Here are our book recommendations on microbes and bacteria, from experts in the field. Professor Tullis Onstott of Princeton chooses books on life below the surface of the earth. He explains, amongst other things, the role of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms in the formation of caves below the surface of the earth. His books include Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, Carl Sagan’s Intelligent Life in the Universe, which he still rates as the best book on astrobiology, even though it was published in 1968. He also picks The Universe Below: Discovering the Secrets of the Deep Sea by William J Broad. His other two choices are Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet by William K Hartmann and The Living Cosmos by Chris Impey, which discuss the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. Impey discusses how astrobiology has evolved from simply looking for liquid water, to searching for atmospheric biosignatures.

Paul Falkowski professor of business and natural resources at Rutgers University chooses his best books on microbes. His first is Micrographia by Robert Hooke, first published in 1665. He also chooses Life on a Young Planet by Andrew Knoll, which looks at the world before animals and plants, when it was controlled by single cell organisms.  His other choices include Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World by Christian Sardet and Microcosmos by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan.

Taking a more human-historical approach to bacteria and microbes Journalist and author, Seth Mnookin, chooses his best vaccine books, including Polio: An American Story by David M Oshinsky, Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver by Arthur Allen, The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis by Paul Offit, Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif and Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic by Stephen Johnson.