Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us

by Ruth Kassinger

Say “algae” and most people think of pond scum. What they don’t know is that without algae, none of us would exist.

There are as many algae on Earth as stars in the universe, and they have been essential to life on our planet for eons. Algae created the Earth we know today, with its oxygen-rich atmosphere, abundant oceans, and coral reefs. Crude oil is made of dead algae, and algae are the ancestors of all plants. Today, seaweed production is a multibillion-dollar industry, with algae hard at work to make your sushi, chocolate milk, beer, paint, toothpaste, shampoo, and so much more.
 
In Slime we’ll meet the algae innovators working toward a sustainable future: from seaweed farmers in South Korea, to scientists using it to clean the dead zones in our waterways, to the entrepreneurs fighting to bring algae fuel and plastics to market.
 
With a multitude of lively, surprising science and history, Ruth Kassinger takes readers on an around-the-world, behind-the-scenes, and into-the-kitchen tour. Whether you thought algae was just the gunk in your fish tank or you eat seaweed with your oatmeal, Slime will delight and amaze with its stories of the good, the bad, and the up-and-coming.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Nature, Biology, Environment, Audiobook, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2019

About the author

Ruth Kassinger is the award-winning author of eight science and history books for young adults. In addition, her science and health writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic Explorer, Health magazine, Science Weekly, and other publications.

Ruth Kassinger's most recent book—her first for an adult audience—is Paradise Under Glass: An Amateur Creates A Conservatory Garden. She chronicles her journey through a midlife crisis by creating a conservatory at her suburban home. Her adventures of her transformation from brown thumb to green, she weaves the history of conservatories from Renaissance orangeries to glass palaces like Kew to today's high-tech plant nurseries in Florida.

Ruth Kassinger lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband, a West Highland terrier, and dozens of tropical plants and trees.

Reviews

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eons ago algae made life on earth possible by emitting oxygen into the atmosphere, algae continue to support life today by working as a natural buffer to the climatic effects of carbon dioxide emissions, and algae may be our best tool available for the fight against climate change and as a means to power a fossil-fuel free future.

The book is divided into four sections which focus on the following subjects; (1) biological history of algae and other photosynthetic organisms, (2) the economic and cultural aspects of the dietary uses of algae and seaweed, (3) uses of algae as biofuels and for climate sustainability, and (4) harmful impacts of some types of algae due to human-induced land use change and habitat loss.

The author tells of her travels all over the world to interview researchers and entrepreneurs who are seeking and using advanced means of cultivation, harvesting, and refining of algae. She often speculates of the potential future uses of algae as the technology advances.

The following are some parts of this book that were of particular interest to me.

Nutritional Aspects of Algae

As a food supplement, some varieties of algae are amazing sources of nutrients. The following is an excerpt from the book describing the nutritional value of one of the 65,000 known species of algae. (The doses noted are for comparison purposes, not recommended. Too much carotene will turn your skin orange, and your body will limit vitamin A production to protect against liver damage.)

Spirulina growers often advertise their product as a "super-food" and proclaim an astounding nutritional profile: spirulina, they say, has 2,300 percent more iron than spinach, 3,900 per-cent more beta carotene than carrots, 300 percent more calcium than milk, and 375 percent more protein than tofu. But don't be misled. Numbers like these are on a per-calorie or per-gram basis. On a per-serving basis, it's a different story. Earthrise and other companies advise consumers to eat just 3 grams, or about a teaspoon, of spirulina per day. A serving of spirulina does contain 140 percent of the daily recommended value of beta carotene, a pigment that our bodies convert to vitamin A. One teaspoon also provides about 10 percent of our recommended daily amount of iron, and it has antioxidant qualities. (p.139)

Seaweed Prebiotics

Unlike probiotics that claim to provide beneficial bacteria, prebiotics provide nutrients that encourage the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria. The author suggests that prebiotics made from seaweed may help counter the worldwide epidemic of antibiotic-resistant microbes by offering an alternative to therapeutic antibiotics in animal feed used by the meat industry. The following excerpt begins with a quotation of Dr. Dr Franklin Evans (of Acadian Industries)

“We’ve tried our product in every kind of animal, from nematodes to rats, poultry, beef cattle, pigs, rabbits, and ducks. In every case it increases the presence of beneficials and decreases Salmonella and E. Coli in the gastrointestinal tract of test animals.” The Journal of Applied Phycology published a study by Evans and a colleague that shows that kelp and other seaweeds are at least five times more powerful than inulin in boosting livestock performance and rival the efficacy of therapeutic antibiotics.

