Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures

Zimmer takes readers on a tour of the strange and bizarre world of parasites, including their ability to rewrite DNA, rewire the brain, and genetically engineer viruses as weapons. 16-page photo insert.Susan Adams

"Forbes"

Zimmer is such an accomplished, vivid writer that he is able to weave these revolting beasts into an engrossing story that you will read to the last page.

Kevin Padian

"The New York Times"

With "Parasite Rex," Zimmer proves himself as fine a science essayist as we more >>

Zimmer takes readers on a tour of the strange and bizarre world of parasites, including their ability to rewrite DNA, rewire the brain, and genetically engineer viruses as weapons. 16-page photo insert.Susan Adams

"Forbes"

Zimmer is such an accomplished, vivid writer that he is able to weave these revolting beasts into an engrossing story that you will read to the last page.

Kevin Padian

"The New York Times"

With "Parasite Rex," Zimmer proves himself as fine a science essayist as we have.

Michael Harris

"Los Angeles Times"

A model of liveliness and clarity...a book capable of changing how we see the world.

Mark Ridley

"The New Scientist"

A nonstop delight...Zimmer is a colorful writer, and takes full advantage of the macabre natural history of parasites.

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites control the minds of their hosts, sending them to their destruction.

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites are masters of chemical warfare and camouflage, able to cloak themselves with their hosts' own molecules.

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites steer the course of evolution, where the majority of species are parasites.

WELCOME TO EARTH.

For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and in the darkest shadows of science. Yet these creatures are among the world's most successful and sophisticated organisms. In "Parasite Rex, " Carl Zimmer deftly balances the scientific and the disgusting as he takes readers on a fantastic voyage. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the fetid parasite haven of southern Sudan, Zimmer graphically brings to life how parasites can change DNA, rewire the brain, make men more distrustful and women more outgoing, and turn hosts into the living dead.

This thorough, gracefully written book brings parasites out into the open and uncovers what they can teach us about the most fundamental survival tactics in the universe. << less