Rating: 
Summary: This book will alter how you look at the world
Review: This is one of those rare books that can totally alter how you look at the world. Read it and you begin seeing parasites in every skin blemish you have. See a cat catch a mouse and all you can do is think about all the parasites its about the ingest. You find youself wanting to visit the parasite museum in Maryland to see all the horrible creatures you've been reading about. You begin thinking that Zimmer's right and that parasites have driven the evolution of the world. You begin wodering if Stephen King has read it and if so what novel he's writing. You begin wondering if there's thousands of little cysts in your brain and that your life goal of going on safari in Africa may need revaluated. You imagine what its like to extract a guinea worm from your leg. You question whether or not you will ever eat crab again. You wonder whether the reason you've been so hungry of late is because there's a sixty foot long tapeworm inside your intestines. It's a stunning book and an important one. Zimmer found something obvious that's been overlooked in biology and if he's right will change the way we view life. Survival of the individual will be changed to survival of the creature living inside the indiviual. For example, there is a parasite that gets inside a snail, takes it over, forces it climb a blade of grass and wait for a grazing cow to wander by and eat it. The cow is where the parasite wants to end up. The snail is just a vessel to reach the cow. The young of the parasite end up in cow pies which the snail eats and the cycle begins again. The complex world of flukes and tapeworms, of enslaved crabs and suicidal snails, of sleeping sickness and malaria, is like a car wreck: you want to turn away but you can't, you're compelled to look fearful of what you might see. As you explore the book you learn that these creatures are much more than revolting. I can't say you'll ever view them with sympathy, you can view them with respect -- and hopefully at a safe distance.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: When I saw this book on the shelves I thought I was prepared for it. I thought it would present the world of parasites with interesting descriptions, some scientific information and a touch of gruesome or creepy, and that that would be it.
How wrong I was.
This book gives much, much more than that.
In fact, this book can be read at different levels.
At the first level, one will find the descriptions I mentioned and will be entertained by reading of the unusual animals, their parasitic infestations, or the information about parasites that we (almost all of us) carry in our bodies.
But there is a deeper reading level: the book will destroy your vision of biology and ecology to build a new one. It will have you looking at the world, the environment, your own body under a new light. You will start to re-consider your concept of superior organism and intelligence. You will have doubts about who is actually superior to who in ecology. You will have to think of the human race as something less efficient and superior as you are used to think.
The book is easy to read, even for those who do not have good biology basis, yet it is not boring for more scientifically advanced readers.
I strongly recommend this book to readers of any ages. It is instructive, entertaining, stimulating. A masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Rex Rules
Review: You really should buy Zimmer's book Parasite Rex. I did and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You'll find it chock full of fascinating facts and details of the lives of those we seldom see yet, who Zimmer argues, direct our lives and the lives of most living things around us.I had no idea how efficient those little fellas can be. I imagined that most of a parasite's wanderings through a host's body was all random; Zimmer elegantly describes how Fasciola hepatica's migration to the liver is as purposeful, focused, and orchestrated as any business trip that we might undertake. Among the many jewels, he has brought to the public the fascinating speculation that Crohn's disease is a direct result of our freedom from parasites. His account of the impending eradication of guinea worm (possibly river blindness too) all makes for a great read. Its easy style and engaging facts make it hard to put down. True, sometimes I found Zimmer's proposals a little too far fetched-I really don't think he would convince many sheep farmers to let parasites control (decrease) their stocking density when they can easily do it themselves by simply selling some sheep. Read Parasite Rex and you'll have a whole new appreciation of life as we know it. Zimmer will convince you that parasitism is an acceptable way to make a living-no mean feat! Morgan Morrow
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