biological entities. Besides revealing a fundamental aspect of how life on Earth really works, this book reminds us of the missed opportunities we simply cannot afford to miss again. It is both incredibly well researched and very timely. -- George McGavin A fascinating and absorbing guide to this abundant but rarely studied life form, the book takes us through the discovery of bacteriophages, their use in laboratory research and highlights their increasingly likely future as a weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. -- Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert

Author Information

Tom Ireland is a freelance science journalist and award-winning magazine editor. Tom's passion for all things microscopic began with him hiding jars of mouldy food around the house as a young child. From microbes to mental health, biohacking to bioethics, Tom specialises in making difficult scientific topics accessible and fun to read. As a freelance journalist he has written science stories for outlets including BBC News, New Scientist and the Observer. He is the editor of The Biologist, the magazine of the Royal Society of Biology. In 2021 he won the Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction for The Good Virus.

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