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

A riveting account of how emerging science about microbes, plants and our own bodies can revolutionise agriculture and medicine.



Our world is built on an invisible one we are barely beginning to understand. In The Hidden Half of Nature, geologist David R. Montgomery and biologist Anne Biklé argue that Earth’s smallest creatures—microbes—could fundamentally change how we grow food, what we eat and how we practise medicine. The Hidden Half of Nature shares Montgomery and Biklé’s efforts to turn a barren patch of ground into a flourishing garden, and Biklé’s struggle with cancer. Taking readers deep into the science and history of agriculture and immunology, they show that microbes can provide powerful solutions to the problems plaguing modern agriculture as well as our own bodies. A spellbinding story, The Hidden Half of Nature reveals how we can restore fertility to the land and defeat chronic diseases.