There is also mention made of a feed additive made from seaweed that reduces the amount of methane emitted to the atmosphere by cattle with ruminant stomachs.

Biofuels

The use of biofuels will permit continued use of current power plants and internal combustion powered vehicles and remain carbon neutral. Algae are the most efficient means available to create biomass that can be used to make biofuels. It is carbon neutral because algae create the biomass by utilizing energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into organic material.

Even though algae (mostly in the oceans) comprises less than two percent of total live plant mass on earth today, algae are responsible for fifty percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide converted into organic carbon. This suggests that algae are fifty times more efficient than land plants at producing organic material (not accounting for larger area of oceans). Indeed, the Department of Energy reports that algae have the potential to yield at least 30 times more energy per land area than land-based crops currently used to produce biofuels (or any other organic material than can be converted into anything fossil fuels are used for today—such as plastics, cosmetics, and biochemicals) However, there are reasons to believe that additional research into various kinds of algae and genetic engineering will make algae production even more efficient. Also, keep in mind that algae production can occur on non‐arable lands, using saltwater or brackish water. I think I heard a presenter at a technical conference claim that under carefully controlled environment that algae could beat land plants by a factor of 100.)

So why aren't we using more biofuels now? Well, it's difficult to compete against subsidized fossil fuels.

When NAABB closed out its work, it calculated that if growers were to implement all their suggested improvements, they could price algae gasoline as low as $7.50 per gallon. … Nonetheless, algae oil technology is still far from mature, and there are many avenues of innovation that can make it more competitive.

Geoengineering

This book makes brief mention of one method of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of which I've long been an advocate. The author suggests that it could perhaps sequester about ten to fifteen percent of the current human contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Algae are not equally distributed throughout the world's oceans, and the Southern Ocean is notably lacking in them. Dr. John Martin, director of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California, discovered in the 1980s that algae are scarcer there because the ocean lacks iron, a metal critical to photosynthesis and other cell functions. And it's not just the Southern Ocean; nearly one-third of the world's oceans have some degree of iron deficiency.

Martin once said, "Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age." A joke, yes, but what he meant was that if we add iron to iron-deficient waters, greater numbers of algae will flourish and then will sequester carbon dioxide on the ocean floor. Add enough iron to the Southern Ocean and, theoretically, algae will increase thirtyfold. That would—again, theoretically—mean a thirtyfold increase in the amount of carbon dioxide the Southern Ocean could remove from the atmosphere. Core samples taken from ancient ocean beds indicate that, in the past, higher levels of marine iron, greater numbers of marine life, and lower levels of carbon dioxide occurred together.

An Appendix is included at the end of the book with recipes that use seaweed products.

[B. Rule · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an okay pop-sci overview of algae, covering the role algae have played in shaping our current climate, their uses as food and fuel, and the effects of climate change on algal blooms and how they could also be used to help mitigate such crisis. The writing style can be a bit of a chore, but it's no worse than plenty of other books out there.

This book suffers from the same problem that a lot of non-fiction or pop-sci does: Kassinger seems to feel that her account requires firsthand experience of her topic in far-flung locales (or maybe she just wanted an excuse to travel), even when such expeditions get condensed down to a paragraph or less in the finished book. This book is worse than many in that regard as there's an almost frenetic pace to her account, where she tosses off very brief mentions of various locations and people she encountered in researching her story. It's made all the more galling in a book so concerned with the effects of the climate crisis: is it responsible authorship to jet-set around just so you can drop in two sentences about visiting a seaweed farming operation in South Korea, or sampling seaweed delicacies in Wales, etc., etc.? Google and some phone calls would have served just as well! I guess who am I to begrudge an author their boondoggles, but it strikes a strange tone when it's sandwiched in between harrowing descriptions of what we've done to our planet in such a short time. Maybe I would have felt more forgiving if the book had turned out better. Instead, it's passable but not great.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth Kassinger's Slime looks at the several organisms that we collectively refer to as algae - their evolution and how these simple sunbathers have become so abundant around the world. Because of this bounty of seaweed, there are currently many uses for it and even more are under development, which the author talks about in detail.

