"Lloyd is one of those rare gifted writers who can be as broadly profound as she is precise, able to make science both come raucously alive and resonate with meaning. She does this via perfect metaphors, an effortless wit, and a massively infectious enthusiasm for the outsize significance of her very small subjects. This science book is, furthermore, part adventure story, as she travels to the ends of the earth to pursue her small subjects, and generally bears witness to 'the shocking enormity of what we have been missing about life on Earth." ― Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Lloyd, an environmental studies professor at the University of Southern California, debuts with an astonishing study of the remarkable microorganisms that thrive in the 'subsurface biosphere.' . . . Filled with mind-blowing trivia that will change how readers think about life on Earth, this captivates." ― Publishers Weekly, starred review

"[A] must-read."---Mark Martin, Matters Microbial

"The central question Lloyd poses in her fascinating exploration of underground microbial ecology—are there life-forms hiding inside Earth that are so strange that they change our conception of life itself?—is easily answered. Yes!"---Tony Miksanek, Booklist

"At a beach-bag-friendly 200 pages or so, this lively and compulsively engaging book is an unusual page-turner. Lloyd, a geomicrobiologist, expertly guides readers who have a taste for biological adventures to ‘intraterrestrial’ life: microorganisms that survive under the most extreme environmental conditions, such as in Earth’s deep sediments, deep ocean crust, volcanoes and permafrost soil. . . . Thanks to Intraterrestrials, the general reader can now peek into the work of this network of experts and hopefully leave with a changed perspective as regards microbial life on and within this planet, and of its antiquity, evolutionary pace, adaptability and extraordinary tenacity."---Andreas Teske, Nature

Review

“Intraterrestrials is an astonishing, exhilarating, mind-bending journey into the hidden living world deep beneath our planet’s sunlit surface. Lloyd is a master storyteller and unrivaled expert in sharing the thrills and challenges of diving to the ocean floor, sampling near active volcanoes, and dodging polar bears on rapidly thawing permafrost. Read this book and prepare to enter a living realm beyond your wildest imagination.”—Robert M. Hazen, author of The Story of Earth

“Forget Ewoks, tribbles, and Daleks. Fictional extraterrestrials seem quite ordinary compared with the truly bizarre organisms living beneath our feet: microbes that thrive in physical and chemical extremes, ‘breathe’ rocks—and outlive humans. Karen Lloyd’s Intraterrestrials will forever change your understanding of what it means to be alive on Earth.”—Marcia Bjornerud, author of Timefulness and Turning to Stone

“Karen Lloyd’s innovative research will change the way that readers think about life on Earth. She tells extraordinary stories about hidden ‘intraterrestrials’ that live in the rocks beneath our feet and transports us from volcanic jets to deep ocean vents to Arctic permafrost. I have long defined my own research on the unexplored rainforest canopy as the eighth continent, but Lloyd’s world ranks far beyond that, perhaps as a tenth planet. I loved reading every page!”—Meg Lowman, author of The Arbornaut

“In Intraterrestrials, Karen Lloyd takes readers on the exciting quest to understand biodiversity’s last frontier: microbial life within the earth. Part Indiana Jones, part Louis Pasteur, Lloyd engagingly explains the challenging fieldwork and sophisticated lab research that together are revealing the subterranean biota and showing why it matters.”—Andrew H. Knoll, author of A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters

“As we search for life elsewhere in the universe, there is much still to learn about the life beneath our feet. In a narrative that combines the principles of thermodynamics with breathtaking, all-action adventure, Lloyd ventures from the high Arctic to deep-sea hydrothermal vents in pursuit of the limits of life. This is one of the most exciting books I have read in ages.”—Henry Gee, author of A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth