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A Planet of Viruses
Viruses are the smallest living things known to science, yet they hold the entire planet in their sway. We are most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or the flu, but viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long, in fact, that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in caves miles underground.
This fascinating book explores the hidden world of viruses—a world that we all inhabit. Here Carl Zimmer, popular science writer and author of Discover magazine’s award-winning blog The Loom, presents the latest research on how viruses hold sway over our lives and our biosphere, how viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, how viruses are producing new diseases, how we can harness viruses for our own ends, and how viruses will continue to control our fate for years to come. In this eye-opening tour of the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life as we know it, we learn that some treatments for the common cold do more harm than good; that the world’s oceans are home to an astonishing number of viruses; and that the evolution of HIV is now in overdrive, spawning more mutated strains than we care to imagine.
The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer “as fine a science essayist as we have.” A Planet of Viruses is sure to please his many fans and further enhance his reputation as one of America’s most respected and admired science journalists.
This fascinating book explores the hidden world of viruses—a world that we all inhabit. Here Carl Zimmer, popular science writer and author of Discover magazine’s award-winning blog The Loom, presents the latest research on how viruses hold sway over our lives and our biosphere, how viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, how viruses are producing new diseases, how we can harness viruses for our own ends, and how viruses will continue to control our fate for years to come. In this eye-opening tour of the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life as we know it, we learn that some treatments for the common cold do more harm than good; that the world’s oceans are home to an astonishing number of viruses; and that the evolution of HIV is now in overdrive, spawning more mutated strains than we care to imagine.
The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer “as fine a science essayist as we have.” A Planet of Viruses is sure to please his many fans and further enhance his reputation as one of America’s most respected and admired science journalists.
109 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2011
446 people are currently reading
7302 people want to read
About the author
Carl Zimmer
52 books1,688 followersCarl Zimmer is a columnist for the New York Times and the author of 15 books about science. His latest book is Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe. Visit him at carlzimmer.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 559 reviews
February 13, 2019
My third Carl Zimmer book in a week. It isn't an outstanding 10-star as She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity or a brilliant and illuminating (and gross) Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures, worth 5 stars. Instead it is a very short book about viruses and there really isn't much to say about viruses.
I did learn about phages and phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics and how the Russians have pursued this therapy, but being as antibiotics are cheaper and easier to make and sell for a lot of money, the capitalist West more or less abandoned it. As the overuse of antibiotics encourages resistant mutations in viruses, so will other treatments have to be explored.
As most people who read up on HIV/AIDS (and it was more or less impossible not to in the 90s) I knew about retroviruses with their single 'thread' of dna. I knew about vaccinations, about the eradication of smallpox, of why Ebola is self-limiting and that even viruses might have viruses too! The debate on whether viruses are alive or not still continues.
So that was that. 3 star.
I did learn about phages and phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics and how the Russians have pursued this therapy, but being as antibiotics are cheaper and easier to make and sell for a lot of money, the capitalist West more or less abandoned it. As the overuse of antibiotics encourages resistant mutations in viruses, so will other treatments have to be explored.
As most people who read up on HIV/AIDS (and it was more or less impossible not to in the 90s) I knew about retroviruses with their single 'thread' of dna. I knew about vaccinations, about the eradication of smallpox, of why Ebola is self-limiting and that even viruses might have viruses too! The debate on whether viruses are alive or not still continues.
So that was that. 3 star.
August 11, 2018
The thing with me is that I don't get anything. Here's an example: I want to find out about viruses, so I track down the best book I can about viruses and I read it, and now if you ask me what a virus is I can say things. They hijack a cell's normal function so that it makes copies of the virus's DNA, instead of copies of their own DNA. Something like that. Amazing, I am so smart. But what if you ask me what a cell is? Or what DNA is? I can keep saying things - the cell is the factory of the human body, DNA is the blueprint for life - but I'm just saying things, dude. I'm a fucking parrot. Understanding a thing metaphorically is not the same as understanding the actual thing. I don't really, at a core level, know what I'm talking about, almost ever.
metaphor
So I know it's sortof a cliche to get all "the older I get the more I realize I don't know" or whatever it is old people say, and also it's untrue in my case because I didn't think I knew anything before either, but at a certain point you start to wonder, like, why am I even reading books. I guess it might help if I was at a party and chatting with a virologist and he wanted to say something interesting but there's a certain base level of knowledge I'd need in order to understand the more interesting thing? haha I don't go to parties and all my friends are unemployed graphic designers.
Carl Zimmer is not that virologist who has something interesting to say. I wasn't all that into this book. Look, Siddhartha Mukherjee is the gold standard for talking about medical shit in an engaging and vaguely understandable way, right? Carl Zimmer's nowhere close. On the scale between textbook and Mukherjee, Zimmer's pretty low down. I was bored.
Also he says to take zinc for a cold and I'm pretty sure that's bullshit.
not totally clear on to what extent this is a metaphor
He does, finally, at the end, talk about whether viruses count as "alive" or not, and I think that debate is super interesting. We've come up with a definition of "life," which like all definitions is sortof "decide what you think is alive and then describe that and there you are," so in other words it's bullshit, but anyway what it is is you have to be able to reproduce, and some other stuff, and viruses don't exactly reproduce, right? They make other peoples' cells do it for them. So does that count? What if viruses feel really bad about making us sick, and they keep having conferences to try to come up with ways to reproduce without making people sick, but maybe there's a contingent of like alt-right viruses who don't believe in sickness. This is the interesting part - saying we don't know shit about colds is not the interesting part - and there isn't enough of it. I also wanted to talk about rabies, because rabies is bananas, and he didn't. My thing with rabies is, it gets into your saliva, that makes sense, but then it makes you want to bite everyone so your saliva gets into them? That's so awesome! How does it do that? How did evolution come up with that? I don't know! I don't understand any of this!
metaphor
So I know it's sortof a cliche to get all "the older I get the more I realize I don't know" or whatever it is old people say, and also it's untrue in my case because I didn't think I knew anything before either, but at a certain point you start to wonder, like, why am I even reading books. I guess it might help if I was at a party and chatting with a virologist and he wanted to say something interesting but there's a certain base level of knowledge I'd need in order to understand the more interesting thing? haha I don't go to parties and all my friends are unemployed graphic designers.
Carl Zimmer is not that virologist who has something interesting to say. I wasn't all that into this book. Look, Siddhartha Mukherjee is the gold standard for talking about medical shit in an engaging and vaguely understandable way, right? Carl Zimmer's nowhere close. On the scale between textbook and Mukherjee, Zimmer's pretty low down. I was bored.
Also he says to take zinc for a cold and I'm pretty sure that's bullshit.
not totally clear on to what extent this is a metaphor
He does, finally, at the end, talk about whether viruses count as "alive" or not, and I think that debate is super interesting. We've come up with a definition of "life," which like all definitions is sortof "decide what you think is alive and then describe that and there you are," so in other words it's bullshit, but anyway what it is is you have to be able to reproduce, and some other stuff, and viruses don't exactly reproduce, right? They make other peoples' cells do it for them. So does that count? What if viruses feel really bad about making us sick, and they keep having conferences to try to come up with ways to reproduce without making people sick, but maybe there's a contingent of like alt-right viruses who don't believe in sickness. This is the interesting part - saying we don't know shit about colds is not the interesting part - and there isn't enough of it. I also wanted to talk about rabies, because rabies is bananas, and he didn't. My thing with rabies is, it gets into your saliva, that makes sense, but then it makes you want to bite everyone so your saliva gets into them? That's so awesome! How does it do that? How did evolution come up with that? I don't know! I don't understand any of this!
January 29, 2023
4/5 Estrellas
Estupendo libro divulgativo sobre el maravilloso, increíble y todavía muy desconocido mundo de los virus.
Se revisó en 2015, pero aquí está todo lo que se necesita saber para entender lo que ha pasado con el coronavirus unos años después. Recomendado para negacionistas y seguidores de teorías conspiranoicas.
