Books about Microbes from Amazon.com

Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance Healthy soil is teeming with life-not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life. But there is an alternative to this vicious circle: to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web-the complex world of soil-dwelling organisms whose interactions create a nurturing environment for plants. By eschewing jargon and overly technical language, the authors make the benefits of cultivating the soil food web available to a wide audience, from devotees of organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy, vigorous plants without resorting to chemicals..
Price: $15.54 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $8.27 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Microbes and Society, Second Edition is designed for liberal arts students as a foundation course in life science This timely text takes readers on an extended tour of the microbial world emphasizing the remarkable variety among microbes and their role in our everyday lives. It explores such topics as the function of microbes in ecology and the environment, the use of microbes in biotechnology, the role of microbes in food production, as well as coverage of bioterrorism, antibiotic resistance, and microbial diseases. Students will be engaged with the authors' lively presentation of microbiology and how microorganisms touch our lives, for both good and bad, on a daily basis..
Price: $54.81 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A noted medical historian places recent outbreaks of deadly diseases in historical perspective, with accounts of other alarming and recurring diseases throughout history and of the ways in which humans have adapted. Reprint. 17,500 first printing..
Price: $4.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume:

Falling Free—The Nebula Award-winning novel. Leo Graf was just your typical efficient engineer: mind your own business and do the job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where children had been bio-engineered to have four arms (and no legs) to function in zero gravity. Now that they're no longer needed, a heartless mega corporation is getting rid of them before they eat into the profit margin. Leo Graf adopted 1000 quaddies—now he had to teach them to be free.

“Labyrinth”—When Miles Vorkosigan is captured while on a secret mission to a lawless world, his only hope of escape is an unlikely pair of allies: a quaddie and a teenage werewolf.

Diplomatic Immunity— Miles Vorkosigan and his wife were heading home for the births of their first children, but a major diplomatic disaster is looming at Graf Station, colonized by the descendants of the original quaddies, and duty calls. Unfortunately, diplomatic immunity doesn't carry over to immunity from a very nasty biological weapon. The downside of being a troubleshooter comes when trouble starts shooting back. . . .

.
Price: $5.66 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Microbe, a brand-new, general microbiology textbook intended for upper-division undergraduate courses, is an exciting introduction to the world of microbes With a distinct ecological and evolutionary orientation, Microbe invites readers to partake of the most current advances in the field. Written by prominent scientists with practical teaching, textbook writing, and research experience, this new textbook will engage students in the learning process with its clear, reader-friendly style and unique perspective of the field. Microbe is paradigm-driven rather than fact-driven. Key concepts are illustrated by inspiring examples that convey the excitement of the field. This is not a compendium of facts, but rather a textbook in the older, traditional sense: a book that can be used for studying rather than for looking up factual information. The book is divided into seven sections covering the most pertinent information related to the study of microbes, including microbial activity; structure and function; growth, inheritance, physiology, and diversity; and biological interactions. Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking study questions, for which answers are listed in the back of the book..
Price: $65.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In 1947, the U.S. Army left behind a secret when they closed Ft. Miles, Delaware A threat so deadly, they buried it 1000 feet down in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, sixty years later, an oil rig drilling off the coast of Delaware has hit something. Within hours, crew members are dying from a mysterious illness that kills unmercifully.

On the opposite coast, Justin Flannigan, an estranged epidemiologist is visited by the director of the CDC who convinces him to come to Delaware to investigate the bizarre illness. But shortly after he begins his investigation, he gets another visit. This time from an eccentric old man who claims to know the origin of the deadly contagion, and soon, Justin begins to suspect that there is more to this sickness than what first appeared. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

As the illness spreads to the general population, Justin realizes that this one old man may hold the key not only to his survival, but to the survival of the entire planet..
Price: $7.62 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Ever since we started huddling together in caves, the story of human history has been inextricably wed to the story of microbes. Bacteria and viruses have evolved and spread among us, shaping our society even as our changing human culture has shaped their evolutionary path.
Combining tales of devastating epidemics with accessible science and fascinating history, Deadly Companions reveals how closely microbes have evolved with us over the millennia, shaping human civilization through infection, disease, and deadly pandemic. Beginning with a dramatic account of the SARS pandemic at the start of the 21st century, Dorothy Crawford takes us back in time to follow the interlinked history of microbes and humanity, offering an up-to-date look at ancient plagues and epidemics, and identifying key changes in the way humans have lived--such as our move from hunter-gatherer to farmer to city-dweller--which made us ever more vulnerable to microbe attack.
Showing that how we live our lives today--with increased crowding and air travel--puts us once again at risk, Crawford asks whether we might ever conquer microbes completely, and whether we need a more microbe-centric view of the world. Among the possible answers, one thing becomes clear: that for generations to come, our deadly companions will continue to influence our lives..
Price: $19.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In Alien Species and Evolution, biologist George W. Cox reviews and synthesizes emerging information on the evolutionary changes that occur in plants, animals, and microbial organisms when they colonize new geographical areas, and on the evolutionary responses of the native species with which alien species interact.

The book is broad in scope, exploring information across a wide variety of taxonomic groups, trophic levels, and geographic areas. It examines theoretical topics related to rapid evolutionary change and supports the emerging concept that species introduced to new physical and biotic environments are particularly prone to rapid evolution. The author draws on examples from all parts of the world and all major ecosystem types, and the variety of examples used gives considerable insight into the patterns of evolution that are likely to result from the massive introduction of species to new geographic regions that is currently occurring around the globe.

Alien Species and Evolution is the only state-of-the-art review and synthesis available of this critically important topic, and is an essential work for anyone concerned with the new science of invasion biology or the threats posed by invasive species.

.
Price: $35.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]