"You Lovely Little Life Forms!"

It's a Microbial World A recently completed census of the world's ocean microbes found more than expected. Lots more.

Lots, and lots and lots more:

When the International Census of Marine Microbes (ICoMM) kicked off in 2003, microbiologists had identified 6,000 kinds of microbe and predicted that they might find as many as 600,000.

After collecting samples at more than 1,200 sites around the world, ICoMM researchers compiled a database of 18 million microbial DNA sequences and identified hundreds of thousands of different microbes. They conservatively estimate that there must be at least 20 million kinds of microbe in the oceans. The true number may even be billions or trillions.

And they're all over the place! I'd quote, but I think it's better to let you read it for yourself.

The Invisible Kingdom by Idan Ben-Barak

The Invisible Kingdom is a gem. It is informative, full of wonder, and funny. I've never read a science book that was funny before!

Really, any two out of the three would make this a stand-out book, but the three together? Spectacular.

I never, ever, would have expected to be laughing out loud while reading a book on microbes, and while I might have read one or two bits out of another book (because I do things like that), I would not have read so many, or so constantly.

In his final interview-with-himself, Ben-Barak writes that "the main thing I wanted to show was how fluid and varied life is. . . . . Reality's deliciously absurd and fun" (191), and that is exactly what he conveys from page one all through.

Run to your nearest library and grab a copy--or head to the book store and buy one. It's worth it.