This is the first popular book to synthesise all the new research on the human microbiome. It is published by Icon in Feb 2015. The subtitle, Learning to Love your Inner Ecosystem, indicates that I am hedging my bets on metaphors. I do really think we are superorganisms, though. On the other hand, so is every other complex species…  Amazon page is here. And you can read a shortened version of the introduction here!

Early comments include: “a really important milestone in our understanding of the complexity and variability of our inner landscape, and as such is a must-have addition to the popular science bookshelf” (Brian Clegg);

and “I have read quite a few popular science books. Some are interesting, some enlightening, some enjoyable. This book has all of these qualities and it does something that good popular science books should do: it makes us think about the world, and in this case ourselves, in new ways; it makes us see ourselves as something else.” (Brigitte Nerlich).

And some other reviews:

“a terrific romp through our non-human inhabitants” (Helen Bynum, Times Higher)

“if you’ve heard the term ‘microbiome’ and wondered what all the fuss is about, I, superorganismis a good place to start” (Hayley Simon, Chemistry World)

This one was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Biology book prize in 2015.