This review was delayed by the first truly global pandemic in a century (apologies to the editors). Covid-19 has reminded those of us who live comfortably in the Global North about the cataclysmic disruption that infectious disease can inflict on the world. Although the West has grown somewhat apathetic to the threat of infectious disease—more concerned with the chronic illnesses that characterize progress through the epidemiological transition—this point has not yet reached the greater part of humanity, nor is it reflective of the greater part of human history.
The Guts of the Matter deals with an unglamorous but hugely important part of this story, detailing the viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and parasitic worms that survive in the human gut and spread through contact with human excrement. Infant mortality from these infections has been one of the foremost checks on human population growth throughout history and, despite the remarkable successes against infectious...