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Man and Microbes: Disease and Plagues in History and Modern Times Paperback – May 22, 1996

by Arno Karlen (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 36 ratings
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From Simon & Schuster, Man and Microbes respected science writer Arno Karlen presents a dramatic panorama of the natural history of disease.

Man and Microbes makes clear that infection is a natural and necessary part of life. It shows how the search for food, shelter, and a safer, more prosperous life has altered the environment, changed the dance of adaptation between humans and microbes, and generated new diseases
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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  4. Publication date
    May 22, 1996
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0684822709
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0684822709
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Whereas many popular books on microbes focus on contemporary pathogens and emerging epidemics, Arno Karlen's Man and Microbes provides a historical look at the coevolution of humans and microorganisms. Karlen speculates that infections are integral to the process of life itself, that the mitochondria in every animal cell, for instance, are likely descendants of infectious agents. He then traces the development of man from primitive hunter-gatherer to urban dweller to world traveler, pointedly analyzing how socio-ecological changes have contributed to the changing incidence of disease. With amazing detail, Karlen describes the origins of historical plagues (smallpox, cholera, influenza, polio, and others) as well as the emergence of scourges such as hemorrhagic fever (Ebola and its cousins), Lyme disease, Legionnaires' disease, and even the deep mysteries of retroviruses such as HIV.

About the Author

Arno Chanoch Karlen was a poet, psychoanalyst, and popular science writer.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (May 22, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0684822709
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0684822709
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 36 ratings

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Arno Karlen

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
36 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Sammy Madison
5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating, educational, and alarming
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2006
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"Man and Microbes" is a good title for this book. Over time, man's relationship with microbes has changed as human populations have grown, moved, changed from hunter-gatherer to agricultural life and then city life, and exploration and colonization exposed groups of humans to new environments. As new land is cleared for farming, humans stir up microbes that had previously interacted with other species, such as mice or monkeys. Having never been exposed to a given microbe before, man has not developed any tolerance and the severity of the disease is harsh. Every new human population a disease encounters has to go though this introduction, before the effects become less severe. This is why native American populations were devastated when Europeans came to their continents. The microbes themselves also change over time, becoming more powerful, less powerful, or retreating to their original animal hosts. Since this book attempts to span the history of mankind and our interaction with microbes, there is less detail about specific diseases or time periods than a reader might like. I know I was still left wondering about the specifics of polio after reading the book. But I do feel that I have gained much more insight into disease and how it has affected our history. When we developed vaccines and antibiotics we thought that we had defeated the diseases which had killed so many humans, but the microbes continued to change, just as always, adapting to our new defenses. Human populations continued to grow, expanding to previously unpopulated territory, exposing people already vulnerable though poor diet and hygene to unfamiliar microbes. My view of our war against disease has definitely changed through reading this book.
3 people found this helpful
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B. McEwan
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history of human pandemics
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2010
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This is an excellent short history of viruses and infectious diseases that attack humans. Author Arno Karlen writes lucidly and with an economy that makes this book an easy and pleasurable read for lay people who are "serious readers." A highlight is the attention that Karlen pays to the process through which humans and microbes have co-evolved since ancient times. He takes care to frame the issues in the broad context of evolution and the pressures that human behavior change and technology have placed on microbes' natural selection, rather than viewing disease as a black-and-white battle between "us" and "them."

Also of note is the excellent bibliography. Karlen separates the bib into those works that are "core" to the subject and those that are supplemental reading, and he annotates the core selections to differentiate those that are primarily for scholars and those that are useful for the general reader.

