Dr Bonnie Henry is the Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia, BC's most senior public health official. She is one of our most recognized faces as the person responsible for delivering daily pandemic updates. She is also the most trusted, her advice is (mostly) heeded, and her calm demeanour and leadership is heartening even while delivering unwelcome news. Dr Henry has built her considerable skill while working during many health outbreaks around the world including Ebola, polio, H1N1, and SARS.

The book was published following the H1N1 epidemic in 2009 with a brief update to include COVID-19. Although we are all familiar with rules to live by during the current pandemic, the information was clear, pertinent, and best of all, interesting. I was particularly interested in the vaccines that have come about during my lifetime, including those for polio, pertussis, diphtheria, measles, rubella, and TB, all diseases common when I was a child. Thanks to vaccines the lives of so many children born in my generation and later were saved. ( )

This book, first published in 2009, takes the interested generalist reader on a tour of “Microbes Inc.”, visiting the various divisions of viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi that live within and on humans and animals. The book was written at the beginning of the H1N1 epidemic and has been updated to cover the initial response to COVID-19. Dr. Henry, who is British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer, is well equipped to write this book. It was especially illuminating to be reminded of the SARS epidemic, which provided some useful lessons for dealing with the current pandemic. And the advice in this book still holds up with regard to the current pandemic: wash your hands, cover your face, keep your distance.

I found the book clearly written while maintaining an appropriate amount of technical language. I did find the “Microbes Inc.” conceit a bit silly, though—it felt too much like an attempt at making things simpler, and the metaphor didn’t really work for me. I also felt that the section about the H1N1 epidemic (the swine flu pandemic) could have been updated a bit more; a footnote was added to say that the section was written at the beginning of the epidemic, but could a paragraph not have been added about the outcome? I was curious about that decision.

I’d recommend this book if you’re looking for a good introduction to the various types of microorganisms that can make us sick. ( )