MICROALIENS

Using photos captured by electron microscopist Kunkel, the authors have assembled an electron-eye's view of insects, pollen, algae, dust, and us (skin, taste buds, etc.) in a series of startlingly clear images of the very small—linked by a discussion of the botany, biology, and ecology of the many tiny creatures that suffer us to share their planet. Since neither scanning nor transmission electron microscopes give images in color, these are b&w photos; together with the small-type text and delicate line drawings, they give the book a formal appearance that's somewhat at odds with the fascinating images and clear writing. But this is the real stuff, not packaged into a cute, flashy, ultimately unsatisfying format. A bit more information on electron microscopy (e.g., how gold is deposited on specimens; how images are positioned and focused) would have been welcome; still, offering new insights into the world around us, this succeeds very well. Limited bibliography. (Nonfiction. 10+)