Reviews with content warning for Ableism - I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life

It took me a while to read and a while to get into it, but I did learn a lot and want to continue learning more about microbiology.
I liked how this book broke down things enough for me to understand even though I have no scientific background

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

Idk. On the one hand, this book was fascinating and informative and well-written, and I went into it expecting to like it. On the other hand, the ableism (especially towards autistic people) and fatphobia was a big turn-off. I know some would argue that he was trying to be objective, but I think talking about autism and "obesity" as if they're inherently problems to be solved is not objective. If it had just been the sections focusing on those things it might not have colored my impression of the book so much, but he referenced those things so frequently throughout the book that I was always on guard to hear about some awful things parents had done to their autistic children. So while I think overall this book was good and I would want to recommend it, I just can't say I liked it or would encourage anyone to read it. It's a shame.

And truly, to anyone wondering, that wasn't a *huge* part of the book. Just too much of a factor for me personally. If you're not worried about discussions of those things impacting your experience of reading the book, then I'd say go for it. There's a lot to learn and it's written in a very approachable way (which I'm saying as someone not from a science background at all).

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