When antibiotics started to fail the race to save humanity from deadly antibiotic resistant infections began. Science journalist Lina Zeldovich reveals the remarkable history of bacteriophages or ‘phages’, through the colourful lives of the British, French, Soviet and American scientists who discovered, developed and are now reviving this unique living medicine for seemingly incurable diseases.

Starting with the original discovery of bacteriophages, or ‘phages’, in 1917, Zeldovich reveals how they were all but forgotten as antibiotics rose to medical stardom in the West and Stalin purged leading scientists behind them in the former Soviet Union. It was only when patients started dying from antibiotic resistant infections that those scientists who fled the former Soviet Union realised their unique knowledge of phages presented a safe and effective solution for the future of humanity. Today new work has begun to develop this cure to safeguard our future.

Eye-opening, gripping and impeccably researched, The Living Medicine is a remarkable portrayal of how curiosity, bravery and collaboration seeded one of the most important scientific discoveries of our time.

When antibiotics started to fail the race to save humanity from deadly antibiotic resistant infections began. Science journalist Lina Zeldovich reveals the remarkable history of bacteriophages or ‘phages’, through the colourful lives of the British, French, Soviet and American scientists who discovered, developed and are now reviving this unique living medicine for seemingly incurable diseases.

Starting with the original discovery of bacteriophages, or ‘phages’, in 1917, Zeldovich reveals how they were all but forgotten as antibiotics rose to medical stardom in the West and Stalin purged leading scientists behind them in the former Soviet Union. It was only when patients started dying from antibiotic resistant infections that those scientists who fled the former Soviet Union realised their unique knowledge of phages presented a safe and effective solution for the future of humanity. Today new work has begun to develop this cure to safeguard our future.

Eye-opening, gripping and impeccably researched, The Living Medicine is a remarkable portrayal of how curiosity, bravery and collaboration seeded one of the most important scientific discoveries of our time.

From a world-leading microbiome scientist and surgeon comes Dark Matter, a pioneering guide to hacking your microbiome for a healthier life.

Our microbiome – the complex ecosystem of bacteria, viruses and other microbes inside us – is vital for our health and wellbeing. An invisible powerhouse whose potential we’re only just beginning to understand, it influences our mood and appetite, determines how fast we run and even who we choose as a partner.

In this ground-breaking book, microbiome expert Dr James Kinross takes us on a guided tour of our extraordinary inner universe and highlights the damage we inflict when we don’t protect it. Showing through cutting-edge research and years of clinical experience, the practical steps we can all take to optimise the microbiome to live better, healthier lives.

Now with a new, eye-opening afterword on the rise of home microbiome tests, IBS and FMTs.

‘Addictive and illuminating’ Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed, bestselling author of The Kitchen Prescription

From the author of the prescient Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

Breathless is the story of the scientific quest to decipher, control and fight Covid-19.

Breathless traces SARS-CoV-2’s fierce journey through the human population as seen by the scientists who study its origin, ever-changing nature and capacity to kill. It shows how strange viruses emerge as we disrupt wild ecosystems – sometimes causing global catastrophe – and suggests this coronavirus could be a ‘forever virus’ that’s destined to bedevil us endlessly.

Quammen also explains that experts saw this pandemic coming; that scientists warned ‘the next big one’ would be caused by a changeable new virus, but were ignored for political or economic reasons; and that while the origins of this virus may not be known for years, some suppositions are compelling and others can be dismissed.

Breathless takes us inside the frantic international effort to control SARS-CoV-2 as if peering over the shoulders of the brilliant scientists who led the chase.

Praise for Spillover:

‘A frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting’ Walter Isaacson

‘A real-life thriller with an outcome that affects us all’ Elizabeth Kolbert

Welcome to a revolution in the science of you! This landmark new book from award-winning scientist Daniel M. Davis explores the future of the human body.

Imagine taking drugs to help you acquire new skills, or knowing years in advance the precise likelihood of developing specific cancers, or following a diet and health regime tailored to your microbiome, or even having continuous monitoring of your body’s workings and well-being.

Written by an award-winning scientist, this landmark book shows how these radical and disconcerting possibilities have been made real. It is at once a gripping drama of scientific ingenuity, discovery and collaboration, and a vision of the human body of dizzying complexity and wonder.

‘The startling new discoveries…are radically altering our understanding of how we function and what our future holds’ BRIAN COX

‘Thrilling’ BILL BRYSON
‘Brilliant’ TIM SPECTOR
‘Extraordinary’ ALICE ROBERTS

Rachel is a palliative care doctor who looked after the most gravely unwell patients on the Covid-19 wards of her hospital. Amid the tensions, fatigue and rising death toll, she witnessed the courage of patients and NHS staff alike in conditions of unprecedented adversity. For all the bleakness and fear, she found that moments that could stop you in your tracks abounded. People who rose to their best, upon facing the worst, as a microbe laid waste to the population.

Her new book, Breathtaking, is an unflinching insider’s account of medicine in the time of coronavirus. Drawing on testimony from nursing, acute and intensive care colleagues – as well as, crucially, her patients – Clarke argue that this age of contagion has inspired a profound attentiveness to – and gratitude for – what matters most in life.

Included in Best Books to read in 2021 pieces in the Sunday Times, Guardian, Financial Times, New Stateman, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Evening Standard, The Tablet, Sunday Business Post, Irish Times, iPaper and Stylist Online.

How does it feel to confront a pandemic from the inside, one patient at a time? To bridge the gulf between a perilously unwell patient in quarantine and their distraught family outside? To be uncertain whether the protective equipment you wear fits the science or the size of the government stockpile? To strive your utmost to maintain your humanity even while barricaded behind visors and masks?

Rachel is a palliative care doctor who looked after some of the most gravely unwell patients on the Covid-19 wards of her hospital. Amid the tensions, fatigue and rising death toll, she witnessed the courage of patients and NHS staff alike in conditions of unprecedented adversity. For all the bleakness and fear, she found that moments that could stop you in your tracks abounded. People who rose to their best, upon facing the worst, as a microbe laid waste to the population.

Her new book, Breathtaking, is an unflinching insider’s account of medicine in the time of coronavirus. Drawing on testimony from nursing, acute and intensive care colleagues – as well as, crucially, her patients – Clarke argues that this age of contagion has inspired a profound attentiveness to – and gratitude for – what matters most in life.

‘Her words are brimful of love, grace and kindness’ Guardian

‘She writes with a tender, lyrical beauty’ Sunday Times