Antibiotics. Invented by microbes. Mined by humans. And now running out.
'Combines the passion of Robert Macfarlane with the incisiveness of Patrick Radden Keefe ... Brilliant' Rachel Clarke, Spectator
'This history of scientific discovery and corporate greed chronicles arguably the most significant technological advance of the 20th century ... A lively history and a stark warning' Sunday Times, Best Books of the Year 2025
The discovery of antibiotics is one of humanity's greatest achievements, saving millions of lives and changing the world forever.
But, unlike other drugs, each time we take antibiotics we use up a finite resource. And now we are running out.
This is the spellbinding story of how we learned to harness the fossil...
Liam Shaw is a biologist researching the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance. After a four-year Wellcome funded fellowship at the University of Oxford, he now leads a research group at the University of Bristol. His writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, Morning Star, and Private Eye. Dangerous Miracle is his first book.
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