Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live

What a delightful book! The writing style is fun and engaging while the content is astounding in its breadth and depth. This is a book that doesn't make you feel stupid, but actually enlightened. It put a whole new light on just what biodiversity means from the largest animals to the microbiology that we require. You will delight in reading this book and will want to share it with your friends!

I’m an eco-dispairist. Surprisingly, I felt actual optimism reading this book. It’s scientifically well shored up but chatty and warm as well. Dunn acknowledged several chapters that had been deleted. I wish they hadn’t been. Perhaps a sequel? I summarized the toxoplasmosis review for the waitress at my small town diner. We decided we’ve both had it, and she told me the next morning she’d dreamed about it. Yeah, it’s that kind of book. I’m ready to check out the rest of what he’s written though I suspect what he published for tenure and promotion may not be as reader friendly. I read the kindle edition. No problems there.

I like it when researchers can bring their results to people in an understandable and interesting way. If you are squeamish about germs this probably isn't the book for you. But for those who like to know about what lives with them it's a good read. The information about black mold and drywall, the yeasts on a bakers hands, the community that lives in your shower head, are all fascinating as well as all the other topics. I now have something to show my husband when he complains about the spider webs in the corners of my office and all the animals and plants I haul inside. Biodiversity is good. Healthy people live in homes with lots of it.

This book exposes the reader to ecology: the study of interactions among organisms and their biophysical environment. For me, beginning with van Leeuwenhoek and his microscope was appropriate. As a teen, I had tested my new microscope by squeezing a drop of puddle water onto a slide. The results were amazing: under my lens was an invisible world of darting, squirming, recoiling life.Author Rob Dunn, a Professor of Applied Ecology, focuses on that life living with us. His team initially conducts an inventory of homes in Raleigh NC, employing a method called DNA Sequencing to identify bacteria types. The team finds different kinds of bacteria everywhere: we can’t get rid of them, and wouldn’t want to because most are beneficial.The author’s studies and research continue, to examine mold in drywall, cultivation of yeasts, and baking contests where microbes on the bakers’ hands affect the flavor of their breads.Dunn draws heavily from first-hand experience with his team’s work and his collaborations, which add strength to his findings. But some conclusions are based on thinly supported research such as a single student’s thesis. Sometimes, the author substitutes supposition for stating a fact.Dunn addresses important ecological issues. He emphasizes the worrisome pace of bacteria in developing resistance to medicines faster than we are producing new treatments. He expresses concern about the use of chemicals that indiscriminately kill both harmful and harmless life. And he describes the application of “exploitive competition,” a strategy of using harmless organisms to outcompete and eliminate harmful ones.Dunn strongly supports the benefits of biodiversity. He advises against attempting to create a near-sterile environment where we live, because developing a human response to “friendly” invaders stimulates our immune system to develop defenses against harmful ones.The book suggests that this field is rife with study opportunities, but also thin in capable researchers and available funding. Discoveries such as Fleming’s penicillin were taken from Nature, and one gets a hint that more such discoveries are awaiting. But, the astronomical range of existing life forms presents a challenge in what to study. So, the field emphasizes selection of useful study areas.This interesting book offers much to think about, but at times it seems over the top. While it elaborates on microscopic visitors in the International Space Station and speculates about fungi on Mars, other subjects such as beetles keeping ants as pets, or parasites intentionally causing schizophrenia in humans, seem too outré. Further at times, the reader must adapt to Dunn’s unexpectedly casual and humorous writing style.I encountered a formatting problem seen in other books: on each right-side page in the book’s body, the header contains a CHAPTER TITLE. But in the Notes section in back, notes are organized by CHAPTER NUMBER. As a result, a reader looking up a note must first refer to the Table of Contents to reference chapter titles to chapter numbers.

It's one of the best books I've read this year. It's definitely not for the squeamish. I'm an OCD clean person, but it did't bother me at all. It's just other organisms we have to live with.I heard about the book on NPR last year and just had to procure it for myself. It sat in my pile for some time, but was not let down by any means when I finally picked it up. It's easy to read, but with a scientific bent. The biodiversity of the home is absolutely amazing. I have to admit, I do look at the water coming out of my shower in a whole new light. Very entertaining, as well as educational.

There's a lot going on inside our homes in the way of unseen visitors! Not great to read before bedtime, the book does provide an eye-opening look at the benefits of spiders and other creatures seen and microscopic. A germaphobe of sorts, I am now feeling much better about our microbial world as a result of this book.

This book wakes me up to those invisible companions that live with us 24/7! Now I understand why sometimes I get infection despite being very clean. I have essentially washed away the good bugs that are protecting me and invited the bad ones to cause infection! At the same time, learning how microorganisms circulate around us specially through pets and the potential diseases these pets can bring to us make me wonder if some illnesses suffered by some people may have been caused by their own pets. Often the symptoms don't show till years later. It's worth reading. It wakes me up to our invisible companions, invited and uninvited ones.

I have been reading this out loud to my son's, ages 9 and 11. We are loving it! I'm learning so much about the biome of our home, all things gross, interesting, exciting, appalling, and intriguing. Did you know that a heat-lovimg bacteria once only found in hot springs now lives in people's water heaters? Or that cave crickets have evolved to live exclusively in your basement? Or that the yeast we use take beer and wine came from the guts of wasps? Do you know how many types of creepy crawlies coexist with humans in our homes? Because I didn't know any of these things until I read this book. My kids and I have been inspired to be curious, to observe, and to keep track of our home ecosystem we never knew existed thanks to this book. 5 stars from this mom of future scientists!

A nice overview of the myriad bacterial species co-existing with us in and out of our homes. I now have to think of ways to increase the biodiversity of my microbiomes.

Reports mainly about American houses and their bugs, dissapointing

Not always easy to read, but worth your time and effort. It is fascinating what exists in the world around us. It is also humbling to think that humans, despite what our egos tell us, are simply part of the eco system

Questo libro è scritto con un linguaggio semplice e scorrevole eppure è molto rigoroso scientificamente e istruttivo. Da leggere assolutamente!

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