This is a special Premium audio episode. Click here to activate a Premium subscription to the BenGreenfieldFitness show and access this and over 300 additional hidden audios, videos, pdf's and more! I read plenty of books about gut health, immune system, and alternative medicine, but one of the best books I discovered in the past several months is entitled "The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health". When authors David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé decide to restore life into their barren yard by creating a garden, dead, barren dirt threatens their dream. As a cure, they feed their soil a steady diet of organic matter. The results impress them. In short order, the much-maligned microbes transform their bleak yard into a flourishing Eden. Beneath their feet, beneficial microbes and plant roots continuously exchange a vast array of essential compounds. Dave and Anne soon learn that this miniaturized commerce is central to botanical life’s master strategy for defense and health. They are abruptly plunged further into investigating microbes when Biklé is diagnosed with cancer. Here, they discover an unsettling truth. An armada of bacteria (our microbiome) sails the seas of our gut, enabling our immune system to sort microbial friends from foes. But when our gut microbiome goes awry, our health can go with it. The authors also discover startling insights into the similarities between plant roots and the human gut. We are not what we eat. We are all―for better or worse―the product of what our microbes eat. This leads to a radical reconceptualization of our relationship to the natural world: by cultivating beneficial microbes, we can rebuild soil fertility and help turn back the modern plague of chronic diseases. The Hidden Half of Nature reveals how to transform agriculture and medicine―by merging the mind of an ecologist with the care of a gardener and the skill of a doctor. The book, in which they highlight this journey, is a riveting exploration of how microbes are transforming the way we see nature and ourselves―and could revolutionize agriculture and medicine. Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. Good health―for people and for plants―depends on Earth’s smallest creatures. You're about to learn the story of our tangled relationship with microbes and their potential to revolutionize agriculture and medicine, from garden to gut. During our discussion, you'll discover: -What exactly a microbe is, and how it's far more complex than you'd actually think... -The strange "home-brew" Anne dumped into her garden to change the soil from dead to living... -How microbes tie into the ancient art of making wine... -How modern, conventional agriculture is completing changing how soil and microbes interact, and how this is affecting the quality of the food that we eat... -The ideal scenario for growing food, from a soil standpoint... -Why the colon so important when it comes to the immune system... -What to eat if you want to increase the microbial diversity of the colon... -The fascinating parallel between the root system of a plant and the gut of the human being…  -And much more! Be sure to check out Dave and Anne's websites, including: Website: http://www.dig2grow.com/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/@dig2grow   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehiddenhalfofnature Do you have questions, comments or feedback about microbes, Dave and Anne's book, or anything else we discussed during this podcast episode? Leave your thoughts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com and one of us will reply, and click here to grab this fascinating book now!