10% Human: How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness: Alanna Collen: 9780062345998: Amazon.com: Books
10% Human: How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness Reprint Edition
by Alanna Collen (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 188 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0062345998
ISBN-10: 0062345990Why is ISBN important?
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“A fascinating look into the world of the microbiological hitchhikers that travel with us throughout our lives…Recommended for all readers, particularly those contending with the diseases listed and parents making health choices for their children that may have far-reaching consequences.” (Library Journal (starred review))
“Exciting and novel…A fascinating study of the intertwined lives of microbes and humans…a manual for the new, healthy way of being dirty…Read it, and you will learn to love your microbiota.” (Newsweek)
“A fascinating subject to consider…A beginner’s guide to microbiota…There’s value in Collen’s point about reconsidering what is truly healthy at a time when healthy living is so in vogue.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)
“Collen’s evidence for how each person’s microbiota, or personal community of microbes, impacts his or her health is undeniably powerful. She creates compelling connections between microbes and the “twenty-first-century illnesses” that affect all of us in some way…” (Bustle)
“A welcome antidote to the simplistic ‘boost your health with probiotics’ books and articles posing as science…fascinating…Collen always brings the story back to the human level…Everything you wanted to know about microbes but were afraid to ask.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))
“Collen argues convincingly that our enthusiasm for killing human bacteria is playing a leading role in ailments ranging from immune problems and obesity to autism.” (The Listener, the 100 Best Books of the 2015)
“Compelling…Packed with extensive research and interviews, with insights hidden like gems in the text… Adept at explaining complex topics like the workings of immune system cells, Collen is strong on biological and historical context for each point.” (Gut Microbiota Worldwatch)
“Collen’s book satisfies on every level… 10% Human is a page-turner that will leave science-loving readers wishing for more.” (The ASCO Post)
“This book was a mind-changer for me, but it has a moderate tone that will appeal to skeptics and believers alike. Please, please read this book. It will make you smarter about your own health, your children’s health and the sociology of human illness.” (Leeannesowel.com )
“Fascinating… I like 10% Human because while talking to an incredibly specific topic, it highlights the wholeness of the whole. It reminds me that no matter how specific we get with anything-it’s always part of a bigger picture.” (Actionable Books)
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About the Author
Alanna Collen is a science writer with a master's degree in biology from Imperial College London and a PhD in evolutionary biology from University College London and the Zoological Society of London. She is a well-travelled zoologist, an expert in bat echolocation, and an accidental collector of tropical diseases. During her scientific career, Collen has written for the Sunday Times Magazine, as well as about wildlife for ARKive.org. She has appeared on both radio and television, including BBC Radio 4's The Tribes of Science and Saturday Live, and BBC One's adventure-wildlife show Lost Land of the Volcano. She lives in Bedfordshire, England, with her husband.
Product details
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Reprint edition (May 10, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062345990
ISBN-13: 978-0062345998
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.8 x 8 inches
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Biography
Alanna Collen is a British science writer with degrees in biology from Imperial College London, and a PhD in evolutionary biology from University College London and the Zoological Society of London. She is a well-travelled zoologist, an expert in bat echolocation, and an accidental collector of tropical diseases.
During her scientific career, Alanna has written for the Sunday Times Magazine, as well as about wildlife for ARKive.org. She has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s Tribes of Science and Saturday Live, and BBC One’s adventure-wildlife show Lost Land of the Volcano. She lives in Bedfordshire with her husband.
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188 customer reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5 stars
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Showing 1-4 of 188 reviews
Top Reviews
Hal Nash
5.0 out of 5 starsAn accessible, peer-review researched book... highly recommendedFebruary 13, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This writer provides a very readable book after researching the PEER REVIEW JOURNALS that contain the research she refers to in the book. She does not serve up her opinions very often and simply presents the research in an accessible style that most adults could read and understand. Other books about gut microbes are not as firmly based on peer review articles as this book is.
Collen is an evolutionary PhD biologist which is essential in understanding this particular topic. Very briefly, bacteria were the only organisms on the planet for about 3 BILLION years. All other organisms that have arisen on Earth were born into a sea, an ocean of bacteria. And all of those organisms have had to deal with that bacterial ocean... or die. It's really no wonder the bacteria are the ones that are really controlling things.
I am in my 30th year of teaching community college biology courses for nursing students and my degrees are both in microbiology. There's a lot of junk pseudoscience out there... but this book is not one of those. Here in my last year of teaching, we are reading this book as a supplement to our regular text, and going through each chapter as a class.
If you don't read this book, you are missing out on a lot of answers to yours and our chronic health problems... from autism, obesity/overweight, allergies, diabetes, autoimmunity, antibiotic overuse, and diet. How we cultivate our microbiome is the key to understanding health in the 21st century.
Without any reservations, I recommend this read.
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92 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 starsand our dietary changes and their combined assault on our gut bacteria diversity & balance describes beautifully how we are creaSeptember 6, 2015
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
The burgeoning research into the functions of microbes we pack around in our digestive tracts is standing decades of health science on its head. This well written survey of health changes modern societies have seen over the last 75 years, the links to antibiotics & cesarean births, and our dietary changes and their combined assault on our gut bacteria diversity & balance describes beautifully how we are creating modern epidemics out of diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases (autism, tourettes, lupus, MS, etc).
If you are interested in youth own health, that of your children or grandchildren- this is a great resource. The author treats the subject from a scientific aspect to build a solid understanding how we got where we are, and then goes into what we can do about our own health and the health of those we love. There's a bit of humor sprinkled throughout and the writing style is easy to follow.
This material should be mandatory reading at the high school health class level in all developed nations. If it was- our shopping, eating, birthing and health attitudes would be dramatically different and our health costs would be reduced.
34 people found this helpful
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J. Lanning Smith
5.0 out of 5 starsPlenty Here to Sink Your Mind IntoApril 14, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I've read a couple books now on the human biome, and this book is by far the best one of the lot, particularly for a lay reader such as myself. Alanna Collen is a science writer with a PhD in evolutionary biology. That has given her the rare gift of fully understanding and knowing the science and at the same time being able to explain it to the nonscientist. The material in each chapter is backed up by plenty of peer-reviewed scientific papers. There is no pseudo-science or hype here. The facts are presented as accurately as can be.
There is plenty here to sink your mind into, assuming of course that you have control over your own mind. As Ms. Collen shows in the book, however, there is evidence that our gut biome influences our minds and our actions. It's compelling information. And that's just one small part of what is in the book. There's the question of obesity being caused by the microbes in our gut. There's the point made about not only how we were born but also whether or not we were breast fed influencing our lives because of the microbes that we may or may not have gotten in the first few months of our lives. And of course, there's much much more.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about their human biome. It covers the subject well in layman terms while at the same time, it never talks down to the reader. This book is very well done and the author did an excellent job in putting it together.
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10 people found this helpful
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Kestrel
5.0 out of 5 starsPlease read this book!October 1, 2015
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Fantastic book. Extremely well written and chock full of very important information - how we can hurt our microbiome and how we can help repair it. I am begging everyone I know to read this book, especially people considering becoming parents. This book will arm you with essential information about how to give your child the best start in life, microbially speaking. I could not put this book down.
19 people found this helpful
