One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday afternoon is to walk to the Harvard book store in Cambridge and wander around the aisles. I'm never looking for a particular book, I just love being around them.

To be completely honest, I always find myself in front of the science shelf. One day while at the bookstore, a book caught my attention not only because of its title but also its original and beautiful illustrations. I grabbed it, and after another hour of wandering around, I settled on purchasing the book that'd originally caught my attention: Welcome to the Microbiome.

Welcome to the Microbiome is, as authors Rob DeSalle and Susan Perkins state in the preface, about us. It describes how we, as humans, live most of our lives in harmony with microbes, which are around us but also on and inside of us. These microbes that live among us constitute our microbiota, and their genetic material makes up our microbiome. Research into understanding an individual’s microbiome has dramatically increased in recent years, and this book perfectly captures the reasons why it's becoming essential to human health to understand our microbiome.

Despite the scientific complexity of the issue at heart, the book is captivating and extremely well written. On a one-day trip to Philadelphia, I was able to read the book from cover to cover. This is the kind of book that makes you hope your plane is late for the chance that you could get through just one more chapter before putting it down.

Through each of its six chapters, the story becomes more and more complex. It first reminds us that we're surrounded by microbes. They live in our home. They are found on every surface as we make our daily journey to the office, both in our cars and on the train. It'll make you think twice before touching the subway turnstiles, benches, and hand rails. Even the keyboards we share at work are hotbeds of bacteria. Bacteria also live on our bodies, and even showering will not remove them. Microbes live inside us.

Researchers have become fascinated by each species of microbe, and countless projects exist that are aimed at sequencing them and better understanding our oral or digestive microbiomes. We all know that the microbiota of our digestive tract are essential for keeping maintaining gut health, but we rarely think about each and every bacteria that lives in a tooth, fighting off the plethora of problems that could lead to a cavity.

Importantly, we don't always live in perfect harmony with our microbiota, and sometimes we need to fight off unwanted microbes. While the fifth chapter may seem like an oversimplication for immunologists, it gives us a historic picture of how vaccines were discovered and developed, and it explains the power of our immune systems. The book ends with a look at how diseases can alter our microbiota. It also explores how an unbalanced microbiota can trigger disease. One example of this is obesity, which has become an epidemic in the last 50 years.

Finally, the book explores how diet affects our microbiota. The ongoing question is whether we can better our health by controlling our microbiota. While that question still needs decades more research, it seems clear that understanding our microbiota will be a key to improving human health.

Although I read every day about science and disease, I've still learned a lot from this accurate and accessible book. In my next adventure, I plan to go to New York City to see an exhibition related to it at the American Museum of Natural History. This book, paired with the chance to check out a real-life, colorful exhibition, seems like an excellent way to explore these little creatures you live with but might not know that much about.