"Two out of three soldiers who perished in the Civil War died of infected wounds, typhoid, and other infectious diseases. But no doctor truly understood what was happening to their patients. Twenty years later, the outcome might have been different following one of the most radical intellectual transformations in the history of the world: germ theory, the recognition that the tiniest forms of life have been humankind's greatest killers. It was a discovery centuries in the making that transformed modern life and public ...
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"Two out of three soldiers who perished in the Civil War died of infected wounds, typhoid, and other infectious diseases. But no doctor truly understood what was happening to their patients. Twenty years later, the outcome might have been different following one of the most radical intellectual transformations in the history of the world: germ theory, the recognition that the tiniest forms of life have been humankind's greatest killers. It was a discovery centuries in the making that transformed modern life and public health. This revolution has a pre-history. In the late-sixteenth century, scientists and hobbyists used the first microscopes to confirm the existence of living things invisible to the human eye. So why did it take two centuries to make the connection between microbes and disease? As Thomas Levenson reveals in this globe-trotting history, the answer has everything to do with how we see ourselves. For centuries, people in the west, believing themselves to hold God-given dominion over nature, thought too much of humanity and too little of microbes to believe they could take us down. When scientists finally made the connection by the end of the 19th-century, life-saving methods to control infections and contain outbreaks soon followed. The next big break came with the birth of the antibiotic era in the 1930s. And yet, less than a century later, the promise of the antibiotic revolution is already receding from years of overuse. Why? In So Very Small, Thomas Levenson follows the thread of human ingenuity and hubris across centuries--along the way peering into microscopes, spelunking down sewers, traipsing across the battlefield, and more--to show how we came to understand the microbial environment and how little we understand ourselves. He traces how and why ideas are pursued, accepted, or ignored--and hence how human habits of mind can, so often, make it terribly hard to ask the right questions"--
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Add this copy of So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, to cart. $23.93, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2025 by Random House.
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New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 448 p. Contains: Illustrations. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, to cart. $23.94, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2025 by Random House.
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Add this copy of So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, to cart. $27.39, like new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2025 by Random House.
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Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 448 p. Contains: Illustrations. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, to cart. $27.40, good condition, Sold by Book Culture Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New York, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2025 by Random House.
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Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible minor highlighting and marginalia. Ships from an indie bookstore in NYC. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 448 p. Contains: Illustrations.
Add this copy of So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, to cart. $36.15, new condition, Sold by Book Culture Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New York, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2025 by Random House.
