Product Details
Publisher: Algonquin Books; First Printing edition (May 3, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1565129601
ISBN-13: 978-1565129603
“WARNING: WE ARE SERIOUSLY OUTNUMBERED.”,
Amy Stewart, the author of New York Times Bestseller “Wicked Bugs: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities”, has done it again. A book of destructive, horrible, deadly, dangerous and painful bugs. Though this book isn’t exclusively about bugs and includes spiders, worms, centipedes, slugs and scorpions. Amy took the time in her introduction to explain the differences between bugs and other insects. She goes on to explains that even though some of her entries in this book aren’t all official bugs they are all of the insect family and are included because she found their stories intriguing.
From the African Bat Bug and its unusual mating rituals to Zombie bugs who “…don’t just eat other bugs they actually inhabit them and force them to do their bidding.” Each entry entails a unique or intriguing story behind each bug. Each chapter/entry includes the bugs name, Latin name, size, habitat and distribution. The author also includes little sections in between some of the bugs she lists. These sections are not as extensive on information on the bugs as her individual bug entries but she finds bugs with interesting stories that fit into a category. For example; section “She’s just not that into” contains information on all sorts of bugs that have bizarre reproduction or mating rituals. The section in titled “Bugs of war” has tidbits of information on different bugs that had an impact on an army or, were used as weapons. There are over one hundred different bugs mentioned in this book.
This book might not be for those who have any bug phobias, the illustrations though not of exact size are well drawn and can even make you a little squeamish. I laughed, was grossed out, and was intrigued by the stories, and facts that were presented in this book. I found some of the information useful since some of the bugs live in my area. I always get Tomato Hornworms in my garden but never knew to leave them alone when they have white cocoon looking things on their backs, this is due to the fact that a parasite wasp has already been at work taking care of the Hornworm infestation. This is just an example of some of the useful information contained within the pages.
Like I said above, I did find the content informative, interesting and fun. Although, I will say, I found it hard to read the names of the bugs on each of the chapters. There were times I had to go back to the table of contents to see what bug I was reading about. It was just not the best font for the job. I also think that since the book includes insects that are not scientifically bugs that the title should reflect that or at least make another book with the non-bug insects.
Though this book isn’t for those that are bug squeamish. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for bits of history, amusing and grotesque stories about bugs. Four thumbs up !
No comments:
Post a Comment