Product Description

For decades parasites were the pariahs of science. Only recently have biologists begun to appreciate that these diverse and complex organisms are the most highly evolved life forms on earth. In this work, Carl Zimmer takes the reader on a tour of the strange and bizzare world that parasites inhabit, and recounts the voyages of these wonders of creation. Parasites can: rewrite DNA; rewire the brain; genetically engineer viruses as weapons; and turn healthy hosts into the living dead. This book follows researchers in parasitology as they attempt to penetrate the mysteries of these omnipotent creatures who control evolution, ecxosystems, and perhaps the future of the human race.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132751 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Carl Zimmer is a senior editor at DISCOVER magazine. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Everett Clark Award for science journalism in 1994 and the American Institute of Biological Sciences Media Award in 1997.

Customer Reviews

From revulsion to respect
If you're interested in life in general and natural wonders in particular, you should find this book fascinating, with your senses of revulsion and respect stimulated in more or less equal measure. The author has travelled the world, collecting data for this book, meeting interesting parasitologists and discussing some of the weird and fantastically well-adapted parasites they study. Carl Zimmer seems to be on a mission to give us a fresh, new way of looking at parasites - they've had a bad press and he's out to redress the balance. Parasite Rex should open your eyes to the part parasites play in maintaining a balance in the world's ecosystems; how vital they are to the well-being of life on our planet; how some can be used as a kind of 'canary in a mine' to measure the health of an environment and so on. In addition to that, the parasites covered in this book are just incredibly interesting. There were several occasions when I wondered if I should really believe what the author was telling me - the sort of account you might expect to find in some science fiction tale - so I checked other sources and sure enough, some parasites are so outlandishly bizarre that their story is hard to believe.

Zimmer explains how parasites came to be reviled; he describes a selection of species, their life cycles and the diseases they cause - sometimes using actual cases; he explains how they get into and manipulate their hosts (this is where you'll read some of the most astounding accounts that could out-weird any science fiction story); how their hosts fight back; how parasites have driven evolution by forcing their hosts into an 'arms race'; and how we should, in some ways, try to be more like them (the more benign ones at least). Some parasites are deadly of course but many cause no more harm than they have to, because wiping out their hosts would not help their survival. Zimmer compares parasites that use their hosts in this considerate way to humans using this planet in a considerate, non-destructive way. He says there's no shame in being a parasite. If we treated our host (the planet) with the care and consideration that some parasites treat their hosts, our planet's ecosystems would not be in the mess they are today. You have to hand it to the author, that's a new and intriguing way of looking at parasites.

I found his ideas very persuasive and I recommend this book. If you like Parasite Rex, you'll also enjoy Mark Ridley's "The Red Queen" and Arno Karlen's "The Biography of a Germ", both of which I highly recommend.

Excellent, wide-ranging insight
I bought this book on the basis of a favourable review in New Scientist. The book is written in a very accessible style, making it very readable by non-scientists and scientists alike. The story writting ability of Carl Zimmer is a welcome change from some of the supposed popular science authors. Many of the storys are deliciously gruesome, but also educational, as Carl explores the complex relationship of parasite and host from many angles. The role of parasitism in shaping eveolution is considered as are the physiological and behavioural consequences of a parastic relationship. My one criticism is that Carl does not differentiate between parasites (keep their hosts alive) and parasitoids (intentionally kill their hosts), a subtle distinction that I felt would have helped in his explanations. This is a minor issue and certainly does not detract from an excellent book. I would thoroughly recommend this bokk at anyone who is even vaguely interested in parasites and modern diseases.

A whole new way of looking at things
This book turns our view of life on our planet on to its head. It shows how parasites outnumber "normal" species and, far from being degenerate forms, are incredibly sophisticated and varied. All a bit worrying when you stop and think, but truly fascinating and the book is almost impossible to put down.