Toxic Farts, Brain-Eating Amoebas, Mosquito Assassins & More

Book excerpt: Why does nature try to kill us? In the same way that humans “thin the herd” when a particular group of animals grow too dense or too expansive for their habitat, nature tries make sure we live in balance with the world as well, which, let’s face it, we suck at. Toxic Farts, Brain-Eating Amoebas, Mosquito Assassins & More details hundreds of the scariest, messiest, smelliest, most terrifying ways that nature works to destroy, maim or sicken humans every single day. Each page of this book examines an oddity (or two) from the natural world that is harmful to humanity. And we’re not talking about car wrecks, warfare, drug overdoses or parachute accidents. We’re talking about biology, chemistry, botany, invasive little critters that eat our brains, slimes that dissolve our flesh, smells that cause our throats to close up, and other environmental assassins. Provided with such information, we might just survive. That’s right. It’s humans vs. the world and, damn it, we’re going to win if it kills us.