La capacidad de los virus de adaptarse y mutar continuamente es increíble. ¿Sabéis que la capacidad de los mamíferos placentarios de alimentar y proteger a nuestros embriones en el útero (proteína sincitina), proviene de un retrovirus que se integró en nuestro genoma en un antepasado nuestro de hace 25 millones de años y que lo legó a sus descendientes y a nosotros? ¿sabéis que a nada que se rasque en cualquier nicho ecológico , animal, vegetal, terrestre o acuático, se encuentran miles de nuevos virus totalmente desconocidos? ¿pudo ser que los virus "inventasen" el ADN, como una forma de proteger su ARN más lábil y sean el origen de la vida tal como la conocemos? ¿Sabéis que la terapia vírica con fagos bacterianos está a punto de convertirse en un tratamiento habitual dada la resistencia bacteriana galopante que ya existe a la mayoría de antibióticos actuales?.
Que mundo tan desconocido la virología. Cuánto hemos avanzado en los últimos años y cuánto queda por saber. Virología, un campo minoritario en los estudios de Microbiología Clínica y que debe tener mucho más peso.
"por todas partes, en todas las cosas".
Estupendo libro divulgativo sobre el maravilloso, increíble y todavía muy desconocido mundo de los virus.
Se revisó en 2015, pero aquí está todo lo que se necesita saber para entender lo que ha pasado con el coronavirus unos años después. Recomendado para negacionistas y seguidores de teorías conspiranoicas.
La capacidad de los virus de adaptarse y mutar continuamente es increíble. ¿Sabéis que la capacidad de los mamíferos placentarios de alimentar y proteger a nuestros embriones en el útero (proteína sincitina), proviene de un retrovirus que se integró en nuestro genoma en un antepasado nuestro de hace 25 millones de años y que lo legó a sus descendientes y a nosotros? ¿sabéis que a nada que se rasque en cualquier nicho ecológico , animal, vegetal, terrestre o acuático, se encuentran miles de nuevos virus totalmente desconocidos? ¿pudo ser que los virus "inventasen" el ADN, como una forma de proteger su ARN más lábil y sean el origen de la vida tal como la conocemos? ¿Sabéis que la terapia vírica con fagos bacterianos está a punto de convertirse en un tratamiento habitual dada la resistencia bacteriana galopante que ya existe a la mayoría de antibióticos actuales?.
Que mundo tan desconocido la virología. Cuánto hemos avanzado en los últimos años y cuánto queda por saber. Virología, un campo minoritario en los estudios de Microbiología Clínica y que debe tener mucho más peso.
"por todas partes, en todas las cosas".
February 3, 2021
“Viruses are biology’s living matrix.”
We share little in common with our forebears’ understanding of the universe. In ancient times the earth was ensconced by a dome or firmament which held back rain and other effusions from above. Drought and wetness were tangible indicators of the pantheon’s impression of earthly behavior, with a blue sky betokening the rain that lay just beyond the earth’s protective shell. For many of our ancestors, the stars influenced the health of those on earth; for others, calamity and human hardship could be ascribed to nothing more than the shifting dispositions of the local deities. Maladies of the skin and throat and other physiological dysfunction were regarded as plagues, or instances of pestilential terror cast down as punishment. It was not until our discovery of the virus that these superordinary affiliations were shorn in favor of the vanishingly tiny world thriving right under our noses.
Viruses have been invading other life forms for billions of years with nary an invitation, yet our knowledge of this relatively young science is still fairly limited. Helming this microcosmic thrill ride in A Planet of Viruses is Carl Zimmer, first-place recipient of the 2012 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism competition and one of the most illustrious science reporters of our time. Author of Microcosm and Parasite Rex, pathogen science has long been his forte. In his latest and most abbreviated work, Zimmer marshals his treasure of insights and provides us a sweeping introduction to this fascinating, if ineluctably unnerving world.
The book is organized as a compilation of well-connected short essays, a format that suits the material well. Each of the chapters spotlights a specific strain or type of virus which has wreaked considerable chaos on human welfare–from rhinovirus, smallpox, and influenza to HIV and West Nile virus–and Zimmer’s characteristic story-centric style makes each vignette as rousing as the last. As you progress, Zimmer slowly raises the curtain on virus ingenuity, weaving accessible tales and the latest research and statistics throughout.
The Infiltrator
Since viruses first breached the scientific periphery in the 19th century, over 5,000 separate strains have been identified, with possibly tens of thousands more harboring in the oceans and lining the guts of every species on earth. While they can vary broadly in physical size, shape, number of genes, and mobility within and between hosts, they all borrow from the same playbook. At the first, a virus requires a host to survive, unlike bacteria, so its blinkered priority is to gain access to the cellular machinery of other life forms. Whether it’s animals and plants or bacteria and archaea, a virus does not discriminate.
I like to think of them as the world's smallest stealth agent, as resourceful as they are deadly. In what makes Ethan Hunt look like an amateur, a virus has the ability to infiltrate a host's cells in a variety of ways, a skill which amplifies as evolution takes its course. Once the virus descends upon the host's genetic structure, it can really begin its work. With full access to the genetic database the virus begins installing its own DNA onto the cells of its host, overriding the host's DNA. At this point, the virus is replicated by the host's hijacked DNA at a prodigious rate until many thousands of identical copies line the inside of the host's cells. Depending on the genetic mixture, this assimilation can disrupt a host gene's ability to make proteins, unleashing havoc on the unwitting custodian, or the virus presence can trigger the release of antibodies which scramble to shut down the intruders, subjecting the host to nasty symptoms in the process.
There is ongoing debate over whether viruses qualify as a form of life. They cannot survive outside of a host cell and are absent any kind of cellular architecture, rendering them little more than small, self-assembling clusters of nucleic acids. Even so, Zimmer is quick to point out their indispensable role in shaping and sustaining life over the aeons. “We humans are an inextricable blend of mammal and virus. Remove our virus-derived genes, and we would be unable to reproduce.” (p. 93)
Viruses have also been implicated in the origin of life, as their capacity for self-replication may hold the keys to how precellular material jumpstarted the chain of life on earth. The uninvited stowaways have been shuffling genes among different host species ever since, comprising as much as 8% of the human genome. Thus not only have viruses been a tremendous force in the evolution of life on this planet, they are essential to our survival.
Zimmer also discloses plainly just how near are viruses and other infectious agents. Each of our trillions of cells can contain hundreds of viruses and bacteria. Human papillomavirus (HPV), most known for inflicting cervical cancer and killing over 270,000 women every year, is actually quite common and can be found nestled in your skin cells. We constantly shed our outermost layer of skin after cell death, depositing the virus-laden DNA all around us. That means that right now you likely have more than a few HPV viruses on the desk and laptop in front of you. Not the cheeriest thought perhaps, but you will find solace in the fact that the majority of HPV strains are benign and pose no immediate risk.
Cat, Meet Mouse
It is true that the lion's share of known viruses introduce no changes to infected cells or simply lie dormant within our DNA. But it is also true that pathogens evolve more quickly than any known form of life. For this reason microbe trajectories always lie one step ahead of us and are difficult, if not impossible, to predict. Zimmer relates this chilling reality by describing why scientists are urging against the over-use of antibiotics. Not only do antibacterials have a null effect on viruses, they upset the delicate ecosystem inside our bodies and "incentivize" bacteria to evolve countermeasures, potentially resulting in more noxious versions of both benign and harmful strains.