It's much more of a business book than a pure nature read, which I don't think the cover or title does a good job of advertising, but learning about the potential for everything from seaweed sunscreen to oil derived from these green blankets of scum was a lot of fun!

Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book (and one other book on slime) over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much fascinating material in this chunky book by Ruth Kassinger. It may be my total ignorance of biology and everyone else knows these things, but I learnt so much - for example that seaweed is algae and not a plant, about algae's role in the development of land plants, about the algae in lichen and its contribution to coral reefs.

The book is divided into four broad sections: on the origins and development of algae, on algae (and particularly seaweed) as food, on making use of algae, for example, for biofuel, and on algae and climate change, particularly the bleaching of coral and algal blooms. This is all done in a very approachable writing style, mixing descriptive material that is never over-technical with narrative often featuring visits to different locations and to talk to a range of experts from those who study to algae to those who cook them.

There are two problems though. Firstly, the book is too long at 380 pages. Each section could do with a trim, but this was particularly obvious on the section on eating seaweed. Although I'm not a fan of the stuff, I can see the dietary appeal of seaweed, and eating algae and the processes of growing it could easily have sustained 20 pages - but instead we get 76 (with passing mentions elsewhere).

The other issue was one of timing. I happened to read this book soon after Mike Berners-Lee's There is No Planet B and Seth Wyne's SOS. Given that Kassinger makes a big (and sensible) point on the need to take action on climate change, I'm just not comfortable any more with popular science titles where the author jets from location to location just to talk to do research and have an experience. The reality is that a single long haul return flight has the same carbon footprint as around one third of a UK citizen's footprint for a whole year. We can't lecture people on climate change and continue to fly like this.

Berners-Lee also makes the point that biofuels are a ludicrously inefficient way to harness the Sun's energy. An electric car could get 200 times the range out of the solar energy from a field as a petrol car could from the fuel produced from it. The figures may differ a little for algae - but not that much. Kassinger makes the point that we will still need fuel for ships and planes, but hydrogen is likely to be a far better alternative than carbon fuels where using these is necessary.

Despite these concerns, there's a lot to like in this book and I'm glad I read it.

[Camelia Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slime is all about algae. It starts with how algae shaped the earth's environment throughout geological time, then moves onto algae as food. Seaweeds belong to the algae family. The most popular edible seaweed is nori, but there is also laver. Next time when I visit Wales, I'll definitely have some laverbread.

Section 3 "practical matters" covers algae as animal food, algae as natural fertilizer and algae biofuel. This is the most intriguing section. From 2005 to 2015, a dozen biotech startups received hundreds of millions investment from VCs in an attempt to turn algae into biofuel. This alternative fuel technology was seen as a solution to climate change due to algae’s ability to capture carbon dioxide and it was superior and more sustainable than other types of biofuels such as ethanol sourced from corn, soy and sugarcane.

The author documents two companies in detail: The Sapphire Energy and Solazyme, and both failed to turn the large-scale algae fuel production into reality. The reason is part technical challenges and part economics. The period of the algae fuel tech boom coincided with the period of high oil price. Go figure! Without government backing, algae fuel can't compete with cheap fossil fuel on the open market, in which climate damage is discounted. A quick Google search reveals that algae fuel these days has been used as a tool by oil companies such as Exxonmobil to “green wash” themselves. On the other hand, knowing the potential of algae fuel makes me feel hopeful.

Section 4 talks about algae's role in marine ecosystems and algae as pollutants caused by human activities.

This is the first book I’ve read on algae and I find it educational. However, I do not like the narrator. The unnecessary cadence fluctuation and the flowery decoration in her voice makes the author sound frivolous. It is a voice suitable for light fiction, not a science book.

