(for any order > 35€)
A book written in French
A fascinating book that recounts the saga of bacteria and the history of epidemics, vaccinations and antibiotics.
"At about three o'clock in the afternoon, I saw little eels or worms which wriggled and twisted. Of all nature's wonders, it was the most marvellous and I have to add that I have never felt more pleasure than when watching several thousand of these creatures moving around in a drop of water, each animated by its own movement."
Using a rudimentary microscope to study a pear infusion, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, an unknown draper from Delft, was the first human being to observe bacteria.
This incredible discovery took place on 10 July 1676, and yet bacteria were the first living creatures to inhabit the earth more than three billion years ago. These single cell organisms evolved into more complex beings which gave birth to plants, to animals and…. to man.
In an era in which the emergence of new bacteria, pandemics and bioterrorism are a potential threat to our very existence, this scholarly and lively work is an argument in favour of the fact that we have never needed science to work for the benefit of mankind to the extent that we do now.
CONTENTS
- The dawn of Humanity
- The spontaneous generation of life myth
- From contagium vivum to bacteria
- The road to discovery
- His Highness the fly
- The search for the smallest bacteria, viruses
- The AIDS explosion
- The pandemonium of recent viruses
- What makes a bacteria tick
- "Magic Bullets"
- Imitating Nature
- "Trembling from fear and cold"
- Renaissance Island
- Epilogue. Terra incognita