In response to this dilemma, medical biologists now have their eyes on an alternative approach to fighting bacteria: phage therapy, an area in which precious little research has been conducted. Somewhat confusingly, a bacteriophage is a virus used to combat resilient bacteria. Essentially, pitting pathogen against pathogen. Zimmer tells of a lab-engineered phage (pictured below) developed by a team from Boston University and MIT that can wipe out 99.997% of E. coli strains. More impressively, “scientists at the Eliava Institute have developed a dressing for wounds that is impregnated with half a dozen different phages, capable of killing the six most common kinds of bacteria that infect skin wounds.” (p. 38) Among many microbiologists, this approach to resistant bacteria is a heavily favored alternative to antibiotics. But until a wider body of research is explored, such precision warfare is confined to the lab.
Exit: Stage Left
By all accounts, the most uplifting installment is that of smallpox, which Zimmer recounts in a coda entitled "The Long Goodbye." When this dark scourge first started replicating inside of human hosts remains an open question. Telltale signs can be seen in the 3,000 year old mummified corpse of Pharaoh Ramses V, while other scientists date its emergence as early as 10,000 BC. Based on extant medical records and fatality rates, it’s been estimated that smallpox caused 400,000 European deaths each year during the 18th century and another 300-500 million deaths in the 20th century alone, bringing down three empires in the process. Its final death toll across human history and its legacy in shaping civilization may never be fully realized, but it met a worthy competitor in one Edward Jenner.
Among the venerated elite in science history, Jenner used cowpox, a member of the same viral family as smallpox, to inoculate potential smallpox victims. It worked, and while Jenner did not discover the antigenic properties activated by vaccination, it was his “trial by fire” testing and scrupulous documentation of his findings that led to its widespread adoption against smallpox. In 1979, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease. The unflinching bravura of those who risked their lives in the global eradication effort functions as a testament to human possibility. WHO’s vaccination campaigns, which achieved success largely by isolating the infected from the non-infected and administering vaccines to quarantined communities, is perhaps the greatest success story in all of medicine and lends hope for the outcome of future travails.
Closing Thoughts
Thanks to one of the finest science communicators today, the remaining essays assembled in A Planet of Viruses are every bit as informative and accessible. As stepladder to the scientific community, Zimmer has a knack for engaging readers of all stripes, from the layperson to the armchair scientist to anyone who simply likes reading good stories. His way is precise, not overly simplified, choosing just the right level of linguistic precision to divulge this teeming underworld to his readers. While certainly not as detailed as some of his earlier expositions, this brilliant anthology serves as a perfect preamble to the bustling field of microlife. Clocking in at just under 100 pages, I highly recommend you target this one for your next free weekend, preferably before, and not after, having eaten.
Note: This review is republished from my official website. Click through for additional footnotes and imagery.
We share little in common with our forebears’ understanding of the universe. In ancient times the earth was ensconced by a dome or firmament which held back rain and other effusions from above. Drought and wetness were tangible indicators of the pantheon’s impression of earthly behavior, with a blue sky betokening the rain that lay just beyond the earth’s protective shell. For many of our ancestors, the stars influenced the health of those on earth; for others, calamity and human hardship could be ascribed to nothing more than the shifting dispositions of the local deities. Maladies of the skin and throat and other physiological dysfunction were regarded as plagues, or instances of pestilential terror cast down as punishment. It was not until our discovery of the virus that these superordinary affiliations were shorn in favor of the vanishingly tiny world thriving right under our noses.
Viruses have been invading other life forms for billions of years with nary an invitation, yet our knowledge of this relatively young science is still fairly limited. Helming this microcosmic thrill ride in A Planet of Viruses is Carl Zimmer, first-place recipient of the 2012 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism competition and one of the most illustrious science reporters of our time. Author of Microcosm and Parasite Rex, pathogen science has long been his forte. In his latest and most abbreviated work, Zimmer marshals his treasure of insights and provides us a sweeping introduction to this fascinating, if ineluctably unnerving world.
The book is organized as a compilation of well-connected short essays, a format that suits the material well. Each of the chapters spotlights a specific strain or type of virus which has wreaked considerable chaos on human welfare–from rhinovirus, smallpox, and influenza to HIV and West Nile virus–and Zimmer’s characteristic story-centric style makes each vignette as rousing as the last. As you progress, Zimmer slowly raises the curtain on virus ingenuity, weaving accessible tales and the latest research and statistics throughout.
The Infiltrator
Since viruses first breached the scientific periphery in the 19th century, over 5,000 separate strains have been identified, with possibly tens of thousands more harboring in the oceans and lining the guts of every species on earth. While they can vary broadly in physical size, shape, number of genes, and mobility within and between hosts, they all borrow from the same playbook. At the first, a virus requires a host to survive, unlike bacteria, so its blinkered priority is to gain access to the cellular machinery of other life forms. Whether it’s animals and plants or bacteria and archaea, a virus does not discriminate.
I like to think of them as the world's smallest stealth agent, as resourceful as they are deadly. In what makes Ethan Hunt look like an amateur, a virus has the ability to infiltrate a host's cells in a variety of ways, a skill which amplifies as evolution takes its course. Once the virus descends upon the host's genetic structure, it can really begin its work. With full access to the genetic database the virus begins installing its own DNA onto the cells of its host, overriding the host's DNA. At this point, the virus is replicated by the host's hijacked DNA at a prodigious rate until many thousands of identical copies line the inside of the host's cells. Depending on the genetic mixture, this assimilation can disrupt a host gene's ability to make proteins, unleashing havoc on the unwitting custodian, or the virus presence can trigger the release of antibodies which scramble to shut down the intruders, subjecting the host to nasty symptoms in the process.
There is ongoing debate over whether viruses qualify as a form of life. They cannot survive outside of a host cell and are absent any kind of cellular architecture, rendering them little more than small, self-assembling clusters of nucleic acids. Even so, Zimmer is quick to point out their indispensable role in shaping and sustaining life over the aeons. “We humans are an inextricable blend of mammal and virus. Remove our virus-derived genes, and we would be unable to reproduce.” (p. 93)
Viruses have also been implicated in the origin of life, as their capacity for self-replication may hold the keys to how precellular material jumpstarted the chain of life on earth. The uninvited stowaways have been shuffling genes among different host species ever since, comprising as much as 8% of the human genome. Thus not only have viruses been a tremendous force in the evolution of life on this planet, they are essential to our survival.
Zimmer also discloses plainly just how near are viruses and other infectious agents. Each of our trillions of cells can contain hundreds of viruses and bacteria. Human papillomavirus (HPV), most known for inflicting cervical cancer and killing over 270,000 women every year, is actually quite common and can be found nestled in your skin cells. We constantly shed our outermost layer of skin after cell death, depositing the virus-laden DNA all around us. That means that right now you likely have more than a few HPV viruses on the desk and laptop in front of you. Not the cheeriest thought perhaps, but you will find solace in the fact that the majority of HPV strains are benign and pose no immediate risk.
Cat, Meet Mouse
It is true that the lion's share of known viruses introduce no changes to infected cells or simply lie dormant within our DNA. But it is also true that pathogens evolve more quickly than any known form of life. For this reason microbe trajectories always lie one step ahead of us and are difficult, if not impossible, to predict. Zimmer relates this chilling reality by describing why scientists are urging against the over-use of antibiotics. Not only do antibacterials have a null effect on viruses, they upset the delicate ecosystem inside our bodies and "incentivize" bacteria to evolve countermeasures, potentially resulting in more noxious versions of both benign and harmful strains.
In response to this dilemma, medical biologists now have their eyes on an alternative approach to fighting bacteria: phage therapy, an area in which precious little research has been conducted. Somewhat confusingly, a bacteriophage is a virus used to combat resilient bacteria. Essentially, pitting pathogen against pathogen. Zimmer tells of a lab-engineered phage (pictured below) developed by a team from Boston University and MIT that can wipe out 99.997% of E. coli strains. More impressively, “scientists at the Eliava Institute have developed a dressing for wounds that is impregnated with half a dozen different phages, capable of killing the six most common kinds of bacteria that infect skin wounds.” (p. 38) Among many microbiologists, this approach to resistant bacteria is a heavily favored alternative to antibiotics. But until a wider body of research is explored, such precision warfare is confined to the lab.
