To order the book at a discount from Amazon, click on the pictures
1st British edition. First USA edition. American p/b. Japanese edition.
From the original jacket for the British edition:
As a child, Brian Ford watched beautiful iridescent organisms under the eye of his microscope and found these microbes infinitely more satisfying than the predictable antics of more traditional pets. Later, as his training, experience and knowledge began to stretch beyond the established limits of research, he began to appreciate that it wasn't just the public, but among some fellow scientists that there lay real ignorance of what microbes are all about.
Since Pasteur proclaimed his germ theory, all microbes have been regarded with suspicion. Not that Pasteur was wrong, but science may have been misguided in allowing its attention to concentrate so fully on only a tiny, rather nasty percentage of the microbe population. The vast majority are health- promoting, energy-supplying organisms vital to our very existence.
Is it possible that these positive little microbes can be harnessed? Could we have at our command armies of infinite variety available to benefit society? Instead of imperilling our future through further waste, could not the microbe help us enhance our way of life?
Food - could microbes feed the starving?
Power - could microbes replace traditional sources of energy?
Health - ought we to reverse some of our most deep-rooted ideas about disease?
Pollution - technologicaI recycling methods can be expensive: could microbes supply an endless, self-perpetuating answer?
Ecology - we are told that the 'balance of nature' is at risk - wouId research into the little-known role of microbes alter and extend our understanding? What are these tiny organisms which we have distrusted for so long? Can we afford to ignore them any longer?
This book, written by a scientist who believes whole heartedly that science is not just for the scientists but for every man, woman and child, does not set out to answer all the myriad new questions that arise. But there is no doubt that Brian Ford is exceptionally well qualified to propose that it is time we revised our ideas of what the microbe universe is all about.
The Author
"Brian J. Ford believes that most
scientific research can be
easily understood: His series is an example of the best
kind"
New Scientist
"... a research scientist who, on
television, has so notably
shown himself to be one of the rare masters of the art of
getting the message across"
Medical News
"Ford's rules should be painted on the
walls of laboratories
like the Ten Commandments in a parish church"
The Times Higher Education Supplement
"Ford is a strange mixture of the
scientist, the journalist, the
broadcaster and the academic... a phenomenon"
Western mail