I found this book very interesting and helpful to my overall understanding of a fascinating subject.
2 people found this helpful
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Rachel K
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2014
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This book is quite literally, along with Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, one of the most defining books I've ever read. I read it over the course of a year along with some other supplemental material (it itself is a really small book) and it was amazing. It sweeps through history and is a great introduction to how influential disease has been and will continue to be in the context of human history. The only more interesting thing would be to travel through time and find out the context in our evolutionary history.
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am not finished yet
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2016
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very educational
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Roger McEvilly
4.0 out of 5 stars "In the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him"
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2002
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So the author of revelation saw the lethal side of cities (quoted on page 48), or as Mr Arno Karlen better describes-"as farmers and villagers began crowding into cities, this immunologically virgin mass offered a feast to germs lurking in domesticated animals, wastes, filth, and scavengers" (page 48).
This book provides a reasonable overview of germs and social history. Mr Karlen traces the development of agriculture and cities to the development of 'crowd diseases', jumping ship from previous group species such as horses, pigs, ducks, rats, etc, or mutating from previously benign forms, or appearing and diappearing from nowhere, leaving little trace. As far as other species influence goes-that old friend the dog is suggested to have contributed no less than 65 diseases to homo sapien (page 39), with 45 from cattle, and 35 fom horses.
The reader will find discussion on the likely origins and developments of eg measles (possibly from distemper in dogs, although Diamond in the book "Guns Germs and Steel" suggests cattle), smallpox (dogs or cattle), influenza (pigs and ducks), common cold (horses?), scarlet fever, typhus, bubonic plague (fleas), syphilis, gonorrhea, cholera (lives in water), AIDS (probably chimps), malaria (mosquito), tuberculosis, leprosy, legionaires disease, and a host of others. Various historical calamities are described such as:
- Athens which lost 1 in 3 people in 430 BC, (unknown- possibly measles, typhoid, scarlet fever, smallpox), and which ended the so-called 'golden age' of Greece.
-AD 164-180+ Roman empire-4-7 million deaths, (probably smallpox),
-540 AD+ bubonic plague-halving Europes population over the next 150 years,
-200 BC to 200 AD smallpox and measles ravaged China and Japan (many other times also),
-several waves-657-1551 AD-"sweating sickness" (appears to have gone extinct),
-AD 125- 1 million deaths in north Africa alone (?measles)
-AD 79 Rome-Anthrax, or possibly malaria
-later 20 century-present-AIDS, -millions and climbing,
-1348-1352 AD bubonic plague, with several waves- 25 million plus in Europe, more in the east,
-1800s- several waves-cholera and yellow fever in Europe,
-1492-1800s+-Americas estimated 90 million deaths of indigenous populations,
-1918, influenza-around 40 million.
-many others.
Older calamities are often less well documented in eg Africa, India, China, etc. 20th century examples are many, often small, and often a 'new' disease-eg page 6 lists a partial list of around 20 'new' diseases in latter 20 century outbreaks, including ebola and legionaires.
Readers will be interested to read of the social changes which were influenced by many of these outbreaks, such as the tragic conquest of the Europeans into the Americas, and the decline of the Roman Empire-partly due to successive ravages of various plagues. As the empire expanded it brought back numerous germs, something which was forgotten by the time partly immune explorers brought them again to other lands in the second millenium AD.
Modern examples and resurgences are also discussed such as Lyme disease, mad cow disease, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, legionaires, etc. Most diseases tend to decline over time as a population becomes immune, (eg Syphilis, since about 1492) but a few seem to go the other way-eg polio and tuberculosis-ie they increase in severity. Modern examples which make medical specialists nervous in the modern age are also described, such as hantaviruses, ebola, TB, hepatitus, AIDS -especially of mutation, and malaria, but there are a host of others.
The thing I find fascinating, and sad about this book, is the complexity of the immune system, and how these diseases originate and proliferate. Many have jumped from other species, some have always been with us- but ocassionally mutate into a virulent form. Some have always been around in water or elsewhere, and mutute/evolve occassionally -like Legionaires disease. It is an ever-present war, and one which has greatly influenced history.
The book provides a stark analysis of human history and the ruthlessness of life with germs, but despite the general negativity of this book, one must also appreciate how far we have come, and in how many ways we succeed against these diseases, and continue to succeed. New diseases are inevitable, but Ridley suggests in the book "Disease" that the future may well be in DNA vaccines. One can only hope.
One disapppointment is the lack of deeper medical explanation on eg how diseases function, and why some are more effective than others, and various aspects of the immune system etc. There is a distinct lack of deeper medical analysis, for those like myself who want a deeper medical investigation.
Recommended for those who are interested in how sickness has affected history, but not so much *why* we get sick, in any great detail.
32 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Heather Hooper
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book! Absolutely fascinating
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2014
Verified Purchase
Great book! Absolutely fascinating, and very well-written. Easy for a layperson to understand. The only thing to note is that this book was written in 1995, so it doesn't cover any of the more recent discoveries about disease, but the long-term perspective on cycles of epidemic disease and their effects on human civilization is extremely informative.
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The Blackwidow Cconsultancy
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2014
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an excellent overview of man's relationship with disease over many centuries. Vital to the study of astrobiology
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