The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health by David R. Montgomery, Anne Biklé | eBook

A riveting exploration of how microbes are transforming the way we see nature and ourselves—and could revolutionize agriculture and medicine.

Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. Good health—for people and for plants—depends on Earth’s smallest creatures. The Hidden Half of Nature tells the story of our tangled relationship with microbes and their potential to revolutionize agriculture and medicine, from garden to gut.

When David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé decide to restore life into their barren yard by creating a garden, dead dirt threatens their dream. As a cure, they feed their soil a steady diet of organic matter. The results impress them. In short order, the much-maligned microbes transform their bleak yard into a flourishing Eden. Beneath their feet, beneficial microbes and plant roots continuously exchange a vast array of essential compounds. The authors soon learn that this miniaturized commerce is central to botanical life’s master strategy for defense and health.

They are abruptly plunged further into investigating microbes when Biklé is diagnosed with cancer. Here, they discover an unsettling truth. An armada of bacteria (our microbiome) sails the seas of our gut, enabling our immune system to sort microbial friends from foes. But when our gut microbiome goes awry, our health can go with it. The authors also discover startling insights into the similarities between plant roots and the human gut. We are not what we eat. We are all—for better or worse—the product of what our microbes eat.

This leads to a radical reconceptualization of our relationship to the natural world: by cultivating beneficial microbes, we can rebuild soil fertility and help turn back the modern plague of chronic diseases. The Hidden Half of Nature reveals how to transform agriculture and medicine—by merging the mind of an ecologist with the care of a gardener and the skill of a doctor.

Publishers Weekly

09/07/2015
At the heart of this delightful book lies the simple belief that microbes have “shaped our past and how we treat them will shape our future in ways we are only beginning to understand.” Montgomery (The Rocks Don’t Lie), a MacArthur fellow and University of Washington geologist, and Biklé, an environmental planner, came to this conclusion after purchasing a home in Seattle and trying to plant a garden. The couple’s attempt to rehabilitate desolate soil led them to explore the microenvironment beneath the ground. They discovered just how complex that ecosystem is, and how essential it is for the health and well-being of the larger ecosystems with which people have greater familiarity. The authors’ growing appreciation of the role that soil microorganisms play led them to look into other critical functions that microbes perform. They focus most of their attention on the human gut and the symbiotic relationship humans have with the huge array of organisms living inside them, making the case that plants and humans have much in common. In addition to explaining how to cultivate both soil and intestinal flora, Montgomery and Biklé present an enjoyable summary of the history of microbiology, a thoughtful discussion of immunology, and a survey of agricultural practices. Illus. (Nov.)

Carl Hays - Booklist

Eye opening … A must for all fascinated by the workings of the body and for those concerned with health care and the environment.

Tim McNulty - Seattle Times

The Hidden Half of Nature offers a wonderfully fresh and exquisitely informed approach that could change how we relate to ourselves, our diets, our gardens and our world.”

Tom Philpott - Mother Jones

[A] transformative read.

Sally Peterson - Oregon Live

Amazingly detailed and well-researched. … [The Hidden Half of Nature] lays out the beautiful connection between the microbial garden in our bodies and the microbial garden in the Earth.”

Jim McCausland - Sunset Magazine

One of the year’s best books on gardens and health.

Barbara Kiser - Nature

A beautifully synthesized scientific memoir.

Dan Barber

Montgomery and Biklé argue that when we farm and when we eat, we’re feeding a diverse community of microorganisms. This book is sure to become a game-changing guide to the future of good food and healthy landscapes.

Sandor Ellix Katz

The Hidden Half of Nature is a great read, opening up for nonscientists the microbial world that underlies all life. You will see your body and the world around you in exciting new ways.”

Amy Stewart

The Hidden Half of Nature draws a straight line from the microbes that live in healthy soil to those that live in healthy guts, skillfully blending the personal and the scientific. This is a must-read for anyone concerned with their own health.”

Neil Shubin

The Hidden Half of Nature reads like a fast-paced novel but tells the true story of the workings of soils, and even our own bodies.”

Martin Blaser

Beautifully written and engaging, The Hidden Half of Nature shows us the underlying principle of all life on earth—the microbes that live in, on, and around us.”

Bruce Barcott

Montgomery and Biklé give microbes their rightful due as powerful organic machines propelling life into death into life.

Deborah Koons Garcia

[G]enial, erudite and wise. Using their personal story, historical fact and cutting edge science, David Montgomery and Anne Bikle have given us a great gift—a deep understanding and appreciation of our relationship with the microbial world. By seeing this invisible world in an entirely new way, as allies, we can move forward in reclaiming the health of our bodies, soil and world by befriending our microbiota. It’s exciting, absolutely necessary, and, now that I have digested this wonderful work, I believe totally possible.

Jeff Lowenfels

A wonderful read! The Hidden Half of Nature not only explores the workings of the microbial world, but also the people and the methods used to advance our knowledge of it.”

Moselio Schaechter

What a friendly and highly readable excursion into the enthralling world of microbes. Through personal experiences and lively historical vignettes, the authors lead us on a delightful journey to discover why microbes are essential for the health of all life forms—including us.

Library Journal

10/15/2015
Geologist Montgomery (geomorphology, Univ. of Washington, Seattle; The Rocks Don't Lie) and biologist Biklé share their personal accounts of transforming their yard into a lush garden after feeding the soil with organic matter. They also write about Biklé's battle with cancer, which propels them deeper into researching microbes. The authors argue that microbes are beneficial and powerful healers that can help infertile crops and battle chronic diseases. Additionally, eating certain foods helps to build healthy microbes. The authors demonstrate that humans and plants have more in common than many realize. A science background is not necessary for readers of this title as the authors do a fine job of explaining scientific terms and processes; they make the material exciting and intimate. VERDICT Recommended for general readers wishing to learn more about gardening, sustainability, and nutrition, as well as students and scholars of geology, microbiology, botany, the history of science, public health, agriculture, and nutrition.—Tina Chan, SUNY Oswego

Kirkus Reviews

2015-08-17
A geologist and a biologist and environmental planner chronicle the transformation of their desolate Seattle backyard into a fertile garden and how they learned about the importance of beneficial microbes in their newly revived soil. With lively and accessible prose, Montgomery (The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood, 2013, etc.) and Biklé lay the foundation for their narrative with a discussion about microbes: what they are as well as their remarkable adaptability and diversity and the role they play in the natural environment—e.g., making half the world's oxygen. The authors lead readers through an eye-opening history of well-known individuals involved with the fascinating work of ferreting out the mysterious lives of these little critters, such as Louis Pasteur, and many others less well known to the nonscientific community. The authors' blending of science and history, combined with personal insights, keeps the balanced narrative moving at a rapid pace. Montgomery and Biklé also deftly integrate the dark story of American agriculture's co-option by the chemical industry. Attempting to solve the biological problem of low soil fertility with herbicides and synthetic fertilizers, corporations created a cycle of demand requiring farmers use more chemicals. The result has been depleted soil with fewer microbes and an unsustainable food production system. The authors explore the overuse of antibiotics and their effect on the human biome, livestock, and infectious diseases. Biklé describes her bout with cancer and the resulting changes she made to her garden and dietary habits. The authors ably help lay readers knit together the multiple threads of this complex and intriguing story, and a glossary provides a solid a foundation when grappling with unfamiliar terms such as "commensal" or dysbiosis." A must-read for avid gardeners, those interested in bolstering our precarious food supply, or anyone remotely concerned about their health and the soil under their feet.

The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health

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