James KinrossDark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome

This is a captivating and skillfully written exploration of our industrious microbiome. The author's extensive experience in this field, marked by years of dedicated work and research, shines through. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this insightful book.

What a find this book is. Dr Kinross has a really interesting and new approach to discussing gut health and the microbiome. He is clearly VERY experienced in this area with his years of work and research under his belt. I loved every page. I also bought it on audio and he his voice and narration makes for very easy listening. Well done, great book.

This was recommended by my surgeon and I'm delighted she told me about it, as so many things were new to me, and I thought I was reasonably well informed about the microbiome and its links to inflammation and therefore to many aspects of health. some reviews here seem uncomfortable that Kinross notes where microbiome findings are relevant to things they dont want to know about: climate change; transgender issues; covid and its impact. Personally I welcome this thorough content; everything is connected, even if the consequences of that connectedness doesnt fit some people's personal opinions or politics. I have found - in the year-long process that it took to identify my condition - that most GPs and even many gastroenterologists don't know much about the science on this subject. this means many patients are ill-served: over-prescribed antibiotics; interconnected health issues not connected and people become sicker -and in many cases die - before the cause is established. Kinross's book is much more readable than expected for non-medical people like me, and I commend it to anyone who wants to live healthily to old age in good condition.

A fascinating and nicely written account of our hard working microbiome; out of sight but never out of mind; literally! A really engaging overview of our little microbial friends; what they do for us and, importantly, what we need to do for them. Thoroughly recommended.

Having been nurtured with the idea that microbes are bad, keeping bleach, antibacterial sprays and handwash around and washing hands after handling soil or pets, this book comes as a shock. Although at times it lurches into speculation it’s meticulous in giving references to the scientific literature and it’s changed my thinking. Of course I was aware of some work on the gut microbiome and the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ linking the epidemic of allergic and other diseases to decreasing contact with microorganisms and their products. But there is more. Biodiversity, it turns out, is not only important in the world around us but in, on and around ourselves. Much as some microbes do cause illness and death, we cannot live healthy lives without an extraordinarily diverse and changing personal biosphere of microbial companions which we influence and which influence us.Dietary and lifestyle changes in westernised societies which seemed a good, convenient, palatable (and, boy oh boy, profitable) idea at the time now emerge as causes of a mass of chronic diseases and damaging health conditions. You and people near you have almost certainly got some.But there are things you can do even now, though we still have an enormous amount to learn. Mass health conditions now making optimal health care unaffordable even in the richest societies are preventable, mostly at vastly lower cost.I thoroughly recommend this well-written book to anyone not afraid of something moderately academic.

It's an easy read, understandable. I do feel it could have been shorter. I guess those of us who purchase such a book are very much aware of the statistics and back ground stories. I found my self skipping chapters to get to the hard information in how to improve your microbiome.

Extremely enjoyable read. Well written and deeply addictive. To get the balance right between being entertained and learning complex information about the gut microbiome concurrently is quite some skill and J Kinross has got this balance just right. Highly recommend this to anyone fascinated with the human body, gut health or generally wants to read about something fascinating.

Information about gut health is decent but it leans too heavily about climate change, Covid and other political views of which i think are biased (in my opinion) and feel as though the book fits a certain narrative that I respectfully disagree with completely.

Such an Interesting Book!

Kinross makes it clear that the composition of the microbiome has been implicated in many conditions, but the truth is that this is really nothing new. The great unknowns are the exact mechanisms by which the composition of the microbiome may (and I stress may) be a factor in these conditions, and the science is so young that there simply isn't the evidence to make any definitive claims; given the extreme number of confounders, it's very unlikely we ever will.So we are left with a book that's 280 pages long that could easily have been a 20 page review. Because we simply don't know the exact mechanisms by which gut microbiota influence certain conditions, his rather repetitive and slightly grandiose calls to action that frequently appear at the end of each chapter ring pretty hollow: they may be noble goals but without any idea of how we might implement them, it's all rather redundant.In addition, it's really not very clear who Kinross wrote this book for. He oscillates between over simplified (and occasionally unsuitable) analogies and paragraphs that probably need first year undergraduate knowledge to understand fully on the first read. There are easier and better reads on the microbiome for those who are new to the area, and if you want more detail, they are plenty of decent reviews which are more comprehensive.

Interesting information and nicely explained