Support Us
 
Search
MENUMENU
  • Nonfiction
        • Art
          • Architecture
          • Art History
          • Design & Illustration
          • Fashion & Style
          • Modern and Contemporary Art
          • Photography
        • Business
          • How to Invest
          • Leadership
          • Marketing
        • Economics
          • Behavioural Economics
          • Development Economics
          • Economic History
          • Finance
          • Financial Crisis
          • Globalisation & Inequality
          • World Economies
        • Environment
          • Climate Change
          • Environmental Ethics
        • Food & Cooking
          • The Best Cookbooks
          • Food & History of Food
          • Wine & Drinks
        • Health & Lifestyle
          • Death & Dying
          • Education
          • Family & Relationships
          • Happiness
          • Sex & Sexuality
        • History
          • Ancient History (up to 500)
          • History by Country
          • Historical Figures
          • Military History
          • Medieval History (500-1400)
          • Modern History (1800-1945)
        • Language
          • Grammar & Punctuation
          • Learning Languages
          • Linguistics
        • Law
        • Literary Nonfiction
          • Biography
          • Essays
          • Memoir
          • Artists' Biographies
          • Travel
          • True Crime
        • Music & Drama
          • Classical Music & Opera
          • Film & Cinema
          • Music
          • Theatre
        • Nature
          • Dinosaurs & the Prehistoric World
          • The Earth
          • Plants, Trees & Flowers
        • Philosophy
          • Ancient Philosophy
          • Ethics & Moral Philosophy
          • Great Philosophers
          • Social & Political Philosophy
        • Politics & Society
          • Conflict & War
          • Feminism
          • Foreign Policy & International Relations
          • Human Rights
          • Terrorism
        • Psychology
          • Mental Health
          • Neuroscience
          • Psychoanalysis
          • Psychology Research
          • Self Help
        • Religion
          • Best Atheist Books
          • Buddhism
          • Christian
          • Islamic
          • Jewish
          • Religious History
        • Science
          • Astronomy
          • Biology
          • Geoscience
          • Maths & Statistics
          • Moon Landing
          • Popular Science
          • Physics
        • Sports, Games & Hobbies
          • Football (Soccer)
          • Gardening
          • Hobbies
          • Sport & Sporting Culture
        • Technology
          • Artificial Intelligence
          • Computing
          • Digital Age
          • History of Technology
          • Internet
  • Fiction & Literature
        • Classic English Literature
        • Contemporary Fiction
          • NEW Fiction
        • Literary Criticism
        • Literary Figures
        • Classical Studies
        • Romance
        • Comics & Graphic Novels
        • Fairy Tales & Mythology
        • Crime Novels
        • Mystery
        • Historical Fiction
        • Horror
        • Humour
        • Memoir
        • Poetry
        • Science Fiction
        • Short Stories
        • Thrillers
        • Fantasy
  • World
        • Africa
          • Egypt
          • Ghana
          • Nigeria
          • Rwanda
          • South Africa
          • Zimbabwe
        • Americas
          • Latin America
            • Argentina
            • Brazil
            • Chile
            • Cuba
            • Mexico
          • United States
          • Canada
        • Arctic & Antarctica
        • Asia
          • Afghanistan
          • Burma
          • China
          • India
          • Japan
          • Korea
          • Pakistan
          • Bangladesh
          • Sri Lanka
          • Singapore
          • Vietnam
        • Australia
        • Europe
          • Belgium
          • Britain
          • France
          • Germany
          • Greece
          • Ireland
          • Italy
          • Netherlands
          • Norway
        • Middle East
          • Iran
          • Iraq
          • Israel
          • Syria
          • Turkey
          • Yemen
        • Russia & FSU
          • Azerbaijan
          • Georgia
          • Russia
          • Ukraine
  • Kids
        • Search by Age
          • Ages 3-5
          • Ages 6-8
          • Ages 9-12
          • Young Adult
        • Search by Topic
          • Science Books for Kids
          • Politics and Philosophy
          • Economics Books for Kids (Fiction)
          • History
          • Nature and Environment
          • Happiness & Mental Health
          • Family & Pets
        • Best New Children's Books
        • High School Teachers Recommend Books by Subject
        • Novels & Novelists
        • By Kids for Kids
  • Best Books of 2020
        • Politics
        • Biography
        • Memoirs and Autobiography
        • Cookbooks
        • Business
        • Philosophy
        • Fiction
          • Crime Fiction
          • Science Fiction
          • Historical Fiction
          • Romance
          • Mysteries
          • Thrillers
        • Nonfiction
        • Art
        • Economics
        • History
        • Science
        • Self Help
        • Audiobooks
        • Poetry
        • Kids Books
        • Kids Science
  • New Books
        • All new books
        • History
        • Philosophy
        • Science
        • Mathematics
        • Physics
        • Fiction
        • Biographies
        • Economics
        • Paperbacks
        • New Editions (of old books)
        • Our in-house reviews (nonfiction)
        • Our in-house reviews (fiction)
        • Gifts for Book Lovers
  • Audiobooks
    • Actors Read Great Books
    • Best Audiobooks for Kids
    • Books Narrated by Their Authors
    • Best Audiobook Thrillers
    • Best History Audiobooks
  • Book Awards
    • Booker Prize
    • Baillie Gifford Prize
    • Royal Society
    • Wolfson Prize
    • Walter Scott Prize
    • Arthur C Clarke Prize
    • Audie Awards
    • Nobel Prize
  • Experts

