Life at the Edge of Sight

From the microbial mats at Grand Prismatic Spring in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park to yeasts, bacteria, and diatoms, the realm of minute life—the foundation of the planetary ecosystem—is ceaselessly compelling. Microbiologists Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter explore it by meshing sumptuous images with sharp text. Their swirling narrative segues through deep time; lingers on slime molds, tardigrades (‘water bears’), rotifers and the microbes driving fermentation; and speculates enticingly on extraterrestrial microbiota. – Barbara Kiser * Nature *
This is a most lovely and profound book about microbes. It is a paean to nature, and to the irrepressible curiosity of those who have explored the obscure byways of our world. Both scholars and armchair enthusiasts will enjoy the journey! – Martin Blaser, author of Missing Microbes
Life at the Edge of Sight offers an inspired journey into microbiology, biodiversity, symbiosis, evolution, and the origin of life, guided by an eminent scientist and an extraordinary photographer. – Pascale Cossart, Professor and Head of the Bacteria-Cell Interactions Unit, Institut Pasteur
Chimileski and Kolter’s wonderful book tells stories of microbial discovery. It beautifully illustrates the microscopic organisms that have shaped our world. – Richard Lenski, Hannah Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
Through stories that are both entertaining and scholarly, this delightful book celebrates the wonders and grand reach of the microbial world. The photography is stunning, and will leave any reader—expert or novice—with a sense of awe. – Dianne K. Newman, Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology, California Institute of Technology
This lavishly illustrated celebration [of microbes] takes in everything from antibiotics, fungi and ‘intelligent slime’ to the rich environment ‘on the kitchen counter,’ while also tracing the stories of the leading scientists who revealed this extraordinary world. Microbes will never be the same again. – Matthew Reisz * Times Higher Education *
[Kolter and Chimileski] offer an appreciation of microorganisms that is both scientific and artistic, and that gives a glimpse of the cellular wonders that are literally underfoot. – John Rennie and Lucy Reading-Ikkanda * Quanta Magazine *

Scott Chimileski is a science photographer, imaging specialist, and Research Scientist in the Bay Paul Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Roberto Kolter is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of Harvard’s Microbial Sciences Initiative. He is also co-blogger at Small Things Considered. Elio Schaechter is Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Emeritus, at Tufts University School of Medicine. He is the coauthor of Mechanisms of Microbial Disease and Physiology of the Bacterial Cell.

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