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The Germ Files: The Surprising Ways Microbes Can Improve Your Health and Life
SOME GERMS ARE OUT TO GET US. . . . But we shouldn’t let a delinquent, pathogenic minority taint our view of the other 99.9 per cent.
The microbes living on and inside us outnumber the cells in our bodies three to one. Many provide services on which our well-being, our moods, our very lives depend. They help to digest our food and operate the immune system. They trade information about potential mates when we kiss. They alert the brain to problems in different locations around the body. The balance of their populations in our gut is a crucial factor in our physical and mental health.
The effect of germs on our lives is not, however, a one-way street. We can help their efforts by the way we lead our lives.
The Germ Files is a one-stop source of the most up-to-date, life-changing information on our relationship with microbes, presented in concise and highly readable items grouped by theme. Areas covered include health, hygiene, sex, childcare, nutrition and dieting.
The Germ Files will answer your questions about everything from preventing flu to selecting probiotics, while constantly surprising you with revelations about the miraculous workings of the microscopic world.
The microbes living on and inside us outnumber the cells in our bodies three to one. Many provide services on which our well-being, our moods, our very lives depend. They help to digest our food and operate the immune system. They trade information about potential mates when we kiss. They alert the brain to problems in different locations around the body. The balance of their populations in our gut is a crucial factor in our physical and mental health.
The effect of germs on our lives is not, however, a one-way street. We can help their efforts by the way we lead our lives.
The Germ Files is a one-stop source of the most up-to-date, life-changing information on our relationship with microbes, presented in concise and highly readable items grouped by theme. Areas covered include health, hygiene, sex, childcare, nutrition and dieting.
The Germ Files will answer your questions about everything from preventing flu to selecting probiotics, while constantly surprising you with revelations about the miraculous workings of the microscopic world.
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 2016
22 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 26, 2025
There is a lot of interesting and good information here. But the author’s confidence in probiotics goes far beyond anything empirical would merit. He also recommends supplements of questionable or no proven value throughout the book, which is a big red flag for me.
In particular the chapters on nutrition and health are dubious. His description of Xylitol and butyrate sound like infomercials. The discussions of honey, chocolate, soy sauce, kombucha, vinegar, and starches all contain questionable or inaccurate statements. He is dismissive of diet regimes (rightly so) but in the next sentence he says there is an exception, the fodmap diet which is “a step above the rest because it’s benefits are known and well tested”. This diet was conceived and is sometimes recommended for people with specific digestive ailments, not for everybody. He goes on to tell us all not to eat onions, lentils, broccoli, cabbage, or asparagus. This is a very short chapter but still, it’s there, and it’s so nonsensical that it makes you sceptical about the rest.
In particular the chapters on nutrition and health are dubious. His description of Xylitol and butyrate sound like infomercials. The discussions of honey, chocolate, soy sauce, kombucha, vinegar, and starches all contain questionable or inaccurate statements. He is dismissive of diet regimes (rightly so) but in the next sentence he says there is an exception, the fodmap diet which is “a step above the rest because it’s benefits are known and well tested”. This diet was conceived and is sometimes recommended for people with specific digestive ailments, not for everybody. He goes on to tell us all not to eat onions, lentils, broccoli, cabbage, or asparagus. This is a very short chapter but still, it’s there, and it’s so nonsensical that it makes you sceptical about the rest.
February 28, 2016
Jason Tetro spent fifteen years researching microbiology at the University of Ottawa, so he's a germ expert. Or a hypochondriac. Being an expert hypochondriac myself, I opened this book with some trepidation after reading the bold red type on the back cover: "SOME GERMS ARE OUT TO GET US."
Yikes.
I plunged bravely onward, opening the book at random to a page about honey. With its proteins, antioxidants, minerals, fructose, glucose, sucrose and fermented antimicrobials, raw honey can attack bacteria known to cause cavities. Once swallowed, it prevents heartburn and damage to the stomach wall from acid production. How cool is that! And just how does honey manage these miraculous feats? Because in it's raw form (that's unpasteurized, folks), it's fermented, containing several good bacteria and their byproducts.
Byproducts? Oh, geez. I don't want to know.
Flipping to another page, I discovered that Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, two species of probiotics, not only help you digest food, they release a plethora of vitamins and minerals in the gut, help prevent the onset of the trots, and…check this out…keep us calm. And oh by the way, they seek out and destroy bacteria "known to cause rotting and human infection."
Get me a bottle!
Where do the people who produce probiotics for consumption find their bacteria? Well, in milk or some fermented material…maybe.