Exit: Stage Left
By all accounts, the most uplifting installment is that of smallpox, which Zimmer recounts in a coda entitled "The Long Goodbye." When this dark scourge first started replicating inside of human hosts remains an open question. Telltale signs can be seen in the 3,000 year old mummified corpse of Pharaoh Ramses V, while other scientists date its emergence as early as 10,000 BC. Based on extant medical records and fatality rates, it’s been estimated that smallpox caused 400,000 European deaths each year during the 18th century and another 300-500 million deaths in the 20th century alone, bringing down three empires in the process. Its final death toll across human history and its legacy in shaping civilization may never be fully realized, but it met a worthy competitor in one Edward Jenner.
Among the venerated elite in science history, Jenner used cowpox, a member of the same viral family as smallpox, to inoculate potential smallpox victims. It worked, and while Jenner did not discover the antigenic properties activated by vaccination, it was his “trial by fire” testing and scrupulous documentation of his findings that led to its widespread adoption against smallpox. In 1979, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease. The unflinching bravura of those who risked their lives in the global eradication effort functions as a testament to human possibility. WHO’s vaccination campaigns, which achieved success largely by isolating the infected from the non-infected and administering vaccines to quarantined communities, is perhaps the greatest success story in all of medicine and lends hope for the outcome of future travails.
Closing Thoughts
Thanks to one of the finest science communicators today, the remaining essays assembled in A Planet of Viruses are every bit as informative and accessible. As stepladder to the scientific community, Zimmer has a knack for engaging readers of all stripes, from the layperson to the armchair scientist to anyone who simply likes reading good stories. His way is precise, not overly simplified, choosing just the right level of linguistic precision to divulge this teeming underworld to his readers. While certainly not as detailed as some of his earlier expositions, this brilliant anthology serves as a perfect preamble to the bustling field of microlife. Clocking in at just under 100 pages, I highly recommend you target this one for your next free weekend, preferably before, and not after, having eaten.
Note: This review is republished from my official website. Click through for additional footnotes and imagery.
April 18, 2017
এক বারের জন্য ও মনে হয় নি আমি কোন অনুবাদ পড়ছি। কি অসাধারন সুন্দর সহজ সাবলীল ভাষায় লেখা । যাদের ভাইরাস নিয়ে বিন্দু মাত্র জানার ইচ্ছা আছে বিনা দ্বিধায় বইটা পড়া শুরু করে দিতে পারেন। !!!
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January 18, 2022Öncelikle iyi bayramlar herkese!
Türkiye'nin yeni "Tübitak"ı dediğim, tıpkı Tübitak'ın eski zamanlarındaki gibi bilimsel yayınları dilimize kazandırmak için durmaksızın çalışan Alfa Yayınları'ndan bir diğer kitap ile bayramın ilk gününü geçirdim.
Kitabın kişisel ilgim olan virüsler hakkında çok şey söylediğini, çok öğretici olduğunu söylemem gerek. Keşke daha çok bilgi olsaydı dedim. Çünkü doyamadım anlatılanlara...
Dünyada yaşamımızın ne kadar hassas, ne kadar naif dengelerle devam ettiğini öğrenmeniz için muhakkak okuyun derim!
Bu bayramda da kapımızı çalan olmadı :) Eskiden şeker toplayan çocuklar vardı.
Nerede eski bayramlar?
M.B.
Türkiye'nin yeni "Tübitak"ı dediğim, tıpkı Tübitak'ın eski zamanlarındaki gibi bilimsel yayınları dilimize kazandırmak için durmaksızın çalışan Alfa Yayınları'ndan bir diğer kitap ile bayramın ilk gününü geçirdim.
Kitabın kişisel ilgim olan virüsler hakkında çok şey söylediğini, çok öğretici olduğunu söylemem gerek. Keşke daha çok bilgi olsaydı dedim. Çünkü doyamadım anlatılanlara...
Dünyada yaşamımızın ne kadar hassas, ne kadar naif dengelerle devam ettiğini öğrenmeniz için muhakkak okuyun derim!
Bu bayramda da kapımızı çalan olmadı :) Eskiden şeker toplayan çocuklar vardı.
Nerede eski bayramlar?
M.B.
June 17, 2016
This is a very interesting book, and I am glad I read it. My only beef with this book is that it is too short. After reading Carl Zimmer's outstanding book "Parasite Rex", I had expected more.
February 23, 2012
I liked reading this book, and I think so did many retroviruses I carry.
I've read a lot of Zimmer's blogs and magazine articles, and I've even seen him at a symposium, but this is the first of his books I've tackled. I like his work because he takes on difficult subjects and explains them to the masses in a very approachable format. I actually didn't expect this to be quite as short and easy a read as it was, but this was practically airplane reading – many short vignettes enabling easy stopping and starting, and over in a few short hours.
Essays, each about 6-8 pages, take on different facets of the virus world. It's mostly human-centric, with individual chapters covering the common cold, influenza, smallpox, West Nile, HIV, papillomaviruses. It's not entirely so – he's also very interested in how viruses fit more generally in the grand scheme of life on earth, and how they operate. But it's mostly a very good (as far as I know) overview of how viruses impact our lives.
Zimmer has written a much denser book about parasites, but I'm a little squeamish and I haven't yet had the courage to try that one yet. But given that this was a very positive experience, I may have to step up.
I've read a lot of Zimmer's blogs and magazine articles, and I've even seen him at a symposium, but this is the first of his books I've tackled. I like his work because he takes on difficult subjects and explains them to the masses in a very approachable format. I actually didn't expect this to be quite as short and easy a read as it was, but this was practically airplane reading – many short vignettes enabling easy stopping and starting, and over in a few short hours.
Essays, each about 6-8 pages, take on different facets of the virus world. It's mostly human-centric, with individual chapters covering the common cold, influenza, smallpox, West Nile, HIV, papillomaviruses. It's not entirely so – he's also very interested in how viruses fit more generally in the grand scheme of life on earth, and how they operate. But it's mostly a very good (as far as I know) overview of how viruses impact our lives.
Zimmer has written a much denser book about parasites, but I'm a little squeamish and I haven't yet had the courage to try that one yet. But given that this was a very positive experience, I may have to step up.
July 26, 2022
"In caves and in lungs, in glaciers in Tibet and in winds flowing high over mountains, scientists keep discovering viruses. They are finding them faster than they can make sense of them. So far, scientists have officially named a few thousand species of viruses, but the true total may, by some estimates, reach into the trillions. Virology is a science in its infancy. Yet viruses themselves are old companions. For thousands of years, we knew viruses only from their effects in sickness and death. Until recently, however, we did not know how to join those effects to their cause."
A Planet of Viruses was a decent short look into the topic.
Author Carl Zimmer is a columnist for the New York Times and the author of 13 books about science. Zimmer is a frequent guest on Radiolab and has written hundreds of articles for magazines such as National Geographic, The Atlantic, and Wired.
Carl Zimmer:
The book opens with a decent foreword; written by Judy Diamond, Ph.D. and Charles Wood, Ph.D.
Zimmer has an effective writing style, that will ensure the writing here is accessible, even to the layperson not overly familiar with epidemiology or biology.
Zimmer presents the subject matter in a somewhat no-frills, straightforward matter-of-fact manner that I feel worked here. The book would make a great introduction to viruses. I also liked the formatting, too. There are well-defined chapters; where Zimmer stays on topic. Effective communication. Good stuff!
The writing in the book proper begins with a brief history of the discovery of viruses; the tobacco mosaic virus is briefly discussed.