Nature » Bacteria

Browse book recommendations:

Nature

  • Animals
  • Bacteria
  • Dinosaurs & the Prehistoric World
  • Evolution
  • Nature Writing
  • Oceans
  • Pets
  • Plants, Trees & Flowers
  • Rocks & Minerals
  • The Earth
  • The Solar System & Space

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.

    The best books on Life Below the Surface of the Earth, recommended by Tullis Onstott

  • Read
    The best books on Life Below the Surface of the Earth - Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

    1

    Journey to the Centre of the Earth
    by Jules Verne

  • Read
    The best books on Life Below the Surface of the Earth - Intelligent Life in the Universe by Carl Sagan & Iosif Shklovsky

    2

    Intelligent Life in the Universe
    by Carl Sagan & Iosif Shklovsky

  • Read
    The best books on Life Below the Surface of the Earth - The Universe Below by William Broad

    3

    The Universe Below
    by William Broad

  • Read
    The best books on Life Below the Surface of the Earth - A Traveler's Guide to Mars by William Hartmann

    4

    A Traveler's Guide to Mars
    by William Hartmann

  • Read
    The best books on Life Below the Surface of the Earth - The Living Cosmos by Chris Impey

    5

    The Living Cosmos
    by Chris Impey

The best books on Life Below the Surface of the Earth, recommended by Tullis Onstott

The ‘subterranaut’ describes how the discovery of ancient bacteria miles beneath the Earth’s surface opens the possibility of finding life on Mars. He picks five books that show how our knowledge of life deep in this planet could lead us to discover it elsewhere.

    The best books on Microbes, recommended by Paul Falkowski

  • Read
    The best books on Microbes - Micrographia: The Complete Facsimile of the First Printing of 1665 by Robert Hooke

    1

    Micrographia: The Complete Facsimile of the First Printing of 1665
    by Robert Hooke

  • Read
    The best books on Microbes - Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth by Andrew H Knoll

    2

    Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth
    by Andrew H Knoll

  • Read
    The best books on Microbes - The Genesis of Germs by Alan L. Gillen

    3

    The Genesis of Germs
    by Alan L. Gillen

  • Read
    The best books on Microbes - Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World by Christian Sardet

    4

    Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World
    by Christian Sardet

  • Read
    The best books on Microbes - Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution by Dorion Sagan & Lynn Margulis

    5

    Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution
    by Dorion Sagan & Lynn Margulis

The best books on Microbes, recommended by Paul Falkowski

Without them, plants and animals wouldn’t exist and even the Earth’s geology would be different. Paul Falkowski recommends the best books on microbes.

    The Best Vaccine Books, recommended by Seth Mnookin

  • Read
    The Best Vaccine Books - Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky

    1

    Polio: An American Story
    by David Oshinsky

  • Read
    The Best Vaccine Books - Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver by Arthur Allen

    2

    Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver
    by Arthur Allen

  • Read
    The Best Vaccine Books - The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis by Paul Offit

    3

    The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis
    by Paul Offit

  • Read
    The Best Vaccine Books - Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif

    4

    Microbe Hunters
    by Paul de Kruif

  • Read
    The Best Vaccine Books - The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic by Steven Johnson

    5

    The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic
    by Steven Johnson

The Best Vaccine Books, recommended by Seth Mnookin

November 9th, 2020: We’ve just heard the news that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is 90% effective, at least in the short-term, raising the possibility that the coronavirus pandemic may finally be brought to an end. The history of vaccines is an absolutely fascinating one, and we highly recommend all the books discussed in this 2013 interview with Seth Mnookin, author of The Panic Virus and Professor of Science Writing at MIT. These are all gripping reads that tell the story of vaccines, medicine’s greatest life-saver, and the risks people took to find them.

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand interviews, or five thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

Newsletter Contact us Privacy Policy Terms of Service

© Five Books 2021