I Contain Multitudes (Yong) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for I Contain Multitudes...then take of on your own:

1. What specifically are microbes, and where do they live within the bodies of animals?

2. Talk about the wide-ranging roles that microbes play in the health of their hosts, particularly we humans. Consider how microbes facilitate digestion and reproduction, or affect immunity and inflammation.

3. Trace the history of the microbe, going back to when they were the planet's only inhabitants, swimming in Earth's early oceans. Explain the sigificance of those early bacteria merging with archaea?

4. Microbes have long had a poor reputation. What are some of the misconceptions Ed Yong dispels?

5. What was the book's greatest "ick" factor for you? What most surprised, even astonished you?

6. Yong paints a vibrant canvas of the characters who played important roles in the discovery and understanding (or misunderstanding) of microbes. Whom did you find most interesting?

7. Yong raises an important question: Are we too clean? What are the implications of our sanitized life? Why do some believe our obsession with cleanliness is unhealthy? If so, what is the solution?

8. Discuss some of the new therapies that are being explored regarding the use of microbes in, say, the treatment of irritable bowel disorder or allergies.

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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