Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are

By Marlene Zuk

Book Overview

We treat disease as our enemy. Germs and infections are things we battle. But what if we've been giving them a bum rap? From the earliest days of life on earth, disease has evolved alongside us. And its presence isn't just natural but is also essential to our health. Drawing on the latest research, Zuk answers a fascinating range of questions about disease: Why do men die younger than women? Why are we attracted to our mates? Why does the average male bird not have a penis? Why do we--as well as insects, birds, pigs, cows, goats, and even plants--get STDs? Why do we have sex at all, rather than simply splitting off copies of ourselves like certain geckos? And how is our obsession with cleanliness making us sicker? In this witty, engaging book, evolutionary biologist Zuk makes us rethink our instincts as she argues that disease is our partner, not our foe. Reconsider the fearsome parasite!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156034689
• ISBN13: 9780156034685
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Disease is treated as an enemy to be eradicated - or should it be something more?

Disease is treated as an enemy to be eradicated - or should it be something more? Evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk here argues that disease is our partner, not a foe: it's evolved alongside humans and is actually essential to health. The latest research and some unusual studies explores the role of disease in longevity, evolution, and the animal and insect as well as human worlds, using the author's on work on sexual selection processes to supplement intriguing stories from nature. An excellent survey, RIDDLED WITH LIFE: FRIENDLY WORMS, LADYBUG SEX, AND THE PARASITES THAT MAKE US WHO WE ARE is a pick not just for school holdings but for the general-interest library strong in popular science and health.

Is sex necessary?

I can still close my eyes and see Thurber's little cartoon guy slouching dispiritedly past an embracing couple on the park bench, and asking his famous question. If he knew that most complex organisms evolved into two sexes because of parasites, he would probably have thrown his jacket over his head and screamed. Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology at the University of California, provides `parasites' as the answer to many evolutionary conundrums, as she brings us face-to-proboscis with some of the natural world's most bizarre adaptations surrounding the continued survival of genomes, including our own. What causes auto-immune diseases? Why do female peacocks go for males with the fanciest tail feathers? Are some people more accident-prone than others? Why did Debbie Estis Greenspan invent Dr. Doormat? Are all of these phenomena caused by parasites? `Yes,' according to Professor Zuk. If you don't believe that parasitized people have more accidents, read the chapter "Bad but Not Weird: The Real Emerging Diseases." Not only might the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis be responsible for a higher automobile accident rate, it might also trigger schizophrenia: "Children of mothers who were infected with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy show higher levels of mental retardation, brain malformations, and seizures. Ewald and coworkers believe that the reason more people with schizophrenia are born at certain times of year is that their mothers were more likely to have come into contact with cats and their feces." "Riddled with Life" presents a very clear thesis: evolution is driven by parasitism. It is backed up by fascinating proofs. I read this book while I was a guest at a friend's house, and couldn't help quoting example after example from Dr. Zuk's research. The probable driver for the evolution of bedbug sex is particularly bizarre...I just hope I don't reincarnate as a lady bedbug. Read this book and gross out your own friends. You may never be invited to stay over again, thanks to Professor Zuk's unforgettable examples of parasites in action.

Another Excellent Book on Parasites!

Parasites are fascinating from an evolutionary standpoint and knowledge about them, especially those that affect humans and their domestic animals, is quite practical as well. I have long been a fan of Robert Desowitz's writings on the subject and these were followed by Carl Zimmer's "Parasite Rex", another excellent (if somewhat scary) exposition. Now Marlene Zuk had added another well-written tome in "Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites that Make Us Who We Are." Certainly Dr. Zuk had covered many additional cases of parasites being involved not only with disease, but the sometimes negative aspects of their absence, such as asthma and allergies. Some parasites are virulent, while others have made a sort of peace with their hosts. The complications are often quite bizarre, as with multiple hosts for different stages, genetic disabilities or lethal genes (like sickle cell anemia) maintained because the heterozygous organism has an advantage against a parasite, parasites that force their hosts to act in suicidal ways so that the parasite can reach the alternate host, and many others. The evolutionary reasons that some parasites kill their hosts and others do not are thoroughly examined. After reading Zuk's book, the reader is struck with the shear complexity of living things, their genetic and environmental components, and with the weird dance they do to stay one step ahead of their "enemies", some of which evolve into friends of a sort, or even necessary components of the body. Some of these parasites may give up their parasitic life completely and become partly or wholly mutualists (organisms that are needed by the "host" as well as needing the host themselves), which explains the huge flora of useful and occasionally pathogenic bacteria that humans have in their guts, as well as the very necessary protists in the guts of termites that digest cellulose. Parasitism may also explain sex, as organisms try to avoid the worst aspects of parasitism in the progeny by mixing their genes with those of another individual. This is a very well-written book that the reader will not be able to put down until it is finished, despite the somewhat "morbid" subject. I recommend it as a must for understanding the real owners of the natural world!

