10% Human

How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness

By: Alanna Collen

Narrated by: Robyn Addison

Obesity, autism, mental health problems, IBS, allergies, auto-immunity, cancer. Does the answer to the modern epidemic of ‘Western’ diseases lie in our gut?

You are 10% human. For every one of your cells, there are nine impostors hitching a ride. You are not just flesh and bone, but also bacteria and fungi. And you are more ‘them’ than you are ‘you’.

Your gut alone hosts 100 trillion of them and until recently we thought that our microbes didn’t matter. This is all set to change as the latest scientific research tells a very different story, one where microbes run our bodies and becoming healthy is impossible without them.

In this ground-breaking book, biologist Alanna Collen reveals how our personal colony of microbes influence our weight, immune system, mental health and even our choice of partner. This is a new way of understanding modern diseases – obesity, autism, mental health problems, gut disorders, allergies, auto-immunity and even cancer – as she argues they have their root in our failure to cherish our most fundamental and enduring relationship: that with our microbes.

Illuminating many of the questions still unanswered by the human genome project 10% Human completely changes our understanding of diet, modern disease and medicine. The good news is that unlike our human cells, we can change our microbes for the better and this book shows you how. A revelatory and indispensable guide: life – and your body – will never seem the same again.

Critic reviews

‘A fascinating study of the intertwined lives of microbes and humans’ Newsweek

‘A welcome antidote to the simplistic "boost your health with probiotics" books and articles posing as science (but serving mostly commerce), Collen dares to tell the messy truth about what science knows – and doesn't know – about the microbes that live in us, live with us, and in some ways even become us … [Collen] is clearly an expert in the field … fascinating … Everything you wanted to know about microbes but were afraid to ask’ Kirkus, *Starred* Review

‘A fascinating subject to consider … A beginner’s guide to microbiota …There’s value in Collen’s point about reconsidering what is truly healthy at a time when healthy living is so in vogue’ Philadelphia Inquirer

Outstanding and worthy of the highest praise !!

I've read dozens of very fine books regarding health and how our food choices affect us, but this book ranks at the very top in terms of the extraordinary depth it offers and the absolutely wonderful performance by the narrator. As I was reading it, I was unable to keep from telling all my closest friends that they should procure a copy, in particular those friends with young children or health issues such a IBS.
This book deserves a wide audience and hopefully it will get the recognition it deserves to make that happen autonomously.
Compliments to the author for her fine work.

thought provoking

I surely will give a go at the informed choices regarding diet, medication and lifestyle this book suggests.

To a hammer everything looks like a nail

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The writer is obsessed with the microbes in the human gut, which are apparently responsible for everything from autism to acne. Gets a little wearying at times.

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

Concepts well described if occasionally a little twee (or maybe that was just the reader - see below).

How did the narrator detract from the book?

100%. Amongst the many mispronunciations, she seems to believe that the word 'aitch' starts with the letter 'h', The accent grates from go to woe.

Do you think 10% Human: How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Maybe needs a book by someone who can provide counter-arguments.

Any additional comments?

Probably better read than listened to.