Best products from r/microbiology

I absolutely love books like The Hot Zone. Here are some really good ones like it that your SO might like if they're into those kinds of books:

http://www.amazon.com/Spillover-Animal-Infections-Human-Pandemic/dp/0393066800

http://www.amazon.com/The-Viral-Storm-Dawn-Pandemic/dp/B007SRWI1W/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CRSHT2HR2AG3YTCGKZJ

http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Germs-Barry-Zimmerman/dp/0071409262/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1BH68CCY5GBEXNZ4VKJT

Hope these help

What kind of books do you like? Something with a narrative or something that's more like a text book? Something that fits in between is a short read called " Microcosm: E.coli and the New Science of Life

My favorite book is "The Hot Zone" though. It's more of a page-turner, but some information in it is dramatized and it's more about the story than the organism. It depends what you're looking for. Another good book is "Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic" It's a bit of a slower read, but it's a good read that focuses more on diseases while having good stories

I agree with people below that you could have been more specific in your question, but for a good overview of the skin and gut microbiomes --how they are formed, what their function is, and the history of researching them-- I would check out Good Germs, Bad Germs. To be honest, it's rather dry to read through, but it's great to skim.

You might have already found this, but NPR has a whole series of articles on the microbiome, which might be useful more to find scientific journal articles you can get specific info from than to read by themselves.

Im not sure this is exactly what you're looking for but I have this page to a book called "Coloring with Cell" (link) which has a page about mitosis (its more centered aroud eukaryotic cells so I dont know if that will help you). If you need some stuff on prokaryotic cells I suggest the microbiology coloring book (amazon link) but this is not geared towards those age groups. Lastly i've found that that for children to get a basic idea youtube videos seem to get them interested, I suggest crash course biology and maybe you will find a video that could work for them.

Best of luck!

Yes, it is hard to get experience here in the UK as a student. It does bode well to ask for tours around labs if you can though and I think one of my friends did volunteer at our University over the summer between her second/third year.
Please do learn your aseptic technique and also remember the importance of lab health and safety too :D A very good book for microbiology laboratory techniques and the methods used to analyse various specimens is; Medical Microbiology (Fundamentals of Biomedical Science) editied by Michael Ford. Here is the link on the UK Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Medical-Microbiology-Fundamentals-Biomedical-Science/dp/019954963X .
I have just finished an undergraduate masters in Biomedical Science and did my training in microbiology (1 year in industry) and just got a job in a microbiology lab and this book helped me understand the tests the labs used, very useful.
Two things for when writing assignments/essays:

1. Remember to put all organism names in italics
   
2. Remember the Gram of Gram stain always should have a capital G
   Sorry if that comes across as obvious or anything, its just two things my lecturer always hated, moaned and dropped us marks for :D

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Microlife-Science-Life-Environmental/dp/0531112667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453749068&sr=8-1&keywords=guide+to+microlife
I wasn't sure if linking this from Amazon is okay. I'm still fairly new to Reddit. This is actually a high school textbook, but seems like a good place to start as it covers a broad range. What magnification are you on in the picture. We generally scan on 10x and read slides on 40x. At 40x, it's about the size you show. The ocular micrometer is hugely helpful for this stuff. But I could be wrong. I live in an area where we hardly saw anything interesting, so it's hard to learn. We finally opted to send samples to our reference lab once our 'expert' retired.

A field guide to bacteria

For protists... well, there's Free-living Freshwater Protozoa by Patterson, but it's quite expensive. I have just found Part I online though, that someone scanned. Here's part 2 It's an excellent resource for pond critters.

And there's always google. Lots of googling... ;-)

Welcome! TWiM is excellent.

For basic textbooks, I would suggest Microbe 2nd ed (TWiM's Michele Swanson is lead author; ASM link, Amazon link) or Brock's Biology of Microorganisms (Amazon link).

Please let me know if you have more questions!

Full disclosure: I work for ASM, but I would recommend Microbe 2nd ed even if I didn't.

Some suggestions are below. They aren't "field guides" but are still some good choices. I admit I haven't finished March of the Microbes or Missing Microbes but Microbes and Evolution is a fantastic collection of essays.

March of the Microbes

Microbes and Evolution: The World Darwin Never Saw

Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues

Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC by Joseph McCormick and Susan Fisher-Hoch is a good read - definitely non-fiction. They were there for the first Ebola outbreaks in the 70's and the Hanta outbreaks in NM later on.

McCormick is a great guy. I tracked him down and emailed him when I was an undergrad, and I asked him how I could get in to the field. He responded back with an incredibly detailed email and couldn't have been nicer.

I bought these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004MKHNJK/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?ref_=pe_385040_30332200_TE_item

Was going to make my own but was pressed for time so just overnighted them. Thanks for your help!

My 2 cents.
For the bubbles:
ARKSEN Degassing Vacuum Chamber Epoxy Silicone Resin, 3Gallon, 250mm https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T6ZRSX2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hiCaCbM8TMGHC

Autoclave vs. disposable alternatives: like plastic covering?

This is really intereating. I have never made my own media but use several at work. I'd like to know what u are growing on which media?

Often, when I don't recover an organism I wonder if my media is the limiting factor.

Larone’s Guide to Identification

Medically Important Fungi by Larone

An awesome book for identifying fungi! Helped me a lot with the diagrams

I work in Food Safety / QC. My chemistry and math grades were mediocre.

The extent of chemistry I’m expected to understand involves knowing reactions on biological media & reagents, easily referenced materials. The complex chemistry is handled by Chemists.

Math consists of basic lab calculations (serial dilutions, microbial counts, molarity, etc.). Statistics is helpful if you want to understand sampling plans, but isn’t necessary for bench work.

If you’re concerned, Lab Math provides a comprehensive overview of bench basics.

Remember, work isn’t school. If you don’t recall/understand something you can take a little time refreshing on the material before undertaking a project/analysis.

I was looking at buying an autoclave if the price is reasonable. Would any of these work:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Equipment-Hospital/dp/B009L8VYMK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1500511792&sr=8-4&keywords=autoclave

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PROFESSIONAL-18L-STEAM-AUTOCLAVE-STERILIZER-TATTOO-DENTAL-LAB-EQUIPMENT-/182669618954?hash=item2a87f52f0a:g:8F0AAOSwvKtY9XYZ

I am trying to see if I can use one at a local university currently. I have autoclave bags. to autoclave, do I just put the items that I want to autoclave in the bag and simply put in the autoclave? I will be needing to autoclave the agar/culture media, glycerol solution, and equipment/tools.

Thanks

Here are a bunch microbiology essays that I really enjoyed:

Microbes and Evolution: The World That Darwin Never Saw
http://www.amazon.ca/Microbes-Evolution-World-Darwin-Never/dp/1555815405

I know it's about viruses. But it's an interesting read none the less.
Written by those who experienced the facts for themselves.
Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC
It follows the emergence of Ebola and other haemorrhagic viruses.

Step one: https://www.amazon.com/Microbiology-Coloring-Book-Edward-Alcamo/dp/0060419253