[David Wineberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Algae are powerful enough on their own to change life on the planet. Billions of years ago they oxygenated the oceans and the air, then sent the planet into a deep freeze. They killed or banished the oceans’ anaerobic organism and covered the land in plants,” says Ruth Kassinger in Slime. Though this quote comes near the end of the book, the beginning really does tell the story eloquently. Not only are algae our past, they are also our future.

Before there were plants, before there was even oxygen, there were algae. With no predators, or much of anything really, algae pumped out oxygen from their spots in the water. It was, and is, simple photosynthesis, using the sun to their advantage. Eventually, they developed into land-based plants that continued the service ashore, while some kinds of algae continually sank to the ocean floor, sequestering carbon dioxide and becoming massive oil deposits. In other words, we owe pretty much everything to algae, the oldest lifeforms still around.

This story of algae’s role in life on Earth is fascinating, and it gives way to the astounding variety of algae, and how people all over the world have taken their local versions into their lives, and their stomachs. Algae filter the water they live in, keeping a shopping list of vitamins and minerals within them, and their larger versions – seaweeds.

Algae cool the planet. They block the sun, cool the water, provide the seeds for clouds, and sequester CO2. They are powerful enough to cause ice ages. They also color coral and provide shelter for a huge variety of underwater life. We are however, managing to overcome those services, as Kassinger points out numerous times, in different contexts.

There are now 400 dead zones in the oceans of the world, with more and longer lasting algal blooms forecast. A dead zone contains no oxygen, so nothing can live there. No plankton, no bottom feeders, no fish. The Baltic’s dead zone is the size of Montana, Kassinger says. Global warming is the cause, and we don’t know how bad things will get because of it. But we’re working on finding out. Algal blooms are occurring in freshwater lakes more and more, as everything warms to accommodate algae. Fertilizer, topsoil and pesticides complete the invitation to smelly red or green carpets of algae all summer long.

Kassinger describes and uses lovely, clear illustrations by Shanthi Chandrasekar to demonstrate the varieties of algae and seaweed. Seaweed in particular is a cornucopia of nutrition we are only just getting into in the West. From iodine to iron to vitamin Bs, seaweed is a largely untapped blessing. It requires no arable land, no fertilizers and is easy to harvest.

After this fast start, the bulk of the book is a little less satisfying, as Kassinger hits the road, visiting companies all over the world that are trying to make something more out of algae and seaweed. She describes endless factories and labs where someone is trying to leverage them. They are making biofuel, animal foods, biostimulants (super fertilizers), skin creams, or dreaming up geo-engineering projects to make algae sop up more of the CO2 we keep pumping out, while producing more oxygen. It’s an endless tour of failed startups from insufficinet capital, the price of oil falling (thanks to fracking) and less than efficacious management. There are also seaweed harvesters, who rake in, process and sell the raw or treated product for simple consumption. Some are purists, some are tinkerers. A lot of scientists seem to be playing with algae and seaweed DNA, trying to make them do more, or do things they were never intended to do. But the story of the algae and evolution easily tops them all.

Kassinger writes with a light touch, despite the tech terms and biological classifications. She constantly exhibits her passion for her subject, to the point of getting diver certification. It’s a fun read as well as an education. Clearly, it is vastly more important to life on Earth than most know. And as we run out of land, algae will become an even more important part of daily life.

I can’t think of another science book I’ve reviewed that contained recipes at the back.

David Wineberg

[Rebecca]

I was interested in the use of algae as a potential substitute in plastics production (e.g. in running shoe soles) and as a fuel after genetic engineering. It seems that it could be a substitute for petroleum, but research is ongoing and it will still take lots of time and money. The book was a little more technical and detailed than I was looking for – I had a similar reaction to Underbug by Lisa Margonelli: engaging writing and interesting facts, but maybe the research could have been summarized more and combined in a broader study of bioengineering tactics (as the termite book might have been in a general overview of insect technology). Surprisingly, the book ends with a section of recipes – seaweed is not just a trademark of Japanese cuisine, but is also an ingredient in traditional Welsh cooking.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up hoping for something akin to Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses and I didn't get that. This is a good book, don't get me wrong, but while it gives you some background on the biology of algae, its main focus is on using algae as a resource.

