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Bioverse: How the Cellular World Contains the Secrets to Life's Biggest Questions
By exploring the extent of our deeply integrated cellular world, Bioverse provides profound insights about ourselves, our health and well-being, our social systems, and our permanent relationship to the planet and the cosmos.
For as long as humans have been on Earth, we have looked up to the stars for clues to our own existence. Medical doctor and evolutionary biologist William B. Miller, Jr. suggests that we may find more meaningful solutions at the end of a microscope rather than a telescope. Using powerful analogies and exacting science, Bioverse explores the wonders of the perpetual partnership between our personal cells and the microbial world, resulting in an entirely new view of our living planet. To understand life in all its varieties, we must undertake to understand our cells. While the partnership between our cells and our microbes has largely been thought of as that of “host” and “guest,” Miller reveals the true partnership under which both our microbial fraction and our own personal cells conduct a life-long dialogue, redefining our traditional conceptions of intelligence and problem-solving. This radical new approach explains exactly how our human choices are centered within the same cellular rules that enable our cells to seamlessly sustain our lives. We are now entering the “Era of the Cell,” a time in history during which medical and scientific innovations have spurred growth far beyond ever imagined by our ancestors. For the first time, we are not only building machines to enhance our lives but engineering living organisms to assist our futures. From the biological origins of evolution to the invention of the compound microscope by a Dutch lens maker in the 17th century, to new research that reveals surprising links between our microbiome and our moods and behavior, and surprising stories of the cellular world from the deepest oceans, wildest jungles, and outer reaches of our solar system, Miller introduces readers to a greater understanding of our impact on the planet and the world’s reciprocal impact on each of us. By exploring the extent of our deeply integrated cellular world, Bioverse provides profound insights about ourselves, our health and well-being, our social systems, and our permanent relationship to the planet and the cosmos.
For as long as humans have been on Earth, we have looked up to the stars for clues to our own existence. Medical doctor and evolutionary biologist William B. Miller, Jr. suggests that we may find more meaningful solutions at the end of a microscope rather than a telescope. Using powerful analogies and exacting science, Bioverse explores the wonders of the perpetual partnership between our personal cells and the microbial world, resulting in an entirely new view of our living planet. To understand life in all its varieties, we must undertake to understand our cells. While the partnership between our cells and our microbes has largely been thought of as that of “host” and “guest,” Miller reveals the true partnership under which both our microbial fraction and our own personal cells conduct a life-long dialogue, redefining our traditional conceptions of intelligence and problem-solving. This radical new approach explains exactly how our human choices are centered within the same cellular rules that enable our cells to seamlessly sustain our lives. We are now entering the “Era of the Cell,” a time in history during which medical and scientific innovations have spurred growth far beyond ever imagined by our ancestors. For the first time, we are not only building machines to enhance our lives but engineering living organisms to assist our futures. From the biological origins of evolution to the invention of the compound microscope by a Dutch lens maker in the 17th century, to new research that reveals surprising links between our microbiome and our moods and behavior, and surprising stories of the cellular world from the deepest oceans, wildest jungles, and outer reaches of our solar system, Miller introduces readers to a greater understanding of our impact on the planet and the world’s reciprocal impact on each of us. By exploring the extent of our deeply integrated cellular world, Bioverse provides profound insights about ourselves, our health and well-being, our social systems, and our permanent relationship to the planet and the cosmos.
324 pages, Hardcover
Published October 15, 2022
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17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 27, 2022
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
The first few chapters were pretty boring and hard to get into. But you know what? After that, I sort of got into the rhythm of the book, and it read quite well. I especially loved all of the new info it presented me with, ideas about the microbiome that I've never really heard of. While reading Bioverse, I googled a lot of new concepts and I even read through one or two scientific papers, and I don't think I would have learned about this stuff at all, if this book hadn't introduced those ideas to me. Even though some of them have been available for a while, it just doesn't seem to be mainstream. The author of the book thinks that figuring out our microbiome science is the way of the future, and judging by the growing interest in the world in the past few years, I think this might be true. Either way, it's a very interesting direction to be heading in, and I loved reading about it.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
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The first few chapters were pretty boring and hard to get into. But you know what? After that, I sort of got into the rhythm of the book, and it read quite well. I especially loved all of the new info it presented me with, ideas about the microbiome that I've never really heard of. While reading Bioverse, I googled a lot of new concepts and I even read through one or two scientific papers, and I don't think I would have learned about this stuff at all, if this book hadn't introduced those ideas to me. Even though some of them have been available for a while, it just doesn't seem to be mainstream. The author of the book thinks that figuring out our microbiome science is the way of the future, and judging by the growing interest in the world in the past few years, I think this might be true. Either way, it's a very interesting direction to be heading in, and I loved reading about it.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
Book Blog | Bookstagram | Bookish Twitter
September 15, 2022
I stopped reading this book at around 25% through. I did not see any cohesive story and I did not enjoy what I felt was ponderous writing; in other words I enjoyed neither the content nor the writing. Although the book does offer some good analogies to explain certain things, this was not enough for me to keep reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Rowman & Littlefield, Prometheus for the advance reader copy.
October 10, 2022
I found this book on the secret life a cells to be informative and engaging. Our understanding about how organisms function and interact is expanding rapidly. It may soon revolutionize medicine. This book explains the past and looks forward to the future. It took a minute for me to get used to the book’s lofty tone, but after that, I found much to enjoy.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
October 8, 2022
There's some interesting info here. It's accessible to everyone, and the premise seems spot-on that cellular research is evolving in interesting and useful ways. I like every chapter, but they're short and I skimmed those that didn't hold my interest.
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews