★★★★☆ A classic of popular science

Microbe Hunters

Paul de Bruif

When I was six years old (1962) I decided I wanted to be a scientist. A few years later (1965) the Monod-Wyman-Changeux model of the lac operon convinced me to narrow that down to biochemist. It was not long after that that I read Paul de Kruif's Microbe Hunters -- let's call it 1966. I loved it. For years thereafter Robert Koch was my hero. That's the first remarkable thing about Microbe Hunters -- it's a science book you can give to a highly motivated eleven-year-old with positive results.

And it's not fluff! I'm going to insert the table of contents here, because it will give you a just appreciation of the breadth and depth of de Kruif's coverage

1. LEEUWENHOEK: First of the Microbe Hunters
2. SPALLANZANI: Microbes Must Have Parents!
3. PASTEUR: Microbes Are a Menace!
4. KOCH: The Death Fighter
5. PASTEUR: And the Mad Dog
6. ROUX AND BEHRING: Massacre the Guinea-Pigs
7. METCHNIKOFF: The Nice Phagocytes
8. THEOBALD SMITH: Ticks and Texas Fever
9. BRUCE: Trail of the Tsetse
10. ROSS VS. GRASSI: Malaria
11. WALTER REED: In the Interest of Science-and for Humanity!
12. PAUL EHRLICH: The Magic Bullet

I am now retired after a 50-year career as a scientist, and I still think Microbe Hunters is one of the best popular science books ever written.

In retrospect, my main complaint is that de Kruif makes heroes and villains of scientists. Almost every popular science writer does this, unfortunately. It's an easy but misleading way to dramatize the story. To a scientist, the real drama lies not in the scientists, but in the science itself -- the truths these people revealed. And very few of the villains were actually villains -- they were skeptics. They doubted the crazy new ideas of people like Koch and Pasteur, and thus were actually helpful. Now, scientists are human, and I admit that, as a scientist, I occasionally had some uncharitable thoughts about the people who were skeptical of my ideas. But the person who forced Louis Pasteur to come up with the swan-necked flasks deserves all of our thanks.

Microbe Hunters was published in 1926, so of course a great deal is missing: antibiotics (although the final chapter contains prescient hints), genetics and biochemistry, and the molecular revolution. But Microbe Hunters remains, in my opinion, one of the best books you can give to a kid (or adult) interested in biology.

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