Or human feces.
Wait! What!?
Specifically, baby feces. What better subject for gathering specimens than an infant with its gut full of strong bacterial species.
Feeling woozy yet?
Fear not. After all the testing in the laboratory to see if said feces bacteria can survive stomach acid, bile, and loss of oxygen, and have the ability to cling to human cells in the digestive track while dueling with potential pathogens and not harming its human host in the process, those who remain victorious are used for probiotic development. The end result is far, far removed from that sweet little baby's behind.
Whew.
This book is filled with fascinating tidbits. From hygiene to beauty products, health, food, diet, childcare and yes, even sex, the author does a bang-up job of explaining how germs impact us for the good or ill, where they come from, how they live (and die), how they protect us, and how to avoid their harm. And he does so in a highly readable, entertaining yet informative fashion.
If you want to live in harmony with those 137 trillion freeloaders that you're harboring, read this book.
Yikes.
I plunged bravely onward, opening the book at random to a page about honey. With its proteins, antioxidants, minerals, fructose, glucose, sucrose and fermented antimicrobials, raw honey can attack bacteria known to cause cavities. Once swallowed, it prevents heartburn and damage to the stomach wall from acid production. How cool is that! And just how does honey manage these miraculous feats? Because in it's raw form (that's unpasteurized, folks), it's fermented, containing several good bacteria and their byproducts.
Byproducts? Oh, geez. I don't want to know.
Flipping to another page, I discovered that Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, two species of probiotics, not only help you digest food, they release a plethora of vitamins and minerals in the gut, help prevent the onset of the trots, and…check this out…keep us calm. And oh by the way, they seek out and destroy bacteria "known to cause rotting and human infection."
Get me a bottle!
Where do the people who produce probiotics for consumption find their bacteria? Well, in milk or some fermented material…maybe.
Or human feces.
Wait! What!?
Specifically, baby feces. What better subject for gathering specimens than an infant with its gut full of strong bacterial species.
Feeling woozy yet?
Fear not. After all the testing in the laboratory to see if said feces bacteria can survive stomach acid, bile, and loss of oxygen, and have the ability to cling to human cells in the digestive track while dueling with potential pathogens and not harming its human host in the process, those who remain victorious are used for probiotic development. The end result is far, far removed from that sweet little baby's behind.
Whew.
This book is filled with fascinating tidbits. From hygiene to beauty products, health, food, diet, childcare and yes, even sex, the author does a bang-up job of explaining how germs impact us for the good or ill, where they come from, how they live (and die), how they protect us, and how to avoid their harm. And he does so in a highly readable, entertaining yet informative fashion.
If you want to live in harmony with those 137 trillion freeloaders that you're harboring, read this book.
December 24, 2019
Grabbed this popular science book off the shelf at the library, because it is about an area I know that my knowledge could be broader. However.
There are a lot of scientific claims in this book, and not a single citation. Which means that when I find a statement that is suspicious (or in fact, one that I'm reasonably certain is downright wrong), I have no ability to go and verify any of what has been said. Which means that by the end of the book, I wasn't willing to trust anything I'd read, except where it succeeded with confirmation bias.
In addition, there are a *lot* of references to weight loss, to obesity, and to simplistic methods for losing weight that really could have done with a little less gloss and a little more substance or being omitted altogether.
do not recommend.
There are a lot of scientific claims in this book, and not a single citation. Which means that when I find a statement that is suspicious (or in fact, one that I'm reasonably certain is downright wrong), I have no ability to go and verify any of what has been said. Which means that by the end of the book, I wasn't willing to trust anything I'd read, except where it succeeded with confirmation bias.
In addition, there are a *lot* of references to weight loss, to obesity, and to simplistic methods for losing weight that really could have done with a little less gloss and a little more substance or being omitted altogether.
do not recommend.
April 25, 2025
“THANK YOU JASON TETRO” WE ALL SAY IN UNISON
May 8, 2016
To be fair, I don't think I was really in the mood when I read this book. I had heard an interview with the author on the radio, and the book sounded interesting, so I ordered it from the library.
However, I found myself skipping through most of the book. I was hoping for more of a list of tips and neat ideas, but I found that there was too much theory, and I just found it too boring. I did learn two things. 1) Flush the toilet with the lid down; 2) if you can't wash something stinky (ie., from sweat) in hot water, consider freezing it instead to kill the bacteria.
So there. I saved you from reading it.
