Though you may not be able to see them with the naked eye, parasites―minuscule life forms that live inside other organisms―inhabit our everyday lives. From headlice to bird droppings, litterboxes to unfiltered water, you have brushed up against the most common way of life on our planet.

In this unique book, John Janovy Jr., one of the world’s preeminent experts on parasites, reveals what humans can learn from the most reviled yet misunderstood animals on Earth:

lice, tapeworms, flukes, and maggots that can eat a lizard from the inside, and how these lessons help us negotiate our own complicated world. Whether we’re learning to adapt to adverse conditions, accept our own limitations, or process new information in an ever-changing landscape―we can be sure a parasite did it first.