Parasites: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests - Hardcover

Drisdelle, Rosemary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520259386 ISBN 13: 9780520259386

Publisher: University of California Press, 2010

Synopsis

Hidden away within living tissues, parasites are all around us--and inside us. Yet, despite their unsavory characteristics, as we find in this compulsively readable book, parasites have played an enormous role in civilizations through time and around the globe. Parasites: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests puts amoebae, roundworms, tapeworms, mites, and others at the center of the action as human cultures have evolved and declined. It shows their role in exploration, war, and even terrorist plots, often through an unpredictable ripple effect. It reveals them as invisible threats in our food, water, and luggage; as invaders that have shaped behaviors and taboos; and as unexpected partners in such venues as crime scene investigations. Parasites also describes their evolution and life histories and considers their significant benefits. Deftly blending the sociological with the scientific, this natural and social history of parasites looks closely at a fascinating, often disgusting group of organisms and discovers that they are in fact an integral thread in the web of life.

About this title

From the Author:

Between the lines of history books, we might expect to find many interesting things - anecdotes and facts that are very significant but never written down. We generally don't, however, expect to find a hidden menagerie of parasites. The great events of history, we believe, were orchestrated by humans, dictated by action and counteraction, turned by the decisions of world leaders. What could parasites have to do with history?
   And yet we appreciate how many of our own experiences are created by a chain of seemingly small and insignificant events that make absolute sense only when viewed in retrospect. That's how it is with parasites. By examining the parasite in the context of the event, this book seeks the scientific pearls that pull it all together: science can reveal how exploring new territory could unleash deadly parasitic disease, how malaria could save the Los Angeles International Airport from a terrorist, how a simple change in human behavior can open the door for a parasite or foil it completely.
    The book looks within us as well, at our beliefs and the urban legends and mythologies of parasites that inform them. Most of us shudder at the thought of having lice, or mites, intestinal worms, or--ghastly thought--worms in the brain. Some of us are philosophical: lice happen. Some are obsessed. All living things are part of the web of live, but it's particularly difficult to give parasites their due. Who needs them?
    Parasites: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests is not a book about how awful parasites are. It is a book about what parasites are up to, and what they have been up to for millions of years, both good and bad. Good, bad, beautiful, ugly, benign, deadly; they are all... fascinating.

From the Back Cover:

"If unfortunate circumstance prevents you from acquiring parasites of your own, this book is the next best thing. Sure, you'll miss the itching, the hatching, the malnutrition, and the brain damage, but you'll make up for that in history (the hookworm's view on slavery is a rarely considered perspective), mystery (crimes committed with creepy-crawlies), and climatology (global swarming alert). There's no substitute for a real scabies infection, but this book comes close!" - Hannah Holmes, author of The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0520259386
• ISBN 13: 9780520259386
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280