However, I found myself skipping through most of the book. I was hoping for more of a list of tips and neat ideas, but I found that there was too much theory, and I just found it too boring. I did learn two things. 1) Flush the toilet with the lid down; 2) if you can't wash something stinky (ie., from sweat) in hot water, consider freezing it instead to kill the bacteria.
So there. I saved you from reading it.
July 26, 2025
Some interesting discussion, but took me a long time to finish and there were so many things stated as fact that seemed more likely to be theories, studies referenced, and numbers given, with no author notes or references to see where the info came from. "Some studies have found..." is not convincing without being able to source the study. A pop-sci book like this should have references so curious readers can learn more or question where conclusions came from.
November 12, 2017
A great summary of how our body and environment all works when it comes to microbes. I have some many highlights to go through. I think I'll have to buy a print version of this book to keep as a reference. Highly recommend it to get accurate information.
June 28, 2024
interesting information, maybe overemphasized the role of microbes in some situations but i suppose that is the point of the book
December 28, 2021
I fell for it.
I loved the concept of the book and dug in with enthusiasm. My thoughts reading the first chapter: "hmm, a lot of this scientific information seems overly simplified".
I skipped ahead to the chapter on food and thought: "he's making some pretty bold statements about pomegranate".
Then I got to the part about activated charcoal and its effects on flatulence and was curious to see the author's citation. I go to the back of the book. Lo and behold, no citations! Not a single one.
The intro of the book claims "the information is well-founded...over 1,000 scientific articles". Why Mr. Tetro, why? The guy seems to be a legit microbiologist, maybe he reached too far out of his expertise with this book? Or maybe my expectations are too high for pop-sci books? There's some cool info in here and I'm sure a fair amount of it is valid, but come on. This is the 21st century - if you're going to write a book making haughty scientific claims, and you can't back them up, don't even bother.
Then the ultimate sin - the author, someone sensible enough to understand that not all bacteria are bad, uses 'chemical' as a bad word. Really? Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, but science communicators should to be held to high standards.
Rant aside, this is a fine coffee table or bathroom book, pleasant enough to read. I want to finish it, but when you start messing with facts, you've lost me.
I loved the concept of the book and dug in with enthusiasm. My thoughts reading the first chapter: "hmm, a lot of this scientific information seems overly simplified".
I skipped ahead to the chapter on food and thought: "he's making some pretty bold statements about pomegranate".
Then I got to the part about activated charcoal and its effects on flatulence and was curious to see the author's citation. I go to the back of the book. Lo and behold, no citations! Not a single one.
The intro of the book claims "the information is well-founded...over 1,000 scientific articles". Why Mr. Tetro, why? The guy seems to be a legit microbiologist, maybe he reached too far out of his expertise with this book? Or maybe my expectations are too high for pop-sci books? There's some cool info in here and I'm sure a fair amount of it is valid, but come on. This is the 21st century - if you're going to write a book making haughty scientific claims, and you can't back them up, don't even bother.
Then the ultimate sin - the author, someone sensible enough to understand that not all bacteria are bad, uses 'chemical' as a bad word. Really? Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, but science communicators should to be held to high standards.
Rant aside, this is a fine coffee table or bathroom book, pleasant enough to read. I want to finish it, but when you start messing with facts, you've lost me.
May 11, 2025
As a germophobe, The Germ Files was a very interesting read. Made up of tidbits of scientific trivia, it explores the many ways that bacteria interact with our bodies, good and bad. The main lesson was that our microbiota are more good than bad, and we have more to fear from killing them! Of significance are probiotic foods (Tetro goes in depth about which substances are really probiotic), honey, fibre and rubbing your hands on your upper arms. The bite sized presentation of the book is easy to pick up but can feel abrupt at times.
November 27, 2016
This is a fascinating book not only about how germs work but how systems in our body respond to germs. Not all germs are bad. Some are superheroes! This author takes what could be a very dry subject and turns it into an exciting journey of exploration.
November 29, 2016
Got 80% through and then did not finish. Not much new to me or stated in a new way. I prefer reading about the discovery process, symptoms, and treatment of disease over a general book about microbes.
April 20, 2016
Way too repetitive.
April 14, 2016
A brilliant well-written look into the world of microbes. I highly recommend this one!
July 12, 2016
Very interesting even if I think his prescription for probiotics for everything is a bit simplistic. Worthwhile though.
December 9, 2017
This book is well-written, informative and very interesting. I am recommending it to all my nurse friends and biology-loving students. It'd make a great Christmas present!
April 19, 2021
Interesting, but very choppy. He writes in short sections of a page or less that aren?t always related and it makes for a choppy rough read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews