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Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are | 
 enlarge | Author: Marlene Zuk
Publisher: Harvest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $3.34
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 387421
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0156034689
Dewey Decimal Number: 579
EAN: 9780156034685
ASIN: 0156034689
Publication Date: May 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
We treat disease as our enemy. Germs and infections are things we battle. But what if we’ve been giving them a bum rap?
From the earliest days of life on earth, disease has evolved alongside us. And its presence isn't just natural but is also essential to our health. Drawing on the latest research, Zuk answers a fascinating range of questions about disease: Why do men die younger than women? Why are we attracted to our mates? Why does the average male bird not have a penis? Why do we--as well as insects, birds, pigs, cows, goats, and even plants--get STDs? Why do we have sex at all, rather than simply splitting off copies of ourselves like certain geckos? And how is our obsession with cleanliness making us sicker?
In this witty, engaging book, evolutionary biologist Zuk makes us rethink our instincts as she argues that disease is our partner, not our foe. Reconsider the fearsome parasite!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
Very Recommendable Book About a Neglected Wildlife - On Us August 2, 2008
How many hundreds of different species of bacteria are in your intestines? How many worms are regularly found in humans? Why are the moose, some humans hunt, more riddled with "yuk" than those which escape? These are only some of many questions getting answered. Other topics include evolution having been parasite dependent, exaggerated cleanliness being the way to sickliness and various conditions and diseases getting caused previously unexpectedly by parasites. And of course, such dinner party information jewels that half of our feces consist of bacteria... Our pets and wildlife get mentioned, too. Like the average horse in New York State losing some 15 quarts/liters of blood a month to bloodsucking flies.
This book is a lot about sexuality. Evolution and parasite jumping make that necessary. Yet, this book goes further. Some insects having continuous sex for 79 days. Fleas only for 30 minutes, but while remaining attached to their host with their mouths. Double greedy little suckers... Some cricket females suck the blood of their male lovers during the act while something called traumatic insemination is normal procedure among bedbugs. (It's even weirder than it sounds.)
Yet, as in her previous book Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can't Learn about Sex from Animals it shows that the author isn't quite the sexpert, all the while writing about it anyway. This time, it's about repeated myths in the field of parasites, of course. By reading this book, one could get the impression that syphilis was introduced to Europe via the official contact to the Americas after 1492. However, this disease has been known in the UK before that and even skulls in Pompeii reveal the ancient presence of this STD in Europe. HIV would inflict disproportionately "subpopulations" in most parts of the world. Well, in sub-Mediterranean Africa, that is clearly not true and increasingly not for countries such as Russia. She's also averring that no STDs would be transmitted to children in normal, unsexual circumstances. As a result, the mild symptoms of childhood infection causing adult resistance of otherwise much more severe adult symptoms would never apply to any STD. Well, usually the first STD most people acquire during teenage sexuality (with most heavy throat ache), UNLESS the young adults had acquired it normally and otherwise and very mildly in kindergarten previously is mono(nucleosis) aka Pfeiffer's disease aka glandular fever. It fits exactly the above description. And about that toilet seats supposedly being free of any STD: Hmm, ok, maybe after you blow the odd pubic hair with nit or just hatched mini-crablouse away and if you do not count hepatitis as a STD. Which you should, if you prefer certain sexual practices amazon would not be happy with me describing them here. At least in some European countries, there are sexual groups included in health insurers' preventive vaccination against hepatitis. But then again, what do we have Latin for if not to educate that if you are a devoted anilinguist (or was it "most devote"?), you will get free vaccination shots in Germany. Most certainly, hepatitis viruses are long-living outside the human body and toilet flushing is a wonderful way of spreading them anywhere in the room. Also, the viruses of condyloma are transmissable from any shared surfaces of naked behinds, though the hole of the toilet seat may prevent more frequent transmission than in European saunas with no towel dress code. In other words, it is a myth that it is a myth that you can't get any STD from a toilet seat.
But overall the book is very recommendable to read and at times extremely funny. It covers subjects in-depth, Parasite Rex : Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures is already mentioning like fungus sexually altering insects and about toxoplasmosa. If you are interested in more symbiotic body roomies (commensals), largely restricted to bacteria and in a systematic text book presentation, read the rather dry Microbial Inhabitants of Humans: Their Ecology and Role in Health and Disease. Much more grippingly written is Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World by a science journalist. Which is also more in-depht about the history of antibiotic treatments and their failure due to mounting resistance. About former parasites, today our energy source and DNA family tree provider, mitochondria, read Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life. A more general biological approach of symbiosis is Liaisons of Life: From Hornworts to Hippos--How the Unassuming Microbe has Driven Evolution. A theoretic re-thinking, including reconstructing taxonomy and theories about gaia, read Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution. "Riddled with Life" does not feauture any pictures. If you like a coffee-table book, get Human Wildlife: The Life That Lives on Us.
 enjoyed another book much better December 19, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If I read this book before I read another similar book I may have given a better review, but I enjoyed Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer much better. I felt at times the writing was somewhat exaggerated an issue and it was not necessary. There were also times when they tried to lead you into thinking in a particular way and then give facts as to why that's wrong. That is also not necessary. Parasite Rex is much better written and less sensationalized. It gives a more straight forward and interesting account of these fascinating animals.
Good Subject--Bad Editing July 18, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm giving this book 3 starts because it has some very fascinating content and the nature of the research should be better understood by everyone. We need to know that there is a serious risk to public health at hand due to the wide spread misuse of antibiotics. So read it! It's important! This review is just warning you that it may take some effort.
To Ms. Zuk and her editors: "Read the 'Accidental Mind' by Dr. Linden before you publish your next 'accessible to the public" science book. Note how you can be clear, concise, and still have a sense of humor. I really got the feeling that no one actually read your book through (while paying attention) before it went to press. You can do better."
 Riddled with Life July 12, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great read!! I grew up in tropical regions of Latin America where parasites were always considered an enemy to be avoided. It wasn't until I read this book that I realized that not only could I NOT avoid them but in fact I NEEDED them for my very existence! This book is suitably researched and scientific to satisfy any skeptic. It is WONDERFULLY humorous throughout. It is informative as can be. Any layman, even without scientific training, will find this book highly informative, fun, and well worth the read. OK, there are a few passages that bog down a bit, but they are few and far between. The rest is just great. I'm giving this one to several people this Christmas.
 Disappointing June 23, 2007
0 out of 15 found this review helpful
I bought this book after I heard an interview of the author on a late night radio show. The book was very disappointing to me and I must admit I didn't finish it. I think it may have been the constant gushing about Evolution and Darwin that was boring me.
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