So, just how abundant are viruses? Zimmer drops these quotes, that speaks to their ubiquity:
It may also shock the naïve reader to learn that viruses make up a large portion of our own DNA. Zimmer explains:
Some more of what is covered here by Zimmer includes:
• Rhinoviruses
• Influenza
• Human Papillomavirus and Infectious Cancer
• Bacteriophages as Viral Medicine
• How Marine Phages Rule the Sea
• Endogenous Retroviruses and Our Virus-Riddled Genomes
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus and the Animal Origins of Diseases
• The Globalization of West Nile Virus
• Why COVID-19 Should Have Come as No Surprise
• The Delayed Oblivion of Smallpox
• Giant Viruses and What It Means to Be a Virus
**********************
I enjoyed A Planet of Viruses. Zimmer did a good job of presenting this material to the reader in an easily digestible format.
I would recommend this one to anyone looking for a primer on the topic.
4 stars.
A Planet of Viruses was a decent short look into the topic.
Author Carl Zimmer is a columnist for the New York Times and the author of 13 books about science. Zimmer is a frequent guest on Radiolab and has written hundreds of articles for magazines such as National Geographic, The Atlantic, and Wired.
Carl Zimmer:
The book opens with a decent foreword; written by Judy Diamond, Ph.D. and Charles Wood, Ph.D.
Zimmer has an effective writing style, that will ensure the writing here is accessible, even to the layperson not overly familiar with epidemiology or biology.
Zimmer presents the subject matter in a somewhat no-frills, straightforward matter-of-fact manner that I feel worked here. The book would make a great introduction to viruses. I also liked the formatting, too. There are well-defined chapters; where Zimmer stays on topic. Effective communication. Good stuff!
The writing in the book proper begins with a brief history of the discovery of viruses; the tobacco mosaic virus is briefly discussed.
So, just how abundant are viruses? Zimmer drops these quotes, that speaks to their ubiquity:
"Based on the number of viruses she found in her samples, Proctor estimated that every liter of seawater contained up to 100 billion viruses. Proctor’s figure far exceeded previous estimates. But when other scientists followed up on her work and carried out their own surveys, they ended up with similar figures.
They found viruses lurking in deep-sea trenches and locked in Arctic sea ice. They came to agree there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 viruses in the ocean.
It is hard to find a point of comparison to make sense of such a huge number. There are 100 billion times more viruses in the oceans than the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches. If you put the viruses of the oceans together on a scale, they would equal the weight of 75 million blue whales (there are less than 10,000 blue whales on the entire planet). And if you lined up all the viruses in the ocean end to end, they would stretch out 42 million light-years...
...All told, some researchers have estimated the Earth may be home to 100 trillion species of viruses—most of which can be found at sea."
It may also shock the naïve reader to learn that viruses make up a large portion of our own DNA. Zimmer explains:
"As an endogenous retrovirus gets trapped in its host, it can still make new copies of its DNA, which get inserted back into its host’s genome. Over the millions of years that endogenous retroviruses have been invading our genomes, they’ve accumulated to a staggering extent. Each of us carries almost 100,000 fragments of endogenous retrovirus DNA in our genome, making up about 8 percent of our DNA.
To put that figure in perspective, consider that the 20,000 protein-coding genes in the human genome make up only 1.2 percent of our DNA."
Some more of what is covered here by Zimmer includes:
• Rhinoviruses
• Influenza
• Human Papillomavirus and Infectious Cancer
• Bacteriophages as Viral Medicine
• How Marine Phages Rule the Sea
• Endogenous Retroviruses and Our Virus-Riddled Genomes
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus and the Animal Origins of Diseases
• The Globalization of West Nile Virus
• Why COVID-19 Should Have Come as No Surprise
• The Delayed Oblivion of Smallpox
• Giant Viruses and What It Means to Be a Virus
**********************
I enjoyed A Planet of Viruses. Zimmer did a good job of presenting this material to the reader in an easily digestible format.
I would recommend this one to anyone looking for a primer on the topic.
4 stars.
January 5, 2025
wiruskiii
March 30, 2023
Four and a half stars
A short book but that achieves what it proposes, giving a sufficiently detailed notion of the world of viruses. We really live in a virusphere!
A short book but that achieves what it proposes, giving a sufficiently detailed notion of the world of viruses. We really live in a virusphere!
September 22, 2022
My formal education about viruses is close to 50 years out of date from a course in Advanced Biology at a very good prep high school with a fantastic teacher. I remember much of the material because I found the debates about viruses fascinating. Back then, we couldn't read a genome, hadn't discovered large viruses or HIV, nor was there much experience with pandemics. This, the 3d edition, was up to date into the Covid-19 pandemic, so included SARS, MERS, Zika, AIDS, & more.
It's a quick & basic walk through viruses. It was a good refresher on the history of the discovery of viruses & it didn't bog down in details. I learned a lot such as why there was hope in eradicating Small Pox, but very little hope of eradicating the common cold any time soon. How, why, & the difficulties viruses find in changing host species was of particular interest due to Covid-19.
Much of the speculation we'd engaged in during class was cleared up, but we'd never considered the role viruses play in climate. That was a surprise. My teacher, Dr. Cohen, had speculated on their role in creating life. To the best of my knowledge (Limited!!!) it wasn't popular, but I found it has gained new traction. I especially liked the way Zimmer makes it clear that labels can limit our understanding. "Live" versus "Not Alive" seems like an obvious dividing line, but Cohen didn't like it & we spent quite a bit of time trying to define both conditions. It's still a conundrum & that made me appreciate his teaching even more.
Highly recommended, well narrated, & short enough for everyone.
Contents
Foreword by Judy Diamond and Charles Wood
Introduction
“A Contagious Living Fluid”
Tobacco Mosaic Virus and the Discovery of the Virosphere
Old Companions
The Uncommon Cold
How Rhinoviruses Gently Conquered the World
Looking Down from the Stars
Influenza’s Never-Ending Reinvention
Rabbits with Horns
Human Papillomavirus and Infectious Cancer
Everywhere, in All Things
The Enemy of Our Enemy
Bacteriophages as Viral Medicine
The Infected Ocean
How Marine Phages Rule the Sea
Our Inner Parasites
Endogenous Retroviruses and Our Virus-Riddled Genomes
The Viral Future
The Young Scourge
Human Immunodeficiency Virus and the Animal Origins of Diseases
Becoming an American
The Globalization of West Nile Virus
The Pandemic Age
Why COVID-19 Should Have Come as No Surprise
The Long Goodbye
The Delayed Oblivion of Smallpox
Epilogue
The Alien in the Water Cooler
Giant Viruses and What It Means to Be a Virus
It's a quick & basic walk through viruses. It was a good refresher on the history of the discovery of viruses & it didn't bog down in details. I learned a lot such as why there was hope in eradicating Small Pox, but very little hope of eradicating the common cold any time soon. How, why, & the difficulties viruses find in changing host species was of particular interest due to Covid-19.
Much of the speculation we'd engaged in during class was cleared up, but we'd never considered the role viruses play in climate. That was a surprise. My teacher, Dr. Cohen, had speculated on their role in creating life. To the best of my knowledge (Limited!!!) it wasn't popular, but I found it has gained new traction. I especially liked the way Zimmer makes it clear that labels can limit our understanding. "Live" versus "Not Alive" seems like an obvious dividing line, but Cohen didn't like it & we spent quite a bit of time trying to define both conditions. It's still a conundrum & that made me appreciate his teaching even more.
Highly recommended, well narrated, & short enough for everyone.
