The Living Medicine by Lina Zeldovich Book Review

About the Book:

First discovered in 1917, bacteriophages—or “phages”—are living medicines: viruses that devour bacteria. Ubiquitous in the environment, they are found in water, soil, inside plants and animals, and in the human body.

When phages were first recognized as medicines, their promise seemed limitless. Grown by research scientists and physicians in France, the Soviet Union, and elsewhere to target specific bacteria, they cured cholera, dysentery, bubonic plague, and other deadly infectious diseases.

But after Stalin’s brutal purges and the rise of antibiotics, phage therapy declined and nearly was lost to history—until today. In The Living Medicine, acclaimed science journalist Lina Zeldovich reveals the remarkable history of phages, told through the lives of the French, Soviet, and American scientists who discovered, developed, and are reviving this unique cure for seemingly-intractable diseases. Ranging from Paris to Soviet Georgia to Egypt, India, Kenya, Siberia, and America, The Living Medicine shows how phages once saved tens of thousands of lives. Today, with our antibiotic shield collapsing, Zeldovich demonstrates how phages are making our food safe and, in cases of dire emergency, rescuing people from the brink of death. They may be humanity’s best defense against the pandemics to come.

My Review:

The is a very informative and quite readable exploration of phage medicine. Zeldovich takes us through the personal stories of those who discovered them, studied them intently, and produced them for public use. I liked her giving us the human side of the scientists. We also read about the political situation in the eastern Europe countries, where these scientists lived.

The use of phage medicine had mixed success in the West. Penicillin came into use and phage medicine fell out of favor. The last commercial phage medicine disappeared in the 1970s in the U.S., just when antibiotic resistance became apparent. American doctors had forgotten about phages and that their use was not hindered by the evolving bacteria. Medical researchers looked for stronger and stronger antibiotics instead.

This book is quite engaging. Zeldovich adds suspense to it by relating stories of desperate and hopeless cases and the race to find the phage that worked, saving the life. I learned much about modern diseases and medicines too. Now I know more about how the FDA approves trials and ultimately drugs. I know more about how research was done in eastern Europe compared to the West.

This is a very interesting and informative book and would appeal to those who like The Emperor of all Maladies or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I highly recommend it.

My rating: 5/5 stars.

About the Author:

Lina Zeldovich grew up in a dissident family of Soviet scientists and learned English as a second language in her twenties, as an immigrant New Yorker. Now an award-winning journalist, author, speaker, and Columbia Journalism School alumna, she has contributed hundreds of stories for leading publications including Popular Science Magazine, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Scientific American, Smithsonian, National Geographic, and BBC, and appeared on radio, podcasts and TV. Her last book, The Other Dark Matter: The Science and Business of Turning Waste into Wealth and Health, has been optioned for a TV series. She lives in New York City. Photo credit: Mallory Pettee

St. Martin's Press, 304 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)