I Contain Multitudes has a terrific story to tell ... covers a huge amount of microscopic territory in clear, strong, often epigrammatic prose. Yong has advanced degrees in biology, and he is remarkably well informed ... He is infectiously enthusiastic about microbes, and he describes them with verve.
...[a] beautifully written account ... Yong — who like Carl Zimmer belongs to the highest tier of science journalists at work today — weaves revelatory anecdotes and cutting-edge reporting into an elegant, illuminating page-turner that deserves a broad readership ... But I Contain Multitudes is hardly pure science. Yong paints a lavish mural teeming with vivid characters.
...[a] marvellous, thrilling and richly annotated book ... And it is a page-turner in a very old-fashioned sense. All life is here, and death too, and sex and violence, including deviations of which you had never dreamed ... We have an inner life, in every sense, and are the richer for it: richer still for this witty and compelling book.
Not since Paul de Kruif’s classic, Microbe Hunters, has this invisible world been brought so vividly to life ... Yong’s prose really sings when we walk in his shoes to meet the men and women studying microbes. Telling a story is hard when your main characters are invisible to the naked eye, so Yong hauls in scientists as proxies ... What sets this joyfully written book apart is not only its willingness to tackle complex microbial interactions but then to discuss larger ideas related to human identity, sustainability, and ecology.
Mr. Yong’s book lives up to its title, containing multitudes of facts presented in graceful, accessible prose ... the author wonderfully turns to the humanities again and again to enrich the book’s scientific detail.
For a lesser writer, the temptation to oversimplify the science or to sex up unwarranted conclusions might have proved irresistible. Mr Yong expertly avoids these pitfalls ... Mr Yong has no need for such hype in his book. I Contain Multitudes bowls along wonderfully without it.
...[a] masterful new book ... [Yong has] the wit and the skill to wring from this mass of observations a tale that shifts our personal cosmology once more (informing us along the way that we have more bacteria in our guts than there are stars in the Milky Way) and compels us look anew at the world ... The prose is smart, canny, and often quite beautiful.
I Contain Multitudes represents his first foray into book writing. Fortunately, Yong’s compulsively readable prose survived the transition, as did his uncanny knack for making difficult technical concepts accessible to lay people ... The strong narrative, rigorous reporting and fluid writing make I Contain Multitudes one of the most essential science books of the year. Yong’s wit, and endearing inability to pass up an opportunity for wordplay, are just a couple of the many bonuses that make it enjoyable, too.
[Yong] writes in energetic, generous, and visceral prose. I Contain Multitudes is a deeply researched book—nerdy and technical, with a Notes section that is its own odd pleasure to read—but Yong's words also pulse and glow with carnality and wonder ... Yong deftly places human evolution in a larger, more complex context of microbial and animal life. I Contain Multitudes will alter your perspective on your place in the world, as well as within your own body. But it might also offer a revolutionary perspective on our society and our individual places within the body politic.
