Super-interesting... He just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best -- Bill Gates
[A] marvellous, thrilling and richly annotated book... I call it marvellous: everything about the microbial world is to be marvelled at. And it is a page-turner in a very old-fashioned sense. All life is here, and death too, and sex and violence, including deviations of which you had never dreamed ... We have an inner life, in every sense, and are the richer for it: richer still for this witty and compelling book. -- Tim Radford * Guardian *
Beyond fascinating. An amazing book. It'll change the way you think about the world. It'll change who you think you are. -- Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
Momentous ... an essential read -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *
I Contain Multitudes makes the importance of popularising science...sparklingly clear... From his vibrant introduction to his witty endnotes, Yong's expertise and narration hold no less wonder than a sacred text. -- Kate Womersley * Spectator *
Masterful ... smart, canny, and often quite beautiful ... In the realm of the life sciences there is a noble tradition of popular books that ... have reshaped our view of the world ... In my own reading I think of Schroedinger's What is Life, Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and, more recently, Nick Lane's The Vital Question. Among such company, I Contain Multitudes can hold its head high. * Guardian *
I Contain Multitudes has a terrific story to tell ... Ed Yong is a talented British science writer ... his first book covers a huge amount of microscopic territory in clear, strong, often epigrammatic prose ... He is infectiously enthusiastic about microbes and he describes them with verve ... Even the book's endnotes are rich with interesting asides, swarming with interesting sidelights, a teeming microbial world. -- Jonathan Weiner * New York Times *
I also very much enjoyed and admired I Contain Multitudes. -- Bill Bryson * Observer, Book of the Year *
An account that is far, far more entertaining than an exploration of microbes should be. -- Tom Whipple * The Times, Book of the Year *
[An] utterly absorbing and hugely important book... [Yong] is an extraordinary adept guide. Writing with lightness and panache, he has a knack of explain complex science in terms that are both easy to understand and totally enthralling... I Contain Multitudes is popular science writing at its best. Reading this book will make you view the world differently. -- Wendy Moore * Literary Review *
[A] densely fascinating and elegant book... Yong's book is vividly enjoyable. * Daily Telegraph *
[Yong is] one of our best and brightest popularisers of science. Yong's boundless curiosity and infectious enthusiasm make him the perfect guide to complex scientific ideas, while the clarity and concision of his writing ensure that the lay reader is not made to fell unduly daunted... Excellent book' -- Simon Griffith * Mail on Sunday *
Ed Yong has done something beautiful, and unlikely: he's rendered the unseen world of bacteria thrilling, captivating and highly entertaining. This is a much-needed guide to the hidden kingdom that dominates life on Earth. It cuts through all the buzzwordy hooey and flakey hype of microbiomes with a scientifically steady hand, but told with an infectious sense of awe. -- Adam Rutherford, broadcaster and author of Creation
Yong vividly describes the intricate alliances forged by microbes with every other organism on the planet... The most delightful part of Yong's book is that he does not just tell the stories of microbiomes, he also introduces readers to dozens of the scientists studying them... Their stories and conversations radiate the excitement of unlocking new secrets. -- Susan Perkins * Science *
'I Contain Multitudes is wonderful. Deeply strange, true, funny, beautifully written' -- William Gibson
[It] bowls along wonderfully... His hero, Sir David [Attenborough], would surely approve. * The Economist *
Ed Yong's magnificent revaluation of bacteriology, I Contain Multitudes, counsels humility for student doctors like me: modern medicine's pathogens may be the future's therapeutics. -- Kate Womersley * Spectator *
A science journalist's first book is an excellent, vivid introduction to the all-enveloping realm of our secret sharers. -- Editor's Choice * New York Time Book Review *
[A] fascinating and lively study. -- Michael Prodger * The Times *
Beautiful, smart, and sometimes shocking * Wired *
