Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures
“Parasite Rex by Zimmer is a fascinating read.”
Why it is worth your time
Parasite Rex is Carl Zimmer's 2000 book on parasites. Zimmer is a science journalist who now writes the Origins column for the New York Times. He visits a sleeping sickness clinic in Sudan, follows tapeworms, blood flukes, Toxoplasma and the barnacle that castrates crabs, and argues that parasites are a main force in evolution: they may explain sex, they shape immune systems and they steer host behavior. Friedberg posted about it in Apr 2020, in the first weeks of the pandemic, and called it fascinating. Biology and the origin of life are his home subjects, and this is the book on his list closest to pure natural history. It suits readers who liked Nick Lane or Richard Dawkins and want something stranger. The caveat is age. It was published in 2000, so the genomics and medical detail are 25 years old, and Publishers Weekly called it the year's 'most disgusting' popular science.
