A review by eduncan1121
Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live by Rob Dunn

4.0

3.5 ⭐️

I love learning about microbiology, especially. My biggest problem with this book was the repetitiveness of it. Certain details would be retold several times unnecessarily.

The other problem I have with this book was that there were bits of information about particular species that wasn’t mentioned that would’ve been interesting/helpful to include, but weren’t, and other areas of the book that felt boring because if you have taken a basic biology or intro to microbiology class, you’ve likely covered and are familiar with. I found that to be true particularly of the first half of the book.

What I liked about the book was the second half. I really favor medical related learning and loved the chapter about gardening babies. I also enjoyed the last chapter about fermented foods and would’ve been fine with an entire book about that. I also felt like the author came into his voice more towards the second half of the book, offering more insights into how experiments were run, and funny quips were added here and there that didn’t seem as present earlier on.

Overall I would recommend the book, but I do think some people with a more science heavy education and background may find parts of it boring, or at least lacking in new information.