Book review A planet of viruses

Carl Zimmer University of Chicago Press. Chicago, Illinois, USA. 2011. 128 pp. $20.00. ISBN: 978-0-226-98335-6 (hardcover). Reviewed by Lawrence T. Feldman Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

Viruses are all around us, in the water somewhat unique to influenza, which viruses, and we learn about all the viral we drink, in the oceans we swim in, and in contributes to the great genetic diver­ junk DNA within our genome. many unlikely places. Carl Zimmer starts sity of flu strains. Zimmer describes reas­ The final section is called The Viral Future his book of essays, A Planet of Viruses, by sortment as a viral version of sex. In this and contains the discovery of HIV in Los taking us deep into the Cave of Crystals theme, the third description is of human Angeles in 1983 and the finding of West in a remote province of Mexico. In a place papillomavirus. Again we are treated to a Nile virus in dead animals in the Bronx in which there are enormous crystals but story, this one about horns on rabbits, as Zoo. Zimmer’s writing is again instructive, little apparent life, he shows that samples Zimmer unwinds the story of Shope papil­ as West Nile Virus is a classic example of a of the water taken in 2009 revealed the loma virus, discovered by Richard Shope of virus transmitted by insects (mosquitoes). presence of millions of viruses. The story The Rockefeller University. We then learn This is followed by a description of the is typical of this charming little book, about the human strains and zur Hausen’s SARS epidemic that began in late 2002 which is full of interesting anecdotes and discovery that some of these cause cervical and comments about Ebola virus in Afri­ contains many facts uncovered in just cancer in women. ca and Nipah virus in Southeast Asia. Of the last few years. This book is an easy In Everywhere, In All Things, Zimmer course, no book on viruses would be com­ read for the lay person, broken into small takes us into the world of bacteriophages, plete without a description of smallpox chapters, each featuring its own virus. the viruses that infect bacterial cells. He virus, and Zimmer goes over the familiar Yet it was also fun and informative for recounts the story of Felix d’Herelle and stories of Jenner and the milkmaid, end­ me, for, while I knew much of this before, his attempt during World War I to cure ing with the eradication of smallpox by a Zimmer was able to surprise me with a dysentery with phages. He then relates large vaccination program. few fascinating nuggets I had not previ­ the historical scientific dispute between The epilogue contains a description of ously known. d’Herelle and Bordet, regarding whether the discovery of Mimivirus, a virus of algae In the introduction, we emerge from the the effects of phage were biological or that is one hundred times of size of other Cave of Crystals to travel back in time to chemical in nature, before describing the viruses and may challenge the view that the classic discovery of tobacco mosaic current attempts to use phages to kill bac­ viruses are not living things. virus by Beijerinck at end of the 19th cen­ teria. This section also covers the group All within one hundred pages or so, Zim­ tury. Zimmer seamlessly introduces the of marine phages. One sentence contains mer treats us to a comprehensive series of idea of filtering of the virus to distinguish the staggering number of phages in the anecdotes that reveal the diversity of virol­ it from a bacterial cell, a concept you would ocean, a number with too many zeros to ogy on earth. From the study of oceanic find in any college course in virology. comprehend. I found myself trying to fig­ samples to the finding of viral DNA in our Following this introduction to what a ure out what the number would be called. lungs, from the viruses integrated into our virus is, Zimmer divides his presentation What comes after a billion (109) is a tril­ chromosomes to those that cause cancer, into three sections. In Old Companions, we lion (1012), and after that is a quadrillion the tales in this book will be of interest to get a description of rhinovirus, the cause (1015). I won’t spoil it by telling you how anyone with an interest in science and are of the common cold, from a 3,500-year-old many logs short my guess was, but it was related in an easy-to-read style that requires Egyptian medical text. This is followed by many. We also learn about the effects of no prior knowledge in biology. I would an interesting chapter on influenza virus, phages on such processes as photosynthe­ expect it to also be of interest to medical in which we get a very understandable sis as well as cholera epidemics. The final students and a wide range of health care description of the process of reassortment, group discussed are the endogenous retro­ professionals. It was a fun read.

4208 The Journal of Clinical Investigation http://www.jci.org Volume 121 Number 11 November 2011