I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life

"Super-interesting... He just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best" (Bill Gates)

"[A] marvellous, thrilling and richly annotated book... I call it marvellous: everything about the microbial world is to be marvelled at. And it is a page-turner in a very old-fashioned sense. All life is here, and death too, and sex and violence, including deviations of which you had never dreamed ... We have an inner life, in every sense, and are the richer for it: richer still for this witty and compelling book." (Tim Radford Guardian)

"Beyond fascinating. An amazing book. It'll change the way you think about the world. It'll change who you think you are." (Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk)

"Momentous ... an essential read" (Bryan Appleyard Sunday Times)

"I Contain Multitudes makes the importance of popularising science...sparklingly clear... From his vibrant introduction to his witty endnotes, Yong’s expertise and narration hold no less wonder than a sacred text." (Kate Womersley Spectator)

"Masterful ... smart, canny, and often quite beautiful ... In the realm of the life sciences there is a noble tradition of popular books that ... have reshaped our view of the world ... In my own reading I think of Schrödinger’s What is Life, Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and, more recently, Nick Lane’s The Vital Question. Among such company, I Contain Multitudes can hold its head high." (Guardian)

"I Contain Multitudes has a terrific story to tell ... Ed Yong is a talented British science writer ... his first book covers a huge amount of microscopic territory in clear, strong, often epigrammatic prose ... He is infectiously enthusiastic about microbes and he describes them with verve ... Even the book’s endnotes are rich with interesting asides, swarming with interesting sidelights, a teeming microbial world." (Jonathan Weiner New York Times)

"I also very much enjoyed and admired I Contain Multitudes." (Bill Bryson Observer, Book of the Year)

"An account that is far, far more entertaining than an exploration of microbes should be." (Tom Whipple The Times, Book of the Year)

"[An] utterly absorbing and hugely important book... [Yong] is an extraordinary adept guide. Writing with lightness and panache, he has a knack of explain complex science in terms that are both easy to understand and totally enthralling... I Contain Multitudes is popular science writing at its best. Reading this book will make you view the world differently." (Wendy Moore Literary Review)