I'm the biggest fan of foraging. Seaweed is the best. I grew up on an island in which traditional houses were roofed using seaweed, and it was also used as fertiliser. It is an essential part of the ecosystem and it keeps the Mediterranean healthy. This book acknowledges seaweed's role in different cultures, as a general resource and a food, including as a supplement and a food additive, and singles out algae as a possible solution to climate change through many avenues, some of them more feasible than others. And that's where I started to squint a little. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to reverse the damage we've done, but I think Kassinger perhaps gets a tad too excited about some things and the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Using algae as a substitute for fossil fuels sounds good in theory, but scaling things to industrial proportions is what got us into this mess in the first place and we do not know, even a little bit, what the consequences of large scale operations involving algae production would bring forth. The people developing algae fuel are under pressure from investors to develop a product that's cheaper than fossil fuels, and that means they tend to lose sight of byproducts and other negative consequences. It's the capitalism of it all that landed us here. Again, maybe it's great! But let's tread lightly and not make things worse by commodifying yet another natural resource like the world is our supermarket. And do not get me started on feeding algae to cows to reduce carbon emissions, because that is the most backwards approach I can conceive of and I am going to scream a little bit.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was well written and engaging, but keep in mind it's science journalism and Kassinger is only gathering information from other sources. The audiobook is narrated by Xe Sands, who is extraordinary. I can heartily recommend you listen to this one. And there are some recipes at the end!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing that came to mind when I saw that this book was about algae, was algae blooms, (the clue is very much in the title). These are happening much more frequently now, caused by the excess runoff from farmland which goes into rivers and then the sea, where the resulting growth can cause horrendous problems with life in the area affected.

But algae are so much more than that. To begin with, none of us would be here without algae. They converted the poisonous atmosphere of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen and other gasses into oxygen. It took a couple of billion years, mind, but gave us an atmosphere we can breathe and equally importantly, a protective ozone layer.

That is simplifying it though. The first chapters of the book describe in detail the hell that the planet was at the time to a place where life stood a chance of surviving. All from these tiny pieces of slime. It is a wonder. Not only can we credit slime with giving life a chance to flourish on our planet initially, but it is still helping life exist here still. Algae are everywhere, and I do mean everywhere…

In some weird symbiosis with fungi, they make a new species called lichens, which can be much more than those grey patches that you find on walls. Seaweeds are algae and can be found in sushi, and ice cream as well as being a food in their own right, fat choi and laverbread are two examples. It has widespread uses around the world from fertilizers to animal fodder, it is used as a thickener and another algae is starting to be used as a replacement for oils as it can be used for the production of ethanol and other fuels.

I thought that this was a fascinating book. It opened my eyes to the critical role that algae have played in making our world habitable. It has great benefits, but too much of it can be a bad thing. Kassinger is an engaging writer and comes across as having endless enthusiasm about her subject. If you want to know more than you ever though possible abut algae then start here.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the title "Slime," how could this not be an interest-piquing book?
Kassinger certainly piqued my curiosity.

The narrative format (of the author jet-setting around and talking to scientists and algae people across the world) aside, this was a thoroughly entertaining read. There are a few questionables likely born out of too much enthusiasm for the subject matter, but that's pretty much par for the course in pop-science books... and that's essentially my entire two-item list of complaints for "Slime." Considering my penchant for finding things to complain about, I really think that just about says it all.

Kassinger covers a brief run-down of what algae is, how it works, and what it has meant historically. She moves on to discuss modern usages, and finishes with some potentially future-saving stuff. It's and interesting, easily digestible (no pun intended), and thought-provoking book that I'd recommend to just about anyone and everyone.

Pick this one up.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: The information in this book was fascinating, but the writing wasn't as engaging as I'd hoped.

You might not all relate to this, but I had high hopes for this book about algae! It struck me as a fascinating topic and the intro certainly made a good case for algae's importance. Algae has played a role in the evolution of life and will possibly be used as food, fuel, or as a counter to global warming in the future. Based on the book blurb, I was also looking forward to hearing about the author's experience meeting with scientists and learning new things. That's always my favorite part of Mary Roach's books and that was true of this book too.

