A Planet of Viruses

By Carl Zimmer

University of Chicago Press, 2011.

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19 mins read

16 Key insights

A brief summary of A Planet of Viruses

A collection of essays about how viruses, the smallest living thing known to scientists, helped give rise to life on Earth while simultaneously threatening the very existence of people, plants, and other organisms—and what we can expect from these mysterious agents in the future.

Key insights in A Planet of Viruses

What do you get from this book? Fascinating stories about viruses over the ages and humanity’s desire to understand them

Viruses were discovered in 1879, and continue to astound scientists with their ability to thrive in biologically diverse environments

Human rhinoviruses are some of the oldest—and most successful—viruses of all time

Influenza continues to baffle modern-day scientists, even though it kills thousands of people every year

Though invisible to the naked eye, viruses can sometimes manifest as horns, warts, or worse

Not all viruses intend humans harm—some actually attack deadly bacteria and are more effective than antibiotics

Marine phages help regulate the earth’s temperature and prevent deadly outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne diseases

Endogenous retroviruses—viruses generated from within—help form the basic building blocks of human DNA

Though scientists are closer to an HIV vaccine, there will probably never be just one solution to stop this virus

West Nile virus demonstrates how one virus can jump back and forth between different species—and span an entire continent

Even when viruses are apparently eradicated, there’s no telling when they may resurface—either accidently or intentionally

As virologists make new discoveries, mankind’s understanding of what constitutes a virus will probably change well into the future

SARS and Ebola seemed like possible candidates for the next great epidemic—which proves the unpredictability of viruses

Summary of the key insights

selected critiques in brief

Final word

Who should read A Planet of Viruses

Readers of pop science • virologists • government health officials • biology students • parents of immunocompromised children • anyone worried about the next big virus

About the author of A Planet of Viruses

Science writer Carl Zimmer is an adjunct professor at Yale University and has contributed numerous pieces to the New York Times, National Geographic, and Wired. He has written over a dozen books and won the Stephen Jay Gould Prize, as well as spending time as senior editor at Discover magazine, where he began his career reporting on scientific breakthroughs.

Carl Zimmer

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