Contents
Foreword by Judy Diamond and Charles Wood
Introduction
“A Contagious Living Fluid”
Tobacco Mosaic Virus and the Discovery of the Virosphere
Old Companions
The Uncommon Cold
How Rhinoviruses Gently Conquered the World
Looking Down from the Stars
Influenza’s Never-Ending Reinvention
Rabbits with Horns
Human Papillomavirus and Infectious Cancer
Everywhere, in All Things
The Enemy of Our Enemy
Bacteriophages as Viral Medicine
The Infected Ocean
How Marine Phages Rule the Sea
Our Inner Parasites
Endogenous Retroviruses and Our Virus-Riddled Genomes
The Viral Future
The Young Scourge
Human Immunodeficiency Virus and the Animal Origins of Diseases
Becoming an American
The Globalization of West Nile Virus
The Pandemic Age
Why COVID-19 Should Have Come as No Surprise
The Long Goodbye
The Delayed Oblivion of Smallpox
Epilogue
The Alien in the Water Cooler
Giant Viruses and What It Means to Be a Virus
March 14, 2023
In his book, A Planet of Viruses, Carl Zimmer tell’s us the history of virus since 1879 when Adolph Mayer and Martinus Beijerink had described the “contagious living fluid” in the “tobacco mosaic disease”. Since the description of this contagious living fluids until the discovery of the first virus some decades had elapsed.
Virus are certainly the most abundant “living” organisms in the planet. Despite expressions like “killing the virus” or reproduction of virus are common many biologists don’t consider them as living organisms since they don’t have a metabolic machinery. Never less, this is not a closed issue and a debate on the subject is still going on. Living organisms or not, virus are important entities not only on disease. They help the homeostasis of the planet, they have a important role in the synthesis of oxygen and they are most important in controlling the population of bacteria especially sea bacteria.
In his book Carl Zimmer takes us on a tour of the most relevant and pathologic virus to the human being. Rhinovirus, Influenza, papillomavirus, retrovirus, human immunodeficiency virus, west nile virus, chikungunya virus, ebola, coronavirus and smallpox are virus and viruses that the author described as relevant in human health history, and are used to described both human knowledge about those diseases and the attempts of prevention or vaccination against them.
Most impressive is the chapter of the use of bacteriophages in viral medicine, and the chapter about how marine phages rule the sea.
Viruses outnumber all other residents of the ocean by about fifteen to one, they kill between 15 and 40% of all bacteria in the world ocean every single day, they controlled pathogenic bacteria proliferation, they control bacteria that are prejudicial to algae and photosynthetic bacteria (helping controlling levels of O2), and algae release of dimethyl sulfide, an important gas to cloud formation.
Life on the planet will never stop astonish me. We humans are the culminate of four billion years of evolution on earth and we have an obligation to leave a legacy of protection and care of the life on earth.
Virus are certainly the most abundant “living” organisms in the planet. Despite expressions like “killing the virus” or reproduction of virus are common many biologists don’t consider them as living organisms since they don’t have a metabolic machinery. Never less, this is not a closed issue and a debate on the subject is still going on. Living organisms or not, virus are important entities not only on disease. They help the homeostasis of the planet, they have a important role in the synthesis of oxygen and they are most important in controlling the population of bacteria especially sea bacteria.
In his book Carl Zimmer takes us on a tour of the most relevant and pathologic virus to the human being. Rhinovirus, Influenza, papillomavirus, retrovirus, human immunodeficiency virus, west nile virus, chikungunya virus, ebola, coronavirus and smallpox are virus and viruses that the author described as relevant in human health history, and are used to described both human knowledge about those diseases and the attempts of prevention or vaccination against them.
Most impressive is the chapter of the use of bacteriophages in viral medicine, and the chapter about how marine phages rule the sea.
Viruses outnumber all other residents of the ocean by about fifteen to one, they kill between 15 and 40% of all bacteria in the world ocean every single day, they controlled pathogenic bacteria proliferation, they control bacteria that are prejudicial to algae and photosynthetic bacteria (helping controlling levels of O2), and algae release of dimethyl sulfide, an important gas to cloud formation.
Life on the planet will never stop astonish me. We humans are the culminate of four billion years of evolution on earth and we have an obligation to leave a legacy of protection and care of the life on earth.
July 25, 2013
Don't be deterred by the pedestrian science in the first few chapters of Planet of Viruses. It gets better. And by better, I mean more interesting and mysterious.
Viruses are fragments of genetic code encased in protein with the capacity to invade cells and commandeer cell resources to reproduce the virus, ultimately bursting the cell wall to release replicated viruses. Certain viruses have been harnessed by animals and humans to play critical roles in the life of the organism. For example, human placentas are formed in part by the activity of specialized viruses. Viruses can perform photosynthesis and are estimated to account for about a quarter of earth's photosynthetic activity.
I almost abandoned this book at the end of the second chapter because it failed to provide anything beyond the usual descriptions of famous viruses ( influenza, HIV, etc.). So glad I kept reading. I will reread this one again with pleasure.
Viruses are fragments of genetic code encased in protein with the capacity to invade cells and commandeer cell resources to reproduce the virus, ultimately bursting the cell wall to release replicated viruses. Certain viruses have been harnessed by animals and humans to play critical roles in the life of the organism. For example, human placentas are formed in part by the activity of specialized viruses. Viruses can perform photosynthesis and are estimated to account for about a quarter of earth's photosynthetic activity.
I almost abandoned this book at the end of the second chapter because it failed to provide anything beyond the usual descriptions of famous viruses ( influenza, HIV, etc.). So glad I kept reading. I will reread this one again with pleasure.
February 17, 2019
Non seulement, j'ai eu le plaisir de lire le livre en anglais (il est génial) mais également de le traduire en français avec mon ami Karim Madjer !
Tels des Flauberts en herbe, nous nous sommes arrêtés sur chaque phrase et nous sommes demandés quelle idée l'auteur voulait véhiculer, afin de respecter son intention et d'éviter une traduction littérale. Expérience géniale !
Intéressé par tout retour sur la traduction :)
Bonne lecture !
Biz
Alan
Tels des Flauberts en herbe, nous nous sommes arrêtés sur chaque phrase et nous sommes demandés quelle idée l'auteur voulait véhiculer, afin de respecter son intention et d'éviter une traduction littérale. Expérience géniale !
Intéressé par tout retour sur la traduction :)
Bonne lecture !
Biz
Alan
September 8, 2021
If you want to know more about what happened to the world in the past year this is the book for you. In a short space it explains what viruses are and what we can do and have done in the past to defeat and live with them. Please give a copy of this to all your anti vax acquaintances it just might save there lives.
February 6, 2020
It's a very short and informative book on viruses! I'd recommend it to everyone!
If you enjoyed it, please do read She Has Her Mother's Laugh. It's a book on genetics and heredity by the same author!
If you enjoyed it, please do read She Has Her Mother's Laugh. It's a book on genetics and heredity by the same author!
January 22, 2016
I do hope to get this out of the library again and write a better review, but I had to send it back and didn't have a chance to take notes.
Here are two excellent gr reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here are two excellent gr reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
April 21, 2020
Read this book to understand viruses, vaccines, epidemics etc. Viruses are ancient and ubiquitous and we know very little about them. Read this book to get insights on the origins of many diseases and how humanity tackled them one by one through organised effort. Read this book to appreciate WHO's efforts in facing these challenges head-on and eradicating Small pox. Read this book to understand how we have been unsuccessful in eradicating diseases like Polio because of politics, war etc. At a time when WHO's competence is under scrutiny, cancelling their funding is still catastrophic. Many popular leaders can start wars with other countries but they cannot spearhead the war against viruses.
September 12, 2014
A very interesting read. Although I know absolutely nothing of this subject matter, it was relatively easy to understand. My favourite chapter was on the human rhinovirus (common cold). Who knew that it’s actually not the virus that makes us feel sick, the immune cells released to fight the virus, makes us feel horrible. I was also fascinated by the chapter on bacteriophages. These live viruses can be injected to (very effectively) fight and kill other viruses. We may be hearing more about this in future, as more and more people become resistant to antibiotics.
