A note concerning the author

If your library has my book, its catalog entry probably looks like this:

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From this, you might infer that I am over 100 years old.

Michael J. Pelczar (1916-2009), my grandfather, was a microbiologist at the University of Maryland from 1946 until 1978, and from 1978 until 1984 President of the Council of Graduate Schools. He wrote a popular microbiology textbook (first edition 1958, last edition 1998) that has probably sold more copies than my book will between now and the heat death of the universe.

As much as I like the idea of Grandpa turning to metaphysics in his twilight years, I must insist that I am not he—not more than 25%, anyway.