Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? by Thomas Hausler Macmillan Science, London, UK 256 pp, $25/£17 ISBN 1403987645 ![][1] A fatherless child, the Great War and its horribly infected wounds, locusts in Mexico, Beria and Stalin, and the Institut Pasteur: these are some of the odd ingredients that make a book fascinating to read. And not simply for fun or suspense, but because Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? reveals enigmas and debates about the status of biology in our time. How do we make discoveries? How do we apply research? Do we devote enough time to reflection? Just half a century after the spread of antibiotic therapy, which has delivered us from most infectious diseases, microbes have slowly regained momentum in their attack on humans, animals and plants. As well as looking for new drugs using the now pervasive knowledge of genome sequences, it might be time to reconsider forgotten approaches. Remarkably, an investigation … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif