Bugs, bloodsuckers, bacteria, and more!: On your body and in your home - Hardcover

Brookesmith, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760718652 ISBN 13: 9780760718650

Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books, 1999

Synopsis

Though we usually don't know it, we share our bodies, clothes, beds, gardens, workplaces, and even our cars with an astonishing variety of miniature co-tenants. Some---the ones that we do notice---do their utmost to feed off us, and a very small number can be quite definitely dangerous, even lethal. But most of our secret cohabitants are perfectly harmless, while some positively do us good. In Bugs, Bloodsuckers, Bacteria, you will meet an astonishing cross-section of the inhabitants of this secret world: the gruesome 10-meter long tapeworm, who has eyes even though he lives in the dark of your gut (and you will find out why); the demodex mite, who infests your scalp to keep it clean; and the tiny moss piglet, who can survive being boiled, frozen, crushed, and fried with x-rays. You will discover that even the tiny flea, who was responsible for spreading the Black Death in Europe and who today transmits malaria and other fatal diseases, is itself infected by even smaller organisms also deadly to people. Bugs, Bloodsuckers, Bacteria is informative, entertaining, and always accessible, and is illustrated throughout with more than 100 brilliant, and sometimes startling, color photographs. This endlessly fascinating book will be indispensable to those who delight in the unseen complexities of nature at work---around us, on us, and even in us---regulating our lives, and ensuring our everyday survival.

About this edition

• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0760718652
• ISBN 13: 9780760718650
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176