Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health

About Book

Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. The Hidden Half of Nature reveals why good health―for people and for plants―depends on Earth’s smallest creatures. Restoring life to their barren yard and recovering from a health crisis, David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé discover astounding parallels between the botanical world and our own bodies. From garden to gut, they show why cultivating beneficial microbiomes holds the key to transforming agriculture and medicine.

About Author

David R. Montgomery studied geology at Stanford University before earning his Ph.D. in geomorphology at UC Berkeley. He teaches at the University of Washington where he studies the evolution of topography and how geological processes shape landscapes and influence ecological systems. He loved maps as a kid and now writes about the relationship of people to their environment, regenerative agriculture, and other things that interest him. In 2008 he was named a MacArthur Fellow. He lives with his wife Anne Biklé in Seattle, Washington.

Anne Biklé is trained in biology and natural history and has worked in the fields of environmental stewardship and planning as well as public health. Through writing and public speaking she explores humanity’s tangled relationship with nature through the lens of agriculture, medicine, and microbiomes. She is particularly enthralled with the botanical world and its influence on humanity throughout history. With the help of mulches and microbes, she has developed gardening practices that build and safeguard soil health and led to coaxing many an edible or ornamental plant into rambunctious growth or nursing them back from the edge of death.