So Very Small

Fascinating... Thomas Levenson expertly combines storytelling and big questions, most notably: Why not? Why wasn’t the germ theory of disease formulated 200 years earlier? Why, in general, are huge scientific discoveries delayed until they happen? * David Quammen, author of Spillover * In So Very Small, author Tom 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, author of The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Quest for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century * 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. So Very Small is a deeply researched and thoughtfully compelling exploration of our successes, failures and precarious future with deadly pathogens. * Dr Timothy C. Winegard, author of The Mosquito and The Horse * A penetrating chronicle of humanity’s fight against microorganisms... The account concludes with a troubling study of how vaccine misinformation and an overreliance on antibiotics has produced drug-resistant superbugs and led to the re-emergence of measles, imperilling hard-won advances in public health... Buoyed by the author’s lucid prose, this is a first-rate work of popular science. * Publisher's Weekly *