Intraterrestrials

“Lloyd is one of those rare gifted writers who can be as broadly profound as she is precise, able to make science both come raucously alive and resonate with meaning. She does this via perfect metaphors, an effortless wit, and a massively infectious enthusiasm for the outsize significance of her very small subjects. This science book is, furthermore, part adventure story, as she travels to the ends of the earth to pursue her small subjects, and generally bears witness to ‘the shocking enormity of what we have been missing about life on Earth.” * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *“Lloyd, an environmental studies professor at the University of Southern California, debuts with an astonishing study of the remarkable microorganisms that thrive in the ‘subsurface biosphere.’ … Filled with mind-blowing trivia that will change how readers think about life on Earth, this captivates.” * Publishers Weekly, starred review *”[A] must-read.”—Mark Martin, Matters Microbial“The central question Lloyd poses in her fascinating exploration of underground microbial ecology—are there life-forms hiding inside Earth that are so strange that they change our conception of life itself?—is easily answered. Yes!”—Tony Miksanek, Booklist“At a beach-bag-friendly 200 pages or so, this lively and compulsively engaging book is an unusual page-turner. Lloyd, a geomicrobiologist, expertly guides readers who have a taste for biological adventures to ‘intraterrestrial’ life: microorganisms that survive under the most extreme environmental conditions, such as in Earth’s deep sediments, deep ocean crust, volcanoes and permafrost soil… . Thanks to Intraterrestrials, the general reader can now peek into the work of this network of experts and hopefully leave with a changed perspective as regards microbial life on and within this planet, and of its antiquity, evolutionary pace, adaptability and extraordinary tenacity.”—Andreas Teske, Nature

Karen G. Lloyd is the Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. Her work has appeared in leading publications such as Nature and Science.