Most people have a natural aversion to slime, said Simon Ings in The Times. Yet according to the German biologist Susanne Wedlich, this wondrous substance deserves closer attention. Slime, she tells us, “holds the world together”. For not only is it present just about everywhere in nature, but it is the very “source of life”: had “stiffened water” not existed early in our planet’s history, then cell development and multiplication – the processes that led to our existence – would never have been possible.
Slime is stuffed with facts of the “surely that can’t be real?” variety, said Mark Mason in the Daily Mail. Hagfish defend themselves by jellying the water around them, causing even sharks to gag. There’s a species of squid that “confuses predators by shooting out several slimy replicas of itself”. And we learn, too, of a snail that uses slime trails to select its partner – a useful form of “advertisement-by-slime”, Wedlich notes, since such creatures “rarely meet by chance, and speed-dating is out of the question”.
Wedlich, who defines slime as “water caged in a three-dimensional structure”, shows that our “prejudice” against it is unfounded, said Steven Poole in The Daily Telegraph. Without slime, we wouldn’t be able to breathe, because our lungs use it to extract oxygen from air. In our bodies and in nature it has multiple functions: it acts as a lubricant, a glue and a barrier.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Slime, remarkably, can even think – or, “at least, slime moulds have been shown to solve mazes, and in one famous experiment connected a set of nodes in a way eerily similar to the actual Tokyo subway map”. Both a “deft cultural history of slime” and an “exegesis of its science”, this is a “rich and strange” – and compelling – book.
Granta 336pp £20; The Week Bookshop £15.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
-
Will Republicans kill the filibuster to end the shutdown?Talking Points GOP officials contemplate the ‘nuclear option’
-
Trump nominee in limbo after racist texts leakSpeed Read Paul Ingrassia lost Republican support following the exposure of past racist text messages
-
‘France may well be in store for a less than rocambolesque future’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelagoThe Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
Diane Keaton: the Oscar-winning star of Annie HallIn the Spotlight Something’s Gotta Give actor dies from pneumonia at the age of 79
-
Heirs and Graces: an ‘enthralling’ deep dive into the decline of nobilityThe Week Recommends Eleanor Doughty explores the ‘bizarre fascination’ with the British aristocracy
-
6 sporty homes with tennis courtsFeature Featuring a clay tennis court in New York and a viewing deck in California
-
Critics’ choice: Seafood in the spotlightFeature An experimental chef, a newspaper-worthy newcomer, and a dining titan’s fresh spin-off
-
Taylor Swift’s Showgirl: Much glitter, little goldFeature Swift’s new album has broken records, but critics say she may have gotten herself creatively stuck
-
Theater review: Masquerade218 W. 57th St., New York City 218 W. 57th St., New York City
-
Film reviews: Roofman and Kiss of the Spider WomanFeature An escaped felon’s heart threatens to give him away and a prisoner escapes into daydreams of J.Lo.
