Yellow Fever, Black Goddess by Christopher Wills

Yellow Fever, Black Goddess by Christopher Wills

In this remarkable account, evolutionary biologist Christopher Wills takes us on a voyage of discovery through the exotic pasts of the viruses and bacteria that periodically emerge with such disastrous results for our species. It is our knowledge of their secret lives, the eons spent quietly passing in and out of myriad other life forms, mutating and coadapting, that gives us hope of taming them. By putting these organisms--from bubonic plague to Ebola--at center-stage, Wills shows how we will eventually master them.

Christopher Wills is an Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, and a member of the Center for Molecular Genetics. The Darwinian Tourist, The Runaway Brain, Plagues, Children of Prometheus, and The Spark of Life (with Jeffrey Bada) are among his many works. He was honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science with the Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology, which recognizes active scientists who make excellent contributions to science popularization.