You know you’re reading a genius of a writer when he makes you sad that you’re not studying parasites. Zimmer is perhaps one of my favorite science writers/essayists (I would highly recommend his other works that I have read – Evolution: Triumph of an Idea and Soul Made Flesh – as highly interesting and thought-provoking reads). Parasite Rex was no exception, offering an excellent line of reasoning as to the importance of parasites in the global ecology, the value of studying parasites, and the joy and wonder that can come from studying parasites.
Probably not for the squeamish, but definitely for the curious.