May 31, 2017
বিভিন্ন জাতের ভাইরাসের পরিচিতি, মানব সমাজে তাদের উপকারী ও অপকারী প্রভাব, ভাইরাস-প্রতিষেধক আবিষ্কার, ভাইরাস ঠেকানোর উপায়, ভবিষ্যত মহামারীর প্রকৃতি কেমন হতে পারে সে-সম্পর্কে ধারণা-- এসব নিয়েই এ বই।
পড়তে খুব ইন্টারেস্টিং হবে ভেবে কিনে ফেলেছিলাম ছোটখাটো সাইজের বইটা। পড়তে শুরু করার পর টের পেলাম এইটা নট মাই কাপ অফ টি। ভাইরাস নিয়ে ভ্যাজর ভ্যাজর কষ্টেসৃষ্টে শেষ করলেও খুব একটা উপভোগ করতে পারিনি। একটু ঘষামাজা করলেই অনুবাদটাও আরেকটু ভালো হতে পারত বোধহয়। তবে অণুজীববিজ্ঞান নিয়ে আগ্রহীদের জন্য খুব আগ্রহোদ্দীপক বই হতে পারে এটি।
পড়তে খুব ইন্টারেস্টিং হবে ভেবে কিনে ফেলেছিলাম ছোটখাটো সাইজের বইটা। পড়তে শুরু করার পর টের পেলাম এইটা নট মাই কাপ অফ টি। ভাইরাস নিয়ে ভ্যাজর ভ্যাজর কষ্টেসৃষ্টে শেষ করলেও খুব একটা উপভোগ করতে পারিনি। একটু ঘষামাজা করলেই অনুবাদটাও আরেকটু ভালো হতে পারত বোধহয়। তবে অণুজীববিজ্ঞান নিয়ে আগ্রহীদের জন্য খুব আগ্রহোদ্দীপক বই হতে পারে এটি।
January 31, 2020
The book mostly consists of boring disorganized descriptions of selected history of viral epidemics. I learned very little. Factually incorrect descriptions are everywhere. For instance, it claims boiling will not kill tobacco mosaic virus. Although TMV is a extremely thermal-stable virus, its thermal denaturation is reported at 90-93C(MA Lauffer at al. 1940), so sustained boiling will definitely kill it. All in all, the book is poorly researched and poorly written. It neither helped educate the reader on viral biology, nor told interesting histories on viral epidemics.
February 15, 2016
Los putos virus son lo más.
Literal.
Literal.
September 18, 2020
Нимгэн боловч баялаг агуулгатай... Үнэхээр сонирхолтой ном.
September 29, 2023
This is a very short overview of modern facts about viruses. I haven’t followed the topic and therefore a lot of info was new to me. I’d say the book whetted my appetite to learn more about this strange non-live (see below). I read it as a part of the monthly reading for September 2023 at Nonfiction Reading - Only the Best group.
I initially became aware of the uniqueness of viruses a few decades back, when in, I guess, the late 1980s I’ve read a translation of Isaac Asimov non-fic overview of several sciences взгляд с высоты (I guess initially published in the 1960s). This book starts with the basics, like how first viruses were detected (in the 1890s Dutch scientist Martinus Beijerinck studied tobacco mosaic disease. He ground up diseased plants and passed the substance through a filter so fine that it blocked all the cells it contained. He was left with a clear, cell-free fluid. When Beijerinck injected it into healthy plants, they developed the disease, so he proved a pathogen less than a cell in size.), which I was roughly aware of, but soon shits to new grounds, like stating: There are 100 billion times more viruses in the oceans than the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches (and even in the 1980s, the general consensus was that there were hardly any. Most experts believed that the majority of the viruses they did find in seawater had actually come from sewage and other sources on land.)
The book doesn’t even attempt to cover all this giant and quickly developing field, but instead limits itself to several interesting case studies from the origin of HIV (it turns out that HIV evolved from SIV - simian immunodeficiency virus not once but at least 13 separate times. This multiple origin it seems it a norm for a lot of viruses) to the very question is a virus alive? – the answer from the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses in 2000 officially declared: “Viruses are not living organisms,” however, a lot of scientists and the author disagree, even if it seems the problem is with definitions. In the 1990s a new group of mimiviruses were found. mimiviruses have 1,018 genes compared with 8 in the genome of the flu.
The book also discusses the eradication of smallpox, the use of bacteriophage viruses instead or with antibiotics, virus-activated cancers and more.
I initially became aware of the uniqueness of viruses a few decades back, when in, I guess, the late 1980s I’ve read a translation of Isaac Asimov non-fic overview of several sciences взгляд с высоты (I guess initially published in the 1960s). This book starts with the basics, like how first viruses were detected (in the 1890s Dutch scientist Martinus Beijerinck studied tobacco mosaic disease. He ground up diseased plants and passed the substance through a filter so fine that it blocked all the cells it contained. He was left with a clear, cell-free fluid. When Beijerinck injected it into healthy plants, they developed the disease, so he proved a pathogen less than a cell in size.), which I was roughly aware of, but soon shits to new grounds, like stating: There are 100 billion times more viruses in the oceans than the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches (and even in the 1980s, the general consensus was that there were hardly any. Most experts believed that the majority of the viruses they did find in seawater had actually come from sewage and other sources on land.)
The book doesn’t even attempt to cover all this giant and quickly developing field, but instead limits itself to several interesting case studies from the origin of HIV (it turns out that HIV evolved from SIV - simian immunodeficiency virus not once but at least 13 separate times. This multiple origin it seems it a norm for a lot of viruses) to the very question is a virus alive? – the answer from the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses in 2000 officially declared: “Viruses are not living organisms,” however, a lot of scientists and the author disagree, even if it seems the problem is with definitions. In the 1990s a new group of mimiviruses were found. mimiviruses have 1,018 genes compared with 8 in the genome of the flu.
The book also discusses the eradication of smallpox, the use of bacteriophage viruses instead or with antibiotics, virus-activated cancers and more.
