Life Lessons from a Parasite: What Tapeworms, Flukes, Lice, and Roundworms Can Teach Us About Humanity's Most Difficult Problems

"In nature, as in society, the parasites outnumber the hosts. John Janovy Jr. offers the parasites' view of this situation. The result is smart, funny, and all too revealing." – Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer for The New Yorker and New York Times bestselling author of The Sixth Extinction

The answers to life's biggest questions can be found by looking at the little things… 

Though you may not be able to see them with the naked eye, parasites—minuscule life forms that live inside other organisms—inhabit our everyday lives. From headlice to bird droppings, litterboxes to unfiltered water, you have brushed up against the most common way of life on our planet.

In this unique book, John Janovy Jr., one of the world's preeminent experts on parasites, reveals what humans can learn from the most reviled yet misunderstood animals on Earth: lice, tapeworms, flukes, and maggots that can eat a lizard from the inside, and how these lessons help us negotiate our own complicated world. Whether we're learning to adapt to adverse conditions, accept our own limitations, or process new information in an ever-changing landscape—we can be sure a parasite did it first. 

At once peculiar and profound, Life Lessons from a Parasite makes a case for using knowledge of the natural world, with all its wonderful mysteries and quirks, to tackle our worst problems.

ISBN: 9781728292526
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: August 20, 2024

"In nature, as in society, the parasites outnumber the hosts. John Janovy Jr. offers the parasites' view of this situation. The result is smart, funny, and all too revealing." — Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer for The New Yorker and New York Times bestselling author of The Sixth Extinction"Readers intrigued by the intersection of science and society will be particularly interested in this…study connecting the biology and behavior of parasites to human nature... Fascinating." — Kirkus Reviews"Professor John Janovy Jr. is one of the one of the great thinkers in the field of parasitology, and our understanding of host parasite relationships. I’m thrilled that now he has synthesized his thinking in this important new book. It is especially timely given how students in parasitology lately go right to the molecules or the cells without the context of the whole organism biology. His new book will help remind us of what we are missing!" — Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, DSc (hon), FASTMH, FAAP, author of The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science"This book, a love song to research scientists, is written with the hope that we ordinary humans can learn from their work. Janovy implores his readers to base their conclusions on evidence, rather than being swayed by the many infectious and false ideas in our culture. He stresses that successful organisms adapt to, rather than deny, a changing reality. And he stresses the uniqueness of every organism, no matter how small. Most of all he shows us the complexity and beauty of parasites. After reading this book, I'll never look at mosquitos in the same way again." — Dr. Mary Pipher, author of Letters to a Young Therapist