Thinking Like a Phage: The Genius of the Viruses That Infect Bacteria and Archaea Paperback – May 1, 2017

It is amazing to read detailed and clear descriptions of phages and their life cycle. Even more amazing is their variety. And relatively few species have been documented. It is a real eye opener and I look forward to future books by Merry Youle.

This well written book describes some of the amazing viral mechanisms used to infect bacteria. It also provides insights into the continual evolutionary battle between viruses and bacteria. A fairly easy read even for a non-biologist, the excellent illustrations help with understanding.

I am a nerd and this is a beautiful nerd book. I don’t have a lot of background in microbiology but I learned so much from this book. The author’s love of her subject really comes through. Protists run the world and phages run protists.I look forward to Phages in Community, the companion book Merry Youle promises us.

In this book Merry Youle provides a beautifully drawn and articulated introduction into the amazing world of bacteriophages. The book remains accessible enough to be of interest to the curious undergrad or general audience, while also elegantly explaining intricate details of bacteriophages in a way that will educate even the most seasoned phage veteran. One example of this is how Youle has renamed the phages within her book, taking inaccessible jargon, such as øFf49, and transforming it into the descriptive and memorably named 'Skinny' phage based on its thin, filament-like structure.

Technical but easily understood by a layman

This is a fantastic book full of exciting ideas. If you love learning about the amazing tricks of nature you HAVE to get this book! P.S. It is a much more scholarly and rigorous book than the anthropomorphic title implies.

Great for anybody interested in microbiology, viruses, life, science, how the world really works, and/or having their mind frequently blown.It's extremely approachable and full of little moments of genius and you won't come out of it looking at the world the same way.

I'm not a biologist, but I found this book to be strangely intriguing nevertheless. It delves into life at the micro level more interesting to me than most works of science fiction. The phage, it seems, is a remarkable bit of life that may or may not actually be alive, depending on how one defines the concept of life. The aspect of the book that was most engrossing was the way in which these creatures invade larger host organisms, and then, like the key to some cosmic lock, turn the host's DNA towards their own purposes. The first of these purposes is, of course, self-replication, but that's just the start of the strange odyssey of the phage.If the invasion of a living host organism seems macabre, it must be said also that these entities are responsible for much of the genetic innovation underpinning the evolving process of life. So these infinitely small, and incomprehensibly multitudinous creatures, both destroy life and bring forth new life in the process. So if I understand the thrust of this book correctly, admittedly a stretch for a layman such as myself, it seems the phage is a sort of cross between a magician and an engineer, recreating and redefining life towards it's own elaborate and mysterious ends. The process it uses to accomplish this task is what the book is about and it is indeed the stuff of real life science fiction.

Viruses are cool, but bacteriophages are especially cool. The author explains the challenges that phages face (for example, getting through the bacterial cell wall, or getting back out again, or replicating at the optimal rate given the population of potential hosts. Phages solve all these challenges and more. After you read this you'll have more respect for these inert and supposedly non-living entities. They may be inert when in between hosts, but after they get in, there's a lot of scope for evolutionary improvement. I have no trouble now thinking of viruses as a life form.I'm glad I read this book.

Best book about phages ever !!

Seriously interesting book with gorgeous images.