Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us
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Elizabeth Kolbert, New York Times-bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winner The Sixth Extinction
“No organisms are more important to life as we know it than algae. In Slime, Ruth Kassinger gives this under-appreciated group its due. The result is engaging, occasionally icky, and deeply informative.”
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Amy Stewart, New York Times-bestselling author of The Drunken Botanist
“Slime is a revelation! Algae has the power to cool the planet, replace plastics, fuel vehicles, and feed the world. This visionary book belongs in the hands of every policy maker, business leader, and engaged citizen looking for answers to our most pressing problems. It also happens to be a delightful read in the tradition of Susan Orlean, Mary Roach, and Michael Pollan. Ruth Kassinger turns a reporter’s eye to the natural world and finds an epic narrative there, populated by dedicated scientists, intrepid chefs, and starry-eyed visionaries.”
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Thor Hanson, author of Buzz, The Triumph of Seeds, and Feathers
“Ruth Kassinger is a witty and affable guide throughout this globetrotting celebration of an overlooked life form. Reading Slime will convince you that algae deserve our respect, and even our gratitude—they are ancient, fascinating, and essential to life as we know it.”
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Booklist, Starred Review
“Kassinger departs from her delightful gardening books (A Garden of Marvels, 2014) to take a deep and enlightening dive into the world of algae…. Comparisons to Mary Roach and Susan Orlean are well-deserved…Gardeners will welcome Kassinger’s latest, and everyone else will feel lucky to discover this winsome writer.”
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The New York Times Book Review, New and Noteworthy
“Algae are among the earth’s oldest life-forms, pervasive in everything from pond scum to crude oil…Kassinger makes a persuasive case for their future importance.”
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Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“A fun and fascinating deep dive into the natural history, current uses, and vast potential of algae… Thorough but not dense, informative but never boring—a delight from start to finish.”
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Publishers' Weekly
“Kassinger turns an obscure subject into delightful reading….Even readers who never expected to enjoy a book about slime will find this an informative and charming primer to “the world’s most powerful engines.”
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Nature
“[In] Kassinger’s compelling book…there is something for everyone, from committed phycologists to people who hitherto (but hopefully no longer) regarded algae as an inconvenience or worse.”
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Science News
“In the end, Kassinger has us rooting for pond scum — it might just save us yet.”
A Garden of Marvels
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Carol Stocker, The Boston Globe
“My favorite gardening book of the year...But be warned... you might feel a need to start acquiring houseplants, or even a greenhouse.”
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Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“[A]n informal, entertaining account of how early researchers discovered how plants work and what scientists are still learning about plants today. The author combines her lively botanical history with personal anecdotes about her own plant adventures and misadventures…..A delightful book, fun to read and share—green thumb not required.”
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Cleveland Plain Dealer
“This is an entertaining, sophisticated primer on botany itself, its history…its science (roots, stems, leaves, flowers), and much else….She has produced a lovely volume.”
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Shelf Awareness
Kassinger’s greatest strength is unquestionably her quirky, conversational tone; even the most science-averse reader will be hooked….That she makes botany so approachable is a feat; that she makes it downright enthralling is almost as miraculous as an adorable photosynthesizing sea slug.”
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The New York Post
“Forget ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’ There are parts of Kassinger’s informative and entertaining tome on plants that would make Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele blush.”
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Publishers' Weekly, Starred Review
Kassinger is at her most delightful, exploring giant pumpkins, polyploid black petunias, photosynthesizing slugs, multi-graft cocktail citrus trees, nickel-mining flowers, and giant grasses…Kassinger weaves a huge amount of information into what still feels like a personal memoir, and by the end of this effortless afternoon stroll with her, readers will be startled to realize how much they have learned.