''Microbes and Man'' is a popularising book by the English microbiologist John Postgate FRS on the role of microorganisms in human society, first published in 1969, and still in print in 2017. Critics called it a "classic" and "a pleasure to read".

Book

The book is structured as follows: * 1 Man and microbes * 2 Microbiology * 3 Microbes in society * 4 Interlude: how to handle microbes * 5 Microbes in nutrition * 6 Microbes in production * 7 Deterioration, decay and pollution * 8 Disposal and cleaning-up * 9 Second interlude: microbiologists and man * 10 Microbes in evolution * 11 Microbes in the future

Illustrations

The 4th edition has 32 illustrations, ranging from photographs of

microscopic The microscopic scale () is the scale of objects and events smaller than those that can easily be seen by the naked eye, requiring a lens or microscope to see them clearly. In physics, the microscopic scale is sometimes regarded as the scale be ...

alga Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

protozoa Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Histo ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsk ...

es and

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...

, to the macroscopic effects of microbes such as a sulphur-forming lake in Libya and fish killed by bacterial reduction of sulphate in water.

Editions

* 1st edition,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

, 1969 * 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 1986 * 3rd edition, Cambridge University Press, 1992 * 4th edition, Cambridge University Press, 2000 The book has been translated into nine languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' described the book as "a passionate case for the importance of micro-organisms". In his textbook ''Essential Microbiology'', Stuart Hogg recommends the book to readers who want a general overview of microbes and their uses, stating "there can be no better starting point than John Postgate's classic". ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

'' described the book as "a pleasure to read from first page to last. It is a literal statement. Start to read it and the first page, describing the astonishing dispersion of microbes, from the upper atmosphere to the depths of the sea, will provide any reader with enough wonder and excitement to take them through to the last page and the surface of Venus." The magazine commented that Postgate's "admirable, elegantly written and painlessly informative book" came close to losing its alliterative title, at the hands of "militant feminists" at

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.microorganism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in old ...

s affect our lives ... one of the classics of popular science", standing alongside classics like Rosebury's ''Life of Man'' and De Kruif's ''Microbe Hunters''. Schneider wrote that the book's

Britishness British national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity, as embodied in the shared and characteristic culture, languages and traditions, of the British people. It comprises the claimed qualities that bind and distin ...

"'colours' the text", but Postgate's emphasis on the beneficial and not just the harmful effects of microbes was welcome and admirably explored. He noted few errors, but objected to Postgate's assertion that

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

"originated by transmission from a

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...

", for which there was at that time no evidence. Schneider would have liked a "better and longer" account of

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and phys ...

. His chief criticism, however, was that by the 1990s the book no longer had an audience, since "the Victorial ideal of the educated middle class has vanished into the wasteland of broken families, double digit unemployment and a damaged educational system". All the same, he found the book "of value and beauty (except perhaps to the publisher)". Charles W. Kim, reviewing the 3rd edition for ''The Quarterly Review of Biology'', stated that "If the author's intent was to present the impact of the ubiquitous microorganisms on the environment and humans, he has succeeded admirably", describing Postgate's style as "unique". D. Roy Cullimore, in his ''Practical Atlas for Bacterial Identification'', comments that all four editions were "easy reading", addressing the challenges that microbes presented to human society. He suggests that "ideally" all four books be read in sequence for an overview of the development of

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, ...

in half a century.

Notes

References