Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live - Softcover

Dunn, Rob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1541618300 ISBN 13: 9781541618305

Publisher: Basic Books, 2019

Synopsis

The surprising science of the creepers, crawlers, wrigglers, and runners that call our homes, home
However domesticated our houses appear, they are wild beyond imagination. Look down in the basement, up in the attic, under the floorboards, and even in the showerhead, and you'll find life everywhere. Biologist Rob Dunn and his team have done it in homes worldwide, and they found nearly 200,000 species! In Never Home Alone, Dunn introduces us to these tiny tenants and shows us how -- in almost every case -- they make our lives better, and explains why trying to eradicate the bad ones just makes our lives worse. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory, and just plain fun book will look at their home, or the life in it, in the same way again.
A New York Times Book Review's "Editor's Choice"
"Excellent." --Wall Street Journal
"You'll love Never Home Alone." --Bustle
"Utterly fascinating." --The Washington Post

About this title

About the Author

Rob Dunn is a professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University and in the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen. He is also the author of five books. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Review

"Utterly fascinating... a spirited romp through the vast diversity that inhabits our daily lives and how we've changed our ecosystems, often for the worse."―Washington Post

"In his fascinating new book...Mr. Dunn brings a scientist's sensibility to our domestic jungle by exploring the paradox of the modern home.... Mr. Dunn also gracefully explains, without getting bogged down in details, the technology that has allowed scientists during the past decade or so to sequence the DNA of millions of previously unknown microbes, making his book an excellent layperson's guide to cutting-edge research."―Wall Street Journal

"Chatty, informative... it's hard not to be occasionally charmed by [Dunn's] prose, as when he catalogs the arthropods with whom we share our homes... And it's hard not to share, at least a little, his awe at their diversity, even in a single household."―New York Times Book Review

"[A] fascinating and illuminating book... Dunn and his colleagues have used the concepts and techniques of community ecology to tease apart the functioning of a mostly ignored ecosystem: the human home. Their research enriches our understanding of ecosystem function, and--more grippingly--gives us insight into how our interactions with living things in the domestic habitat affect our health and well-being."―Nature

"Never Home Alone is a thumping good book that raises alarm and offers reassurance in roughly equal measure. And it is funny... What makes [it] so compelling is a sense of wonder and delight that encompasses all sorts of creatures and all sorts of science."―Los Angeles Review of Books

"Intriguing... Seen through Dunn's curious eyes, a house becomes not just a set of rooms, but a series of habitats to be explored. His writing and research lend a new appreciation of what many of us consider pests."―Science News

"If you're an insectophobe looking for a thrill, you'll love Rob Dunn's Never Home Alone, which details the thousands of species of insects and microbes that live in and around your home."―Bustle

"If you could somehow infuse the curiosity of a 6-year-old with Ph.D.-level intelligence, imagine what wondrous things you could learn. Or why not make it easier on yourself, and just read Never Home Alone. Yes, that delightful, open-minded gee-whiz is exactly what makes this book so enjoyable. Surprisingly, it's doubly so for a germophobe, an arachnophobe, or anyone who can't stand the idea of intruders. Dunn has a way of brushing fears aside so he can tell you about something that's too cool to miss, or a fact that makes you say, 'Wow!'... Science-minded readers will love this book. It's filled with things you'll want to know for the health of it. Really, for anyone who's alive, Never Home Alone is a book to share with a few million of your newest best friends."―Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez columnist

"If you enjoyed I Contain Multitudes, this book should be next on your reading list. Just like Ed Yong shows readers the fascinating microorganisms all around us, Dunn opens our eyes to the minute creatures that live within the confinement of our own homes... a fascinating and entertaining read."―Read More Science

"Wonderful."―TreeHugger

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1541618300
• ISBN 13: 9781541618305
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336