Parasite Rex is a great book for anyone taking a parasitology course or anyone who is looking for interesting theories on evolution and how today’s organisms and their revolutionary mechanisms have come to be. Carl Zimmer is able to make parasites relevant to many more people outside of the parasitology field with his engaging anecdotes and ideas.
I love Zimmer's style of writing. He describes parasites as a puzzle; revealing little details about their impressive features and their interaction with their host organism. Even Zimmer's layout of Parasite Rex has meaning and makes his major points even more meaningful. The beginning of Parasite Rex introduces us to the history of parasitology then he continues on to point out their value and uniqueness and he ends the book by speaking of the intimate relationship between parasites and humans. …show more content…
He accomplishes his purpose by first introducing the earliest views of parasites like that of Lankester. Lankester and his colleagues were disinterested and disgusted with parasites believing they had de-evolved making them lazy and less than all other organism that progressed by becoming more complex forms. He gradually introduces several examples throughout his book of complex and interesting parasites and their mode of action and then builds to his biggest argument: parasites are the reason for evolution. He supports this by introducing the Red Queen hypothesis which gives an explanation as to why sex is a product of parasitism. His bottom line is that organisms evolve in order to fight parasites and parasites evolved to fight these new adaptations and so the host and the parasite have been in this constant cycle of fighting each
I love Zimmer's style of writing. He describes parasites as a puzzle; revealing little details about their impressive features and their interaction with their host organism. Even Zimmer's layout of Parasite Rex has meaning and makes his major points even more meaningful. The beginning of Parasite Rex introduces us to the history of parasitology then he continues on to point out their value and uniqueness and he ends the book by speaking of the intimate relationship between parasites and humans. …show more content…
He accomplishes his purpose by first introducing the earliest views of parasites like that of Lankester. Lankester and his colleagues were disinterested and disgusted with parasites believing they had de-evolved making them lazy and less than all other organism that progressed by becoming more complex forms. He gradually introduces several examples throughout his book of complex and interesting parasites and their mode of action and then builds to his biggest argument: parasites are the reason for evolution. He supports this by introducing the Red Queen hypothesis which gives an explanation as to why sex is a product of parasitism. His bottom line is that organisms evolve in order to fight parasites and parasites evolved to fight these new adaptations and so the host and the parasite have been in this constant cycle of fighting each