"Based on a wildly popular Atlantic article: an astonishing investigation into the world of microbes, and the myriad ways they control how other creatures -- including humans -- act, feel, and think As we are now discovering, parasites -- microbes that cannot thrive and reproduce without another organism as a host -- are shockingly sophisticated and extraordinarily powerful. In fact, a plethora of parasites affect our behavior in ways we have barely...

"In this unique piece of pop-science, one of the world's preeminent experts on parasites reveals their astonishing, disgusting, weird, and fascinating behaviors and how they provide insight into humanity's most difficult problems. Squeamishness aside, what can humans learn from the most reviled yet misunderstood animals on Earth: lice, tapeworms, and maggots that can eat a lizard from the inside? And how can these lessons help us negotiate a world...