Non-Fiction Books:

Dirt

The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life
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Description

Dirt - obsessively avoided, often misunderstood, but paradoxically also an indicator of 'civilisation' (through production of waste), and a near-magical source of renewable life and medical discovery. History is rich with progressive victories over dirt, from the aqueducts and sewers of the Roman Empire to Sir Joseph Bazalgette's triumphant 'Main Drainage of London' in the mid-nineteenth century, which still functions today. Yet our relationship with dirt is complex and ambivalent. Dirt is waste, excrement, rubbish - but what then is soil? Is cleanliness next to godliness - or sterility? And in a throwaway society, does the battle against dirt depend on an exploited and half-seen underclass of cleaners? Published to coincide with a major new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London in March 2011, and lavishly illustrated with images from the Wellcome's archives, this provocative book features specially commissioned essays and a short graphic novel section on the significance and implications of dirt from the microbial level through to the environmental.

Author Biography

Virginia Smith is a freelance historian and research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Rosie Cox is a senior lecturer at Birkbeck College. Elizabeth Pisani is an epidemiologist. Rose George is a freelance writer. Peter Brimblecombe is professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of East Anglia. Brian Ralph is an illustrator and lecturer at the Maryland Institute of Art.
Release date NZ
March 24th, 2011
Audience
  • General (US: Trade)
Contributors
  • Contributions by Brian Ralph
  • Contributions by Elizabeth Pisani
  • Contributions by Rose George
  • Contributions by Rosie Cox
  • Contributions by Virginia Smith
Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Edition
Main
Imprint
Profile Books Ltd
Pages
256
Publisher
Profile Books Ltd
Series
Dimensions
181x230x18
ISBN-13
9781846684791
Product ID
9986754

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