Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures

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Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous

Creatures

by Carl Zimmer

 

 

 

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* Table of Contents

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ISBN: 074320011X

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Synopses & Reviews

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IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites control the minds of their hosts,

sending them to their destruction.

 

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites are masters of chemical warfare

and camouflage, able to cloak themselves with their hosts' own molecules.

 

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites steer the course of evolution,

where the majority of species are parasites.

 

WELCOME TO EARTH.

 

For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and

in the darkest shadows of science. Yet these creatures are among the

world's most successful and sophisticated organisms. In Parasite Rex,

Carl Zimmer deftly balances the scientific and the disgusting as he

takes readers on a fantastic voyage. Traveling from the steamy jungles

of Costa Rica to the fetid parasite haven of southern Sudan, Zimmer

graphically brings to life how parasites can change DNA, rewire the

brain, make men more distrustful and women more outgoing, and turn

hosts into the living dead.

 

This thorough, gracefully written book brings parasites out into the

open and uncovers what they can teach us about the most fundamental

survival tactics in the universe.

Review:

" As Zimmer shows, parasites are the real drivers of evolution: we live

at best only arm's length from the unseen creatures that control our

lives. Zimmer loves his subject, and his treatment is gentle rather

than sensational: the understatement only heightens the horror. Read

Parasite Rex and shudder — your dinner-party conversations will never

be the same again. " Henry Gee, Senior Editor at Nature and author of

In Search of Deep Time

Review:

" Carl Zimmer is one of the finest, most engaging science journalists

today. He has demonstrated once again his ability to present

scientific concepts in arresting, understandable prose. " Paul Hoffman,

author of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

Review:

" Bacteria and viruses have received all the press when it comes to

plagues. In this vividly written book, Carl Zimmer explores the

complex world of worms, protozoa and other terrifying creatures that

pose an equally great public health threat around the world. These

organisms are even more subtle and challenging enemies, and Zimmer

provides an excellent introduction to them. " Christopher Wills, author

of Yellow Fever, Black Goddess

Synopsis:

Parasites can: rewrite DNA; rewire the brain; genetically engineer

viruses as weapons; and turn healthy hosts into the living dead. This

book follows researchers as they penetrate the mysteries of these

omnipotent creatures who control evolution, ecxosystems, and perhaps

the future of mankind.

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About the Author

Carl Zimmer is the author of At the Water's Edge and a frequent

contributor to Discover, National Geographic, Natural History, Nature,

and Science. He is a winner of the Everett Clark Award for science

journalism and the American Institute of Biological Sciences Media

Award. He lives in New York City.

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Table of Contents

Contents

 

Prologue: A Vein Is a River First sightings of the inner world

 

1. Nature's Criminals

 

How parasites came to be hated by just about everyone

2. Terra Incognita

 

Swimming through the heart, fighting to the death

 

inside a caterpillar, and other parasitic adventures

3. The Thirty Years' War

 

How parasites provoke, manipulate, and get intimate

 

with our immune system

4. A Precise Horror

 

How parasites turn their hosts into castrated slaves,

 

drink blood, and manage to change the balance of nature

5. The Great Step Inward

 

Four billion years in the reign of Parasite Rex

6. Evolution from Within

 

The peacock's tail, the origin of species, and other battles

 

against the rules of evolution

7. The Two-Legged Host

 

How Homo sapiens grew up with creatures inside

8. How to Live in a Parasitic World

 

A sick planet, and how the most newly arrived parasite

 

can be part of a cure