The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health

by David R. Montgomery, Anne Biklé

Overview

"Sure to become a game-changing guide to the future of good food and healthy landscapes." —Dan Barber, chef and author of The Third Plate

Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. The Hidden Half of Nature reveals why good health—for people and for plants—depends on Earth’s smallest creatures. Restoring life to their barren yard and recovering from a health crisis, David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé discover astounding parallels between the botanical world and our own bodies. From garden to gut, they show why cultivating beneficial microbiomes holds the key to transforming agriculture and medicine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393353372
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/15/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

David R. Montgomery is a professor at the University of Washington and a 2008 MacArthur Fellow.

Anne Biklé is a biologist and environmental planner. Her career spans the fields of environmental stewardship, habitat restoration, and public health. The Hidden Half of Nature is her first book.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Dead Dirt 7

2 Thinking Small 24

3 Looking into Life 35

4 Better Together 52

5 War on the Soil 64

6 Underground Allies 89

7 Too Close to Home 109

8 Inner Nature 131

9 Invisible Enemies 157

10 Feuding Saviors 172

11 Personal Alchemists 191

12 Tending the Garden 208

13 Courting Ancient Friends 224

14 Cultivating Health 247

Glossary 261

Notes 265

Sources 270

Acknowledgments 291

Index 295

Editorial Reviews

"A wonderful read! The Hidden Half of Nature not only explores the workings of the microbial world, but also the people and the methods used to advance our knowledge of it."

Jeff Lowenfels

"A great read, opening up for nonscientists the microbial world that underlies all life. You will see your body and the world around you in exciting new ways."

Sandor Ellix Katz

"One of the year’s best books on gardens and health."

Sunset Magazine - Jim McCausland

"[A] beautifully synthesized scientific memoir."

Nature - Barbara Kiser

"The Hidden Half of Nature offers a wonderfully fresh and exquisitely informed approach that could change how we relate to ourselves, our diets, our gardens and our world."

Seattle Times - Tim McNulty

"A stunningly clever book that connects the tiny dots of the microbial world. I will never ignore my microbes again."

Kirk Johnson

"The Hidden Half of Nature reads like a fast-paced novel but tells the true story of the workings of soils, and even our own bodies."

Neil Shubin

"Amazingly detailed and well-researched. … [The Hidden Half of Nature] lays out the beautiful connection between the microbial garden in our bodies and the microbial garden in the Earth."

Oregon Live - Sally Peterson

"Montgomery and Biklé argue that when we farm and when we eat, we’re feeding a diverse community of microorganisms. This book is sure to become a game-changing guide to the future of good food and healthy landscapes."

Dan Barber

"The Hidden Half of Nature draws a straight line from the microbes that live in healthy soil to those that live in healthy guts, skillfully blending the personal and the scientific. This is a must-read for anyone concerned with their own health."

Amy Stewart

"[A] transformative read."

Mother Jones - Tom Philpott

2015-08-17
A geologist and a biologist and environmental planner chronicle the transformation of their desolate Seattle backyard into a fertile garden and how they learned about the importance of beneficial microbes in their newly revived soil. With lively and accessible prose, Montgomery (The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood, 2013, etc.) and Biklé lay the foundation for their narrative with a discussion about microbes: what they are as well as their remarkable adaptability and diversity and the role they play in the natural environment—e.g., making half the world's oxygen. The authors lead readers through an eye-opening history of well-known individuals involved with the fascinating work of ferreting out the mysterious lives of these little critters, such as Louis Pasteur, and many others less well known to the nonscientific community. The authors' blending of science and history, combined with personal insights, keeps the balanced narrative moving at a rapid pace. Montgomery and Biklé also deftly integrate the dark story of American agriculture's co-option by the chemical industry. Attempting to solve the biological problem of low soil fertility with herbicides and synthetic fertilizers, corporations created a cycle of demand requiring farmers use more chemicals. The result has been depleted soil with fewer microbes and an unsustainable food production system. The authors explore the overuse of antibiotics and their effect on the human biome, livestock, and infectious diseases. Biklé describes her bout with cancer and the resulting changes she made to her garden and dietary habits. The authors ably help lay readers knit together the multiple threads of this complex and intriguing story, and a glossary provides a solid a foundation when grappling with unfamiliar terms such as "commensal" or dysbiosis." A must-read for avid gardeners, those interested in bolstering our precarious food supply, or anyone remotely concerned about their health and the soil under their feet.

Kirkus Reviews