Humans and Parasites Have a History Together....

My life began with a years-long struggle against life-draining parasites (I refer to viruses and bacteria, not members of Congress). Unlike most kids, I spent most of my first decade making my parents wonder if I'd see another birthday. As you might suspect, this book is very interesting to me on a personal level. And that brings us to the question of whether this book would be interesting to you. If you have spent much of your life fighting off one disease after another, then obviously yes. But what if you're the typical person who had the usual childhood illnesses and occasionally gets a cold? You take all of the precautions, and you even use antibacterial soaps. If that's the case, then this book is even more applicable to you than it is to me. Zuk tackles one myth after another, to help the reader gain valuable perspective. I haven't seen any negative reviews of this book so far, but invariably someone will cherry-pick excerpts and argue that Zuk is contradicting herself. Zuk says our bodies and environments are so full of bacteria and other parasites that obsessing over getting rid of them is rather pointless and probably harms us. But she also talks about the benefits of sanitation and hygienic practices. So, is she trying to have it both ways? This is like asking if it makes sense to get both rest and exercise, which are two seemingly contradictory activities. In fact, they are complementary activities. You need a balance of each. Balance is exactly what Zuk brings to the discussion of parasites. She gives the example of installing an antibacterial welcome mat for the "safety" of your baby. This might make a parent feel good, but serves no other purpose. But such an act isn't necessarily harmless--it can tilt the balance of the bacterial population such that the baby encounters only superbugs. This type of problem exists on many fronts, and Zuk makes a fascinating exploration of them. Not all bacteria are bad, and Zuk is quite clear about this. The harsh chemicals that saved my life on several occasions (while also running up large medical bills) destroyed more than the harmful bugs. One of the side effects was the inability to digest foods like nuts--the little nut parts would go straight through, exiting in exactly the condition I swallowed them (sharp edges and all). You can simulate the feeling of passing undigested nuts (with their tiny sharp edges) by using 60 grit sandpaper on your rear end. I don't recommend that you stop and do it right now, but if you're so inclined then that's fine. Most of us can simply appreciate the concept and understand the point being made. It's also true some folks get an approximation of this from the cheap paper provided by their employer.... It took many years to correct just this one side effect from killing bugs. In my case, the initial problem was a necessary side effect of a life-saving measure. But today, people are indiscriminately applying harsh chemicals and creating all kinds of unpleas

A Fabulous Read on a Rather Ignored Subject

If you are an extremely squeamish person, this may not be the book for you. On the other hand, if you share as I do, an intense curiosity about the natural world and all its inhabitants regardless of their status and contributions to the natural order, then I think you'll find "Riddled with Life" to be an exciting journey into an almost-ignored and little-known world of fascinating creatures. Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology at the University of California (Riverside), studies parasites -- among other living things -- and not only knows about all these critters but can write about them in a style that is very readable and enjoyable. I have become impressed lately by the many talented academic scientists who have the ability to write for the ordinary reader. Zuk is certainly to be included among them. Her book deals with parasites, worms, and other creatures, and also with disease and health. Interestingly, she has a positive point to make about disease. For instance, she points out that "Disease is not merely ubiquitous. It is normal. It is natural. It is even essential. Illness has shaped all living things for millions of years, and life as we know it -- we, as we know ourselves -- would not exist without disease." I had never thought about that, but the point she makes is explained and justified throughout the book. She makes another important point which I found interesting: "Although most historians are probably blissfully unaware of it, one of the marked changes in our lives since the nineteenth century is in the number and kind of microorganisms we carry in our guts. We harbor hundreds of species of bacteria in our gastrointestinal systems when we are healthy, an internal forest of biodiversity." Most of us normally think of bacteria as "bad," probably the result of so much "antibacterial" advertising by manufacturers of such products. Zuk corrects this misconception and rightly so. Speaking of bacteria and advertising, she does raise something early on in her book that I have spent some time thinking about for a number of years. And that is the "war on bacteria" promoted by the hundreds of advertised products on our TV screens and in our printed media. It has often seemed to me to be a case of "overkill." I am a more or less clean housekeeper -- wipe down the counters, clean the bathrooms regularly, etc. -- but, from the content of some of the advertisements one sees, you'd think we are in imminent danger of being destroyed by bacteria (or germs, if prefer). As I am approaching (all too rapidly, I must say) my biblically-designated threescore and ten years, I reflect on the fact that I was raised during a time when concern with "germs" was not a national obsession. That is not to say that my generation was not concerned with being clean. I think we were. But we were not obsessed with it. Zuk warns regarding this point that in today's world, "The frightening consequences of our overzealous cleansing include resistance of common b