Microcosm

February 18, 2008
When most readers hear the words E. coli
, they think tainted hamburger or toxic spinach. Noted science writer Zimmer says there are in fact many different strains of E. coli
, some coexisting quite happily with us in our digestive tracts. These rod-shaped bacteria were among the first organisms to have their genome mapped, and today they are the toolbox of the genetic engineering industry and even of high school scientists. Zimmer (Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea
) explains that by scrutinizing the bacteria's genome, scientists have discovered that genes can jump from one species to another and how virus DNA has become tightly intertwined with the genes of living creatures all the way up the tree of life to humans. Studying starving E. coli
has taught us about how our own cells age. Advocates of intelligent design often produce the E. coli
flagellum as Exhibit A, but the author shows how new research has shed light on the possible evolutionary arc of the flagellum. Zimmer devotes a chapter to the ethical debates surrounding genetic engineering. Written in elegant, even poetic prose, Zimmer's well-crafted exploration should be required reading for all well-educated readers.

April 1, 2008
To display a broad swath of the people, scientific processes, and discoveries involved in biology, science writer Zimmer ("Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brainand How It Changed the World") describes a common, luxuriantly growing, usually benign gut bacterium, "Escherichia coli", or "E. coli". Easily grown in petri dishes, the species has alter egos that can kill its hosts, making the organism a useful laboratory model to explore the basis of heredity. Zimmer recounts the ingenious experiments performed over the last century, garnering Nobel prizes for those scientists who outlined the textbook diagrams of the biochemical processes that all organisms on Earth share with "E. coli". He effectively counters the proponents of intelligent design concepts by describing the work of evolutionary development scientists who have shown evolutionary processes occurring in "E. coli" within a very short time line. The scientists, their work, and the ethical questions with which they wrestle are sensitively profiled, and Zimmer employs imagery to great effect, leaving the reader with the sense of having attended a well-executed museum exhibit intended for intelligent adults. Recommended for public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/08.]Sara Rutter, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa Lib., Honolulu

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2008
Escherichia coli could benefit from better public relations, so poor is its image whenever the bacterium is busted for tainting the food supply. Perhaps its rehabilitation commences with Zimmers account of E. colis crucial role in scientific work, some of whichhas beenrecognizedwith Nobel Prizes. The author of popular works on evolutionary biology (Parasite Rex, 2000), Zimmer describes experiments on E. coli that demonstrated evolution as it happens at the genetic level, whichrepresents just one of several arenas in which the microbe has served as cell biologys guinea pig. As Zimmer recounts, it was used in the revelation of how DNA codes work; in mapping the circuits of metabolism;in the invention of recombinant DNA; and in biotechnology products such as artificial insulin. It has even been used as evidence in litigation about so-called intelligent design curricula, whose champions claimed E. colis flagellum (or tail) as proof of their case. Strong on the logic behind controlled experiments, Zimmer renders an absorbing picture of what E. coli says about the history and future of life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)