Thinking Small and Large

A powerful exploration of the machinery of life and the ‘gigantic infinitesimal’ world of the microorganisms essential for the survival of our ecosystem. In this beautifully written book, Forbes restores microbes to their rightful place in the history - and, importantly, the future - of our planet. A must for any science-savvy or science-curious reader. * Alice Sherwood, author of Authenticity: Reclaiming reality in a counterfeit culture *

Peter Forbes is a science writer and journalist writing mainly on life sciences and natural history. He read chemistry and worked for the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and in natural history publishing before becoming a freelance writer. He lives in London and teaches the Narrative Non-Fiction course at City St George’s, University of London.

His first full-length non-fiction book, The Gecko’s Foot: How Scientists are Taking a Leaf from Nature’s Book, a ground-breaking introduction to the new field of engineering and materials solutions inspired by nature, was longlisted for the Royal Society/Aventis Prize. He followed this with Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage, which won the Warwick Prize for Writing.