The beginning of this book describes the origins of life. This material will likely be familiar to anyone who reads about popular biology books often. I mostly think it has been covered better elsewhere. There were a few standout analogies that I found helpful. However, terms like 'chromosomes' and 'organelles' weren't defined. I know these words and found that my husband (not a biologist) knew them too, so maybe that's alright. I'm just not sure how commonly understood they are. Later sections on basic biology had similar strengths and weaknesses. Organization was generally good, although all the different companies trying to grow large quantities of algae did start to blend together.

The author did visit many scientists and entrepreneurs, writing about her own experience learning the material she includes here. I think the fact that these sections hinge on the author's own experiences made them feel more immediate and lively to me. Unfortunately, I couldn't help contrasting the writing to someone more entertaining, like Mary Roach; someone more engaging, like Sam Kean; or someone more passionate and elegant, like Siddhartha Mukherjee. This author just didn't have that spark for me. I think she chose a great topic though and I liked the way she worked her experiences into the book, so she's still an author I'll keep an eye on in the future.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey

[Michelle Briffett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is phenomenal. Kassinger captivates with her ability to intertwine deep scientific knowledge with a light personal storyline. I will never be able to look at algae the same.

The book covers algae’s past - at the foundation of our planet, algae’s now - where we are with harnessing algae’s power for food, fuel or other applications and algae’s future - could algae be part of the most important problem of our generation (ie. climate change)?

[Darnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid, but it goes very broad as opposed to into depth. This covers some fascinating topics, but whenever it got into more complex or controversial subjects I felt like I wasn't getting the full story.

[Emma Sea · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting and well-written. I had wondered why the algae biofuel companies in NZ that received so much investment in the past never ended up with a marketable product, but I learned so much more besides this. Very happy with the sections on APT and algae evolution, and lichens. Recommended.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything you ever wanted to know about algae.
Algae as food, as fuel, perhaps even as solution to the problem of global warming.
I especially found the medical section interesting, have read lots about Robert Koch…but never from the perspective of his use of algae
Anyway, we’ll-researched and very readable

[Alexander Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book about the algae. To my surprise these are not considered plants, nor are they considered animals. They comprise cyanobacteria, microalgae, and macroalgae. In other words, germs, little tiny algae that you can barely see with a microscope and great big seaweed that can be 150 feet long. Also, they are sensitive and at the same time, the prime moving power behind climate change. They are the basis for food chains. They symbiotically live within coral polyps, allowing coral reefs to exist. They are responsible for oil deposits which power our civilization. The book also discusses how algae might be harnessed to solve the problems it has unleashed with global warming, etc. Very good non-fiction read.

[Carissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book won't be for everyone, but I LOVED IT. It should be for everyone, because really, we wouldn't be here without algae. I feel like I have a decent amount of algae knowledge since I teach about them every spring semester, but I learned a lot, and I thought that this book was super interesting. Hopefully I can incorporate some of the fun facts into my lectures to help me convince my students how important the algae are to us and the well-being of our planet.

[Emma B. (Emma's Bookshelf) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Algal biofuels and products is an area adjacent to my research work which is a major part of why I read this book. That said, I think Kassinger wrote about the science of growing algae and turning it into foods and other products in a way that is very accessible. You definitely don’t need to be a scientist! Whether you are interested in eating algae or climate change, if the synopsis piqued your curiosity I would recommend reading it!

[Glen Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certainly gets lost in the weeds of industry throughout, but it could be that I was so completely taken with the grand, evolutionary viewpoint of the first section and wanted to remain with that perspective. Either way, I cannot in good conscience rate this as anything less than five stars—for the sheer scale of the research alone, but also for all the information gleaned along the way, i.e., the importance of iodine and the prominence of goiter in humans until mere decades ago; algal blooms and their impact on marine populations that are already severely endangered by human activity and overfishing; the hopes of the future all but hinged on bioengineering, from adequate nutrition for humans to gene manipulation of algae to consume CO2 and combat climate change; from the development of a feasible algal oil to replace fossil fuels to the Southern Ocean Iron Experiment. And these are just the first bits to come to mind at the moment. On and on and on—a biological deluge and lesson in humility.

