Human Wildlife

Rating:
Summary: For biology students and non-specialist general readers
Review: Human Wildlife: The Life That Lives On Us by Dr. Robert Buckman (Medical oncologist, Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto) is an authoritative and inherently fascinating study of the bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites that live within and upon human beings. A few of these life forms are beneficial; most are neither helpful nor harmful, and a few species are viciously parasitic or even lethal. Full-color photographs (many of them magnified pictures of microscope viewings), add a stunningly effective touch to this accessibly informational resource for biology students and non-specialist general readers alike.

Rating:
Summary: The origin of feces
Review: The human body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only 10 trillions of them are human. The rest belong to the entities that call our body home. In Human Wildlife Robert Buckman takes us through a tour of the lives of the worms, bacteria, viruses and other creatures that live on and in us.

I picked up this book after listening to an interview with Dr Buckman. I was fascinated by the details Buckman provided on the origins of pheromones (produced by bacteria in our armpits), mouth breath (bacteria at the back of the tounge), and the cause of fart smell (colon bacteria breaking down proteins). What finally sold me on the book was the discussion on feces, a topic on which I know very little.

Now that I have finished reading the book I can say that I have not been disappointed. Buckman is informative while entertaining at the same time. His story about the fart-in-the-library problem made me laugh out loud :) I wish Buckman went into a little more details on some topics, but that can only be expected from an introductory text geared toward the general public.

Last but not least, the pictures and illustrations in this book are outstanding. I will never look at an eyebrow again without expecting to see a little Demodex, an eyebrow mite that two thirds of us carry, wiggling its tail back at me.