A fascinating and long overdue examination of viruses - from what they are and what they do, to the vital role they have played in human history.

What are viruses? Do they rely on genes, like all other forms of life? Do they follow the same patterns of evolution as plants and animals?
Frank Ryan answers these questions and many more in a sweeping tour of illnesses caused by viruses. For example, the common cold, measles, chicken pox, herpes and mumps, rubella, as well as less familiar examples, such as rabies, `breakbone' fever, haemorrhagic fevers like Ebola, and virus-induced cancers. Along the way, readers will learn about the behaviours and ultimate goals of viruses, gaining a deeper understanding of their importance in relation to the origins and the evolution of life, as well as they ways viruses have changed us at the most intimate level, to help make us quintessentially human.

Praise for Frank Ryan:

'Extremely well written ... Frank Ryan has the page-turning and spine-chilling ability of a good novelist'
Sunday Telegraph

'Ryan is very good at making technical matters comprehensible to the lay reader, but more impressive still is the away he conveys the intellectual excitement and elation of scientific discovery'
Literary Review

Originally qualified as a doctor, Frank Ryan is now one of the pioneers of the role of viruses in evolution. He was recently made Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffiled, with the express purpose of developing his evolutionary concepts and helping to translate evolutionary science into medicine. He is the author of four general books, including a New York Times NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR (Tuberculosis).