I think I will always remember the beautiful description of living reefs (which exist because of, yes, algae) and the mortifying contrast to a dead one. A stunning distinction all because of the most drastic change in ocean acidity in the last 50 million years:

“Between 1950 and 2018, the CO2 emissions generated by human activities rose from about 310 to more than 410 ppm, the highest level for at least 800,000 years. If we continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate in the next century, we will have doubled the current level of atmospheric carbon dioxide and engendered a temperature rise of 7 degrees C, 12,6 degrees F, or greater.”

Ah to be human in the age of information, on the dawn of impending consequence.

[Greg]

This book has an interesting topic going for it, but it's written in that grating pop-science way that the publishers seem to want and even very intuitive writers struggle to rise above.

You know..."Chapter 500: I'm standing knee deep in a stinking swamp in Burma covered in biting flies watching world-renowned leech biologist Chester X. Ample rake through black muck with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. 'Ah,' he says, pulling a squirming black ribbon from the muck. 'This is the most interesting creature in the world.' I squint. To me it looks like any other leech."

I could name a long list of recent non-fiction books that have played out with the same tired structure, same general character motifs to apply to the experts, even subtitles and cover designs that seem to be algorithmically-developed and always suggest that maybe this one topic really will make the difference between life and death for human civilization!

This book does not rise above the those conventions due to excellent writing, but it does on the interest in its subject matter. Although I learned some new and potentially useful things in this book, it still seems to go shallow. A whirlwind tour of the topic, only sporadically touching major ideas or making surprising connections.

I'd recommend it for its subject matter, and it's short and doesn't overstay its welcome by much. But it's probably not the One True Book on algae that you're going to want for your personal collection.

[Lesley Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following right along from the mind-blowing Entangled Life, this book explains how algae, the ancestors of all plants, may help us mitigate climate change. As I haven't had a science education, I value someone like Ruth Kassinger who can explain the why and how of cutting edge science and technology so clearly that I can truly appreciate a life form capable of changing the planet's climate, cleaning up our toxic environmental damage, and becoming food, fuel, pharmaceuticals, and even plastic. And other astounding information, such as reading that the Mississippi River drains 40% of America's land mass into the Gulf of Mexico. Or the more bone-chilling warning to pay your last respects to coral reefs now, as they won't exist by the end of this century at the current rate of destruction.

[Emily Stensloff · Rating 4 out of 5]

big fan of algae now, even bigger hater of capitalism now (didn't think that was even possible)

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much more fascinating read than I was expecting. Definitely something I had never thought about before or seen in my resources. A book that would definitely appeal to fans of science who are environmentally conscious and just enjoy learning more about biomes,the microcosmos and the history of Earth.
As a huge fan of microbiology and evolution this book was a total bibliocandy for me. I am just simply a total geek when it comes to the topics it writes about.

[Kimik Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read. I may have possibly definitely read part of this book while sitting next to a pool. Essential summer beach reading, for sure. I now want to totally swap careers and grow some weeds of the sea.

[Chris Geggis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I read it as a member of a science book club. I wasn't particularly looking forward to it because I wasn't expecting algae to be a very interesting science topic. The writer, Ruth Kassinger, made algae extremely interesting. I've even started adding some algae to my diet.

[Bruce Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought I was in for the same brain explosions that Merlin Sheldrake's wonderful book, Entangled Life induced. In some ways, it happened. But not all the way. Ms. Kassinger was playing the Greta Thunberg song of global warming, oops I mean, uh, climate change. You know, how all that will be left of polar bears is some fried fur... no wonder such advocates as Mr. Obama are buying houses half-way up the Rocky Mountains. Of course they aren't. No, they are buying right beside the sea because they KNOW that they were lying when they pretended to care. I wish Ruth had done the same.
However, the uses algae can be put to are quite astonishing, literally world changing. For that reason alone, the book is worth reading.

[Peter Tillman]

Nature review: https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
Metareview: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all...

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and interesting. Covers how algae have contributed to our lives from evolution, agriculture and fuel.

[Dana Slaughter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to acquaint you with algae and all it has and can do for mankind and the environment.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening, fascinating, and sobering. A must read for anyone interest in science and our world’s future. Timely and important.