LINA ZELDOVICH
Author of
The Other Dark Matter (University of Chicago Press, 2021)
Lina Zeldovich grew up in a dissident family of Soviet scientists, listening to bedtime stories about volcanoes and black holes, and learned English as a second language in her twenties as an immigrant New Yorker. Now an award-winning journalist, author and speaker, she has published stories in Popular Science, The New York Times, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Scientific American and appeared on radio and television. Her first book, The Other Dark Matter: The Science and Business of Turning Waste into Wealth and Health, has been optioned for a TV series. Her new book, The Living Medicine: How a Lifesaving Cure Was Nearly Lost—and Why It Will Rescue Us When Antibiotics Fail is being released from St. Martin’s Press in October 2024, followed by a UK edition from Waterstones. A thriller-like narrative, it unveils a century-old, nearly forgotten antibiotic-free cure for drug-resistant infections that may be our best defense against the next pandemic. It tells the historical drama of the renegade scientists who discovered the near-miraculous medicine and why we should know about it now—as superbugs surge and our antibiotic shield collapses—to make well-informed health choices.
Twitter / LinaZeldovich.com / Represented by Luba Ostashevsky
Books by LINA
The Living Medicine (St Martin’s Press, 2024)
First discovered in 1917, bacteriophages—or “phages”—are living medicines: viruses that devour bacteria. Ubiquitous in the environment, they are found in water, soil, inside plants and animals, and in the human body.
When phages were first recognized as medicines, their promise seemed limitless. Grown by research scientists and physicians in France, the Soviet Union, and elsewhere to target specific bacteria, they cured cholera, dysentery, and even bubonic plague!
But after Stalin’s brutal purges and the rise of antibiotics, phage therapy declined and nearly was lost to history—until today. In The Living Medicine, acclaimed science journalist Lina Zeldovich reveals the remarkable history of phages, told through the lives of the French, Soviet, and American scientists who discovered, developed, and are reviving this unique cure for seemingly-intractable diseases. Ranging from Paris to Soviet Georgia to Egypt, India, South Africa, remote islands in the Far East, and America, The Living Medicine shows how phages once saved tens of thousands of lives. Today, with our antibiotic shield collapsing, Zeldovich demonstrates how phages are making our food safe and, in cases of dire emergency, rescuing people from the brink of death. They may be humanity’s best defense against the pandemics to come.
Filled with adventure, human ambition, tragedy, technology, irrepressible scientists and the excitement of their innovation, The Living Medicine offers a vision of how our future may be saved by knowledge from the past.
Praise:
"A capably told microbiological detective story, with the promise of magic bullets to come." -- Kirkus
“This book reads like Malcolm Gladwell at his best. The suspense never stops.” -- Ransom Stevens, author of Left Brain Speaks, the Right Brain Laughs.
“If you were rapt by Henrietta Lacks, you’ll be entranced by the Living Medicine.” -- Steffanie Strathdee, author of The Perfect Predator.
“I couldn't believe America hadn't long since implemented a treatment that other countries have been using for decades.” -- Olivia Campbell, New York Times best-selling author of Women in White Coats.
"Intriguing, complex and constantly surprising, The Living Medicine is a combination detective story and history lesson." --Stephen Fried, New York Times best-selling author of RUSH and Bitter Pills.
The Other Dark Matter (University of Chicago Press, 2021)
Grossly ambitious and rooted in scientific scholarship, The Other Dark Matter shows how human excrement can be a life-saving, money-making resource—if we make better use of it.
The average person produces about four hundred pounds of excrement a year. More than seven billion people live on this planet. Holy crap!
Because of the diseases it spreads, we have learned to distance ourselves from our waste, but the long line of engineering marvels we’ve created to do so—from Roman sewage systems and medieval latrines to the immense, computerized treatment plants we use today—has also done considerable damage to the earth’s ecology. Now scientists tell us: we’ve been wasting our waste. When recycled correctly, this resource, cheap and widely available, can be converted into a sustainable energy source, act as an organic fertilizer, provide effective medicinal therapy for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection, and much more.
In clear, engaging prose that draws on her extensive research and interviews, Zeldovich documents the massive redistribution of nutrients and sanitation inequities across the globe. She profiles the pioneers of poop upcycling, from startups in African villages to innovators in American cities that convert sewage into fertilizer, biogas, crude oil, and even life-saving medicine. She breaks taboos surrounding sewage disposal and shows how hygienic waste repurposing can help battle climate change, reduce acid rain, and eliminate toxic algal blooms. Ultimately, she implores us to use our innate organic power for the greater good. Don’t just sit there and let it go to waste.