I Contain Multitudes
The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:7th Sep '17
Should be back in stock very soon

A thrilling, witty, genre-busting book on microbes, one of science's hottest topics, by a debut writer with a huge following.
I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best' Bill Gates
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2017
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE WINNER OF THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE
Your body is teeming with tens of trillions of microbes. It's an entire world, a colony full of life.
In other words, you contain multitudes.
They sculpt our organs, protect us from diseases, guide our behaviour, and bombard us with their genes. They also hold the key to understanding all life on earth.
In I Contain Multitudes, Ed Yong opens our eyes and invites us to marvel at ourselves and other animals in a new light, less as individuals and more as thriving ecosystems.
You'll never think about your mind, body or preferences in the same way again.
'Super-interesting... He just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best' Bill Gates
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2017
Super-interesting... He just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. I Contain Multitudes is science journalism at its best -- Bill Gates
[A] marvellous, thrilling and richly annotated book… I call it marvellous: everything about the microbial world is to be marvelled at. And it is a page-turner in a very old-fashioned sense. All life is here, and death too, and sex and violence, including deviations of which you had never dreamed ... We have an inner life, in every sense, and are the richer for it: richer still for this witty and compelling book. -- Tim Radford * Guardian *
Beyond fascinating. An amazing book. It'll change the way you think about the world. It'll change who you think you are. -- Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
Momentous ... an essential read -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *
I Contain Multitudes makes the importance of popularising science…sparklingly clear... From his vibrant introduction to his witty endnotes, Yong’s expertise and narration hold no less wonder than a sacred text. -- Kate Womersley * Spectator *
Masterful ... smart, canny, and often quite beautiful ... In the realm of the life sciences there is a noble tradition of popular books that ... have reshaped our view of the world ... In my own reading I think of Schrödinger’s What is Life, Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and, more recently, Nick Lane’s The Vital Question. Among such company, I Contain Multitudes can hold its head high. * Guardian *
I Contain Multitudes has a terrific story to tell … Ed Yong is a talented British science writer … his first book covers a huge amount of microscopic territory in clear, strong, often epigrammatic prose … He is infectiously enthusiastic about microbes and he describes them with verve … Even the book’s endnotes are rich with interesting asides, swarming with interesting sidelights, a teeming microbial world. -- Jonathan Weiner * New York Times *
I also very much enjoyed and admired I Contain Multitudes. -- Bill Bryson * Observer, Book of the Year *
An account that is far, far more entertaining than an exploration of microbes should be. -- Tom Whipple * The Times, Book of the Year *
[An] utterly absorbing and hugely important book… [Yong] is an extraordinary adept guide. Writing with lightness and panache, he has a knack of explain complex science in terms that are both easy to understand and totally enthralling… I Contain Multitudes is popular science writing at its best. Reading this book will make you view the world differently. -- Wendy Moore * Literary Review *
- Short-listed for Wellcome Book Prize 2017 (UK)
- Short-listed for Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2017 (UK)
ISBN: 9781784700171
Dimensions: 196mm x 128mm x 23mm
Weight: 269g
368 pages