You'll look at your living room a whole new way

Some interesting things are explored in this book and a lot can be learned. However, I sense the author is purposely trying to gross the reader out with choosing the absolute worst possible cases (not all ice cream is made purely from fat with no dairy products, etc.). His pretentious writing style and pathetic attempts at wit nearly made me give up on this book. It would have been so much more readable if it avoided uselessly fluffy and sometimes plain odd descriptions: ""...your favourite show characters would be but horribly disfigured fragments strewn across the screen, as if the results of an industrial accident, ..., Sue Ellen's twitching face comes on, lifeless, alone; each in isolation, glowing for an awful moment out of the void."" Oh please. I found the author insulted my intelligence and I will be staying away from him in the future.

The age of this book shows in some of the language. Still, much good information was shared in an interesting way.

After reading this, I realized the amount of microscopic detail that we ignore in our everyday life is just overwhelming..

Don't read this book if you have OCD. And even if you're borderline, don't! This book will likely be the one that will drive you over the edge. This book is jampacked with lots of interesting info, both vital and trivial. That said, I skipped quite a few pages. But I am, most definitely, more germ-conscious now. It will change the way you live at least by a bit, and there's nothing wrong with that. Not when you have read the book and know what I know now.

Read this book twice now and I love the narrative that is woven with science and some history. Not for the super squeamish but fascinating. Great way to look at the world and a great and entertaining science read. Great for anyone interested in science.

A classic that makes you think about the complexity of reality.

Super interesting, but if you have any phobias or get squeamish easily you might want to skip this one. Sometimes ignorance is bliss!

If you start reading this lying in a bed, after a few pages into the book, I'm sure most of you would rethink that decision and a few might even leap out of it swearing never to return to the bed. As these people progress further into the book, they'll realize there's virtually no untouched space in their house. There's a high chance that one might become paranoid if they took this book too seriously. It's a horror book for those with OCD. It was meant to be informative (it was, to a great degree) and satisfy the scientific curiosity of a layman by discussing the (gross but enticing) details behind the everyday occurrences. It was every bit exciting for me, a beginner in research, with all its microscopic, SEM, thermal images throwing light on the dark worlds that thrive right under our very noses. All these facts, which may seem irrelevant to each other at first glance, were tied to a single string of a fine plot executed through an excellent narrative. There's the bonus of a few interesting historic accounts too.
I'm never going to eat meat or readymade cakes after reading this book. I would definitely suggest it to everyone who is curious about what is going on at a microscopic level in our houses every day.

Use a clean dishcloth :-)

Fascinating! I especially enjoyed the discussion on oxygen molecules --- their fate and transport over millennia.

Genial. Como todos los libros de David Bodanis.
Explica todos los detalles de cada proceso que puede darse en una casa, desde la limpieza, los animales microscópicos, los sonidos con los que hablamos, los rayos de lluvia o las bajas presiones del tiempo atmosférico, la pasta de dientes, etc.
Cómo chocan los átomos, qué tamaño tienen, cómo se comportan los microbios, cómo es la grasa de la leche o cuáles son los auténticos componentes de un pastel (la verdad, me pensaré muy mucho si comer otro). Todo explicado con un lenguaje sencillísimo, clarísimo y que hace que uno quiera saber más detalles.
Es un auténtico libro de divulgación científica, que enseña cosas, muy informativo.
Recomendado para todos los públicos y de cualquier nivel de estudios.