November 21, 2020
এই ক্ষুদ্র জিনিসটার সাথে পুরো মানবজাতি অঙ্গা-অঙ্গি জড়িত। পৃথিবীতে যে পৃথিবীতে বিদ্যমান আছি, এই থাকার পেছনে মূল্যবান অবদান তাদের। আবার সময়ে সময়ে দুরারোগ্য ব্যাধি ও মহামারীর মাধ্যমে লক্ষ লক্ষ মানুষের দুঃখ, লক্ষ লক্ষ পরিবারের কান্নার কারণও তারা। এরা যেমন রোগ বাধায় তেমনই দেহকে রোগ থেকে বাঁচায়ও।
জগতে এমন কোনো প্রাণী নেই যাদের শরীরে তাদের বসবাস নেই। দুনিয়ার এমন কোনো জায়গা নেই যেখানে তাদের অস্তিত্ব নেই। সাগরের তলদেশ কি আগ্নেয়গিরির অভ্যন্তর, হাজার বছরের জমাট বরফ কি দূর মহাকাশ- সবখানেই তাদের উপস্থিতি। মানুষের অন্ত্রে কি যন্ত্রে, মগজে কি রক্তে সবখানেই তাদের পদচারণা।
এদের জগৎটা এত বিশাল যে, কল্পনাও করা যায় না। তার উপর এরা এতই ক্ষুদ্র যে এদেরকে চোখেও দেখা যায় না। এই বিশাল জগৎ সম্বন্ধে পাঠককে ধারণা দেওয়া সহজ কথা নয়। কিন্তু এই কাজটি করেছেন কার্ল জিমার। তিনি অনেকদিন ধরে জীববিজ্ঞানের বিভিন্ন বিষয় নিয়ে দারুণ দারুণ বই ও সুন্দর সুন্দর প্রবন্ধ লিখছেন। কোনো বিষয়কে তিনি এত সুন্দর করে উপস্থাপন করেন যে পড়লে মনে হয় এটা একটা আর্টপিস। ভাইরাস নিয়ে তার লেখা ছোট বই 'A Planet of Viruses'ও তেমন একটি কাজ। বইটিতে তিনি ভাইরাসকে এত সুন্দর করে উপস্থাপন করেছেন যে, পড়তে তো কোনো বেগ পেতে হয়ই না বরং আনন্দ হয়, ইচ্ছে হয় উনার অন্যান্য বইগুলোও পড়ে ফেলার।
চমৎকার এই বইটির অত্যন্ত চমৎকার অনুবাদ করেছেন সৈয়দ মনজুর মোর্শেদ। তিনি নিজেও অণুজীববিজ্ঞানের ছাত্র। অনেকদিন ধরেই লিখছেন বিজ্ঞান ব্লগ, জিরো টু ইনফিনিটি ম্যাগাজিন, Roar বাংলা সহ অন্যান্য মাধ্যমে। খুবই সুন্দর লিখেন, তার লেখা মাত্রই উপভোগ্য।
তার করা এই অনুবাদটিও দারুণ। অনুবাদ এতই ভালো হয়েছে যে মনে হচ্ছিল, মূল বইটি পড়লেও এত সুন্দর উপভোগ করতে পারব না। আফসোস হচ্ছিল, এমন একটা বই এতদিন কীভাবে শোকেসে অলস ফেলে রাখলাম? পড়ে শেষ করে খুব তৃপ্তি পেয়েছি, অনেকদিন পর এমন সুন্দর একটা বই পড়লাম।
সৈয়দ মনজুর মোর্শেদ অনেকদিন বেঁচে থাকুক। এ রকম সুন্দর সুন্দর আরো বই লিখুক। কার্ল জিমারের অন্যান্য বইগুলোও বাংলাভাষী পাঠকের জন্য অনুবাদ করুক এই আশা রইলো।
এখন করোনাভাইরাসের মহামারি চলমান। ভাইরাস সম্বন্ধে মানুষের আলাদা আগ্রহ জন্মেছে। বাংলাভাষী পাঠকের জন্য সেই আগ্রহের খোঁড়াক হতে পারে সহজ-সুন্দর ভাষায় লেখা এই বইটি।
বই: ভাইরাসের পৃথিবী (A Planet of Viruses) || লেখক: কার্ল জিমার || রূপান্তর: সৈয়দ মনজুর মোর্শেদ || প্রকাশক: প্রকৃতি-পরিচয় || প্রকাশকাল: ফেব্রুয়ারি ২০১৭ || পৃষ্ঠা: ১১৯ || মূল্য: ১৫০ টাকা
জগতে এমন কোনো প্রাণী নেই যাদের শরীরে তাদের বসবাস নেই। দুনিয়ার এমন কোনো জায়গা নেই যেখানে তাদের অস্তিত্ব নেই। সাগরের তলদেশ কি আগ্নেয়গিরির অভ্যন্তর, হাজার বছরের জমাট বরফ কি দূর মহাকাশ- সবখানেই তাদের উপস্থিতি। মানুষের অন্ত্রে কি যন্ত্রে, মগজে কি রক্তে সবখানেই তাদের পদচারণা।
এদের জগৎটা এত বিশাল যে, কল্পনাও করা যায় না। তার উপর এরা এতই ক্ষুদ্র যে এদেরকে চোখেও দেখা যায় না। এই বিশাল জগৎ সম্বন্ধে পাঠককে ধারণা দেওয়া সহজ কথা নয়। কিন্তু এই কাজটি করেছেন কার্ল জিমার। তিনি অনেকদিন ধরে জীববিজ্ঞানের বিভিন্ন বিষয় নিয়ে দারুণ দারুণ বই ও সুন্দর সুন্দর প্রবন্ধ লিখছেন। কোনো বিষয়কে তিনি এত সুন্দর করে উপস্থাপন করেন যে পড়লে মনে হয় এটা একটা আর্টপিস। ভাইরাস নিয়ে তার লেখা ছোট বই 'A Planet of Viruses'ও তেমন একটি কাজ। বইটিতে তিনি ভাইরাসকে এত সুন্দর করে উপস্থাপন করেছেন যে, পড়তে তো কোনো বেগ পেতে হয়ই না বরং আনন্দ হয়, ইচ্ছে হয় উনার অন্যান্য বইগুলোও পড়ে ফেলার।
চমৎকার এই বইটির অত্যন্ত চমৎকার অনুবাদ করেছেন সৈয়দ মনজুর মোর্শেদ। তিনি নিজেও অণুজীববিজ্ঞানের ছাত্র। অনেকদিন ধরেই লিখছেন বিজ্ঞান ব্লগ, জিরো টু ইনফিনিটি ম্যাগাজিন, Roar বাংলা সহ অন্যান্য মাধ্যমে। খুবই সুন্দর লিখেন, তার লেখা মাত্রই উপভোগ্য।
তার করা এই অনুবাদটিও দারুণ। অনুবাদ এতই ভালো হয়েছে যে মনে হচ্ছিল, মূল বইটি পড়লেও এত সুন্দর উপভোগ করতে পারব না। আফসোস হচ্ছিল, এমন একটা বই এতদিন কীভাবে শোকেসে অলস ফেলে রাখলাম? পড়ে শেষ করে খুব তৃপ্তি পেয়েছি, অনেকদিন পর এমন সুন্দর একটা বই পড়লাম।
সৈয়দ মনজুর মোর্শেদ অনেকদিন বেঁচে থাকুক। এ রকম সুন্দর সুন্দর আরো বই লিখুক। কার্ল জিমারের অন্যান্য বইগুলোও বাংলাভাষী পাঠকের জন্য অনুবাদ করুক এই আশা রইলো।
এখন করোনাভাইরাসের মহামারি চলমান। ভাইরাস সম্বন্ধে মানুষের আলাদা আগ্রহ জন্মেছে। বাংলাভাষী পাঠকের জন্য সেই আগ্রহের খোঁড়াক হতে পারে সহজ-সুন্দর ভাষায় লেখা এই বইটি।
বই: ভাইরাসের পৃথিবী (A Planet of Viruses) || লেখক: কার্ল জিমার || রূপান্তর: সৈয়দ মনজুর মোর্শেদ || প্রকাশক: প্রকৃতি-পরিচয় || প্রকাশকাল: ফেব্রুয়ারি ২০১৭ || পৃষ্ঠা: ১১৯ || মূল্য: ১৫০ টাকা
November 14, 2011
This is a slender volume that gives you quite a bit of easily accessible information about viruses. Each chapter tells the tale of a different virus in a fascinating way. Profiled are: rhinovirus (common cold), influenza virus, human papillomavirus, bacteriophages (viruses that "eat" bacteria), marine phages (viruses in the ocean), endogenous retroviruses (viruses that survive by inserting themselves into the host's DNA, some going back thousands of years), HIV, West Nile virus, SARS and Ebola, smallpox, and mimivirus. This may sound dull, but, trust me, it is not. It is studded with bits of history that make this a wonderful book for the layperson. For example, the name "influenza" is from the Italian word for "influence", and comes from the medieval belief that the stars influenced a person's health. This book is so brief, you can read it in an afternoon, and come away with some new insights.
September 13, 2012
Extremely light reading. Like 8th grade level. A gloss on the topic at most. Very unsatisfying.
April 4, 2020
This was a short and snappy read, covering very interesting subject matter and one that I found to be very readable and enjoyable. I’m very interested in this area of science anyway so this book was always going to be of a big interest to me and it didn’t disappoint.
I was drawn in by the book title as I’ve never read anything by Carl Zimmer before but after my experiences with this book I would definitely endeavour to change that and read more of the authors work.
From start to finish this book doesn’t take too long to read as it isn’t overly long but I loved it as a quick pick up and covered a wide range of viruses and content. There isn’t much to be said in a negative light about this book and as a scientist, I found it a great little read.
I was drawn in by the book title as I’ve never read anything by Carl Zimmer before but after my experiences with this book I would definitely endeavour to change that and read more of the authors work.
From start to finish this book doesn’t take too long to read as it isn’t overly long but I loved it as a quick pick up and covered a wide range of viruses and content. There isn’t much to be said in a negative light about this book and as a scientist, I found it a great little read.
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