My challenge at a small liberal arts institution is having a single course to present the centrality of the microbial world (or as a student put it, my fixation on “microbial supremacy”). Thus, I search for books (in addition to a textbook) promoting a sense of excitement regarding the “Small Things” around and within us. In the past, I have used books by Bernard Dixon, Howard Gest, John Postgate, and Betsy Dyer. In these books, students are introduced to microbial vignettes illustrating the current “ferment” of microbiology revolving around specific themes: medicine, ecology, history, and so forth.
Dr. Ingraham, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at UC Davis, and former President of the ASM, has watched the field of microbiology develop into the current dizzying array of subdisciplines and new discoveries. The author has also written several textbooks and an enormous number of journal articles, and thus clearly possesses the tools and talent to be an effective microbiological advocate.
There is much to like about this fine new book. The writing style is adroit and excellent. The skills of the microbiology educator are everywhere: descriptions of basic metabolism, an organized progression from concept to application to everyday life, and an infectious enthusiasm for matters microbial. The chapters begin with useful overviews and some biochemistry, followed by further elaboration on topics such as: microbial impacts on our food and drink, elemental cycling, extremophiles and their adaptations, fungi, viruses, pathogens, and some fascinating symbioses. This reviewer found Ingraham’s lyrical descriptions of how microbes help shape the biosphere itself, as well as our own close associations with them, to be especially pleasing and believes students will as well.
There is so much I enjoyed about this book that it is difficult to pare things down for the interested reader. I particularly liked how Dr. Ingraham introduced all five senses to his descriptions of microbiology, and returned to this theme repeatedly. For example, the role of microbes in the generation of odors including trimethylamine in fish, geosmin in soil, the characteristic aroma of fine Swiss cheese, and less pleasant smells indicative of human disease. The line diagrams in this book are clear and well situated. The subheadings in each chapter draw the reader in effectively, and underscore overall themes. I also appreciated the index and glossary. There was an admirable balance between well-beloved examples of topics that excite microbe fans, current findings of the past few years, and finely-crafted connections between the two classes of prokaryotic tales.
As expected in any project like this, there were some things I wish had been explained a bit differently. Xanthan gum was described as “dead cells” from a fermentation culture of Xanthomonas campestris, while one of the challenges of commercial production of this polymer is to maximize the capsular polysaccharide and minimize the cellular material. In addition, “metagenomics” was described as a tool for determining population composition via 16s rRNA sequences, rather than as a fascinating and inclusive source of environment-specific genes. Finally, any book of this modest length will miss certain recent discoveries of interest: the mysterious mimiviruses, sociomicrobiology, microbial evolution in the laboratory, and so on.
That being said, I will be assigning this enjoyable book to my microbiology classes. I will also be distributing portions of it to my introductory biology students, proselytizing “microbial supremacy.” Again, I feel that students are not exposed to enough microbiology, early enough, to reinforce that microbes are the very basis of our biosphere. Books like Dr. Ingraham’s, preaching the primacy of prokaryotes (and a few eukaryotes) from interrelated directions, are useful tools in any educational arsenal.