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To quote from the author, "This college text was written for introductory courses in bacteriology and microbiology, particularly for students whose major interests lie outside the field of science." In order to do this the author has used some of the subject matter of microbiology to illustrate certain broad concepts pertaining to life in general and human life specifically. Much material is utilized to illustrate the scientific method of biology, the implications of microbiology from an evolutionary point of view, and its relationship to hypothesis concerning the origin of life. In the second part of the book the microbes are considered in all those situations where these, by their existence, benefit man, such as their role in nitrogen fixation, fermentative food processes, antibiotic production, and many others. In the third part the pathogenic organisms are considered in some detail, as well as the defense mechanisms which protect man from the