Synopsis
"Clear, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, Germs, Genes & Civilization makes the case that infectious diseases have played a major role in shaping society. Clark argues that religion, morals, and even democracy have all been influenced by the smallest and most dangerous organisms on our planet. While you may not accept every argument, you will be stimulated, entertained, and enlightened."---Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D., President, Stony Brook University, and former Director of the Midwest Regional Center for Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research
"Clark presents an insightful explanation of the invisible history all around us. He conveys the essential facts in a riveting and engaging manner that everyone, including the nonscientist, will find exceptionally interesting and revealing."---Michael C. Thomsett, author of The Inquisition
"Germs, Genes & Civilization is a fascinating and well-balanced account of how a wide variety of different kinds of microbes have influenced human evolution, culture, society, and even religious thought. Written for a lay audience, the relationships between genes and disease resistance and susceptibility are clearly discussed, and the book concludes with a sober assessment of what may be in store for us in the future."---Irwin W. Sherman, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Riverside, and author of Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World and The Power of Plagues
ho's in charge here? Humans? No way. Microbes don't just outnumber us by nearly 1021 to 1: They run the Earth. In Germs, Genes & Civilization, Dr. David Clark reveals the hidden web of microbial activity that shapes our planet and molds our human destinies.
You'll discover how your genes have been shaped by battling against infectious diseases through the millennia. You'll learn how epidemics have transformed human history, over and over again---from ancient Egypt to Mexico, the Romans to Attila the Hun. You'll learn how the Black Death epidemic ended the Middle Ages, making possible the Renaissance, Western democracy, and the scientific revolution.
Perhaps most fascinating of all, Clark reveals the latest scientific and philosophical insights into the interplay between microbes, humans, and society---and previews what just might come next.
AD 452: Attila the Hun stands ready to sack Rome. No one can stop him---but he walks awaj A miracle? No...dysentery. Microbes saved the Roman Empire. Nearly a millennium later, the microbes of the Black Death ended the Middle Ages, making possible the Renaissance, western democracy, and the scientific revolution. Soon after, microbes ravaged the Americas, paving the way for their European conquest.
Again and again, microbes have shaped our health, our genetics, our history, our culture, our politics, even our religion and ethics. This book reveals much that scientists and cultural historian; have learned about the pervasive interconnections between infectious microbes and humans. It also considers what our ongoing fundamental relationship with infectious microbes might mean for the future of the human species.
The "good side" of history's worst epidemics the surprising debt we owe to killer diseases
Where diseases came from...and where diseases came from...and where they may be going
Children of pestilence: disease and civilization From Egypt to Mexico, from Rome to China
STDs, sexual behavior, and culture How microbes can shape cultural cycles of puritanism and promiscuity
About the Authors
DAVID P. CLARK is Professor in the Microbiology Department at Southern Illinois University. He has published 70+ articles in scientific journals and is an author of several college textbooks, including Brock-Biology of Microorganisms, now in its Twelfth Edition, Molecular Biology Made Simple and Fun, now in its Fourth Edition, Molecular Biology: Understanding the Genetic Revolution, and Biotechnology: Applying the Genetic Revolution. He earned his Ph.D. from Bristol University in 1977. His research has focused on antibiotic resistance and the genetics and regulation of bacterial fermentation
David Clark was born June 1952 in Croydon, a London suburb. After winning a scholarship to Christ’s College, Cambridge, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973. In 1977, he earned his Ph.D. from Bristol University for work on antibiotic resistance. David then left England for postdoctoral research at Yale and then the University of Illinois. He joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University in 1981 and is now a professor in the Microbiology Department. In 1991, he visited Sheffield University, England, as a Royal Society Guest Research Fellow. The U.S. Department of Energy funded David’s research into the genetics and regulation of bacterial fermentation from 1982 till 2007. David has published more than 70 articles in scientific journals and graduated more than 20 masters and Ph.D. students. David is the author ofMolecular Biology Made Simple and Fun, now in its third edition, as well as three more serious textbooks.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
