I suspect that few microbiologists have heard of apicomplexans, suctorians, athalamids or gluacophytes, even though we will have seen representatives of their darting forms while observing life in a droplet of pond water. Eukaryotic microbes must feature among the most bizarre and fascinating life forms. Spanning 1.5 million years of life's evolution and including the major eukaryotic lineages, they are truly spectacular: their form, function, physiology and genomics are as one might expect of organisms from another planet.

Edited books rarely work well, but this is a delightful exception. The chapters are well written, informative (beautifully illustrated with micrographs) and follow a logical progression. The book begins with an overview of the diversity of microbial eukaryotes and then moves to consider their extraordinary genetics, and concludes with chapters that succinctly summarize insights from whole-genome sequencing projects. En route, the work is put firmly within an evolutionary framework.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It reminds us that there is much left to be unravelled. Had I read this book as an undergraduate I would have planned my research career differently.