Insects |
Hexapoda |
Insecta |
Available:
Library | Shelf Number | Shelf Location | Status |
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Searching... East Bridgewater Public Library | 595.7 SVE 2019 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Foxboro - Boyden Library | 595.7 SVERDRUP-THYGESON | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mansfield Public Library | 595.7 S | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mattapoisett Free Public Library | 595.7 SVE 2019 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Norfolk Public Library | 595.7 SVER | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Pembroke Public Library | 595.7 SVE | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Seekonk Public Library | 595.7 SVERDRUP | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Somerset Public Library | 595.7 SVE 2019 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Swansea Public Library | 585.7 S | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Wareham Free Library | 595.7 SVE 2019 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Westport Free Public Library | 595.7 SVE 2019 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
An enthusiastic, witty, and informative introduction to the world of insects and why we--and the planet we inhabit--could not survive without them.
Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere -- deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone's hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Most of us think life would be better without bugs. In fact, life would be impossible without them.
Most of us know that we would not have honey without honeybees, but without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures.
With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we'll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Buzz, Sting, Bite is an essential introduction to the little creatures that make the world go round.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Conservation biologist Sverdrup-Thygeson exudes an infectious enthusiasm for all things entomological in this curiosity-provoking primer. She presents a series of short, mostly self-contained, accounts of insect behavior, often emphasizing their connection to the larger world, grouped into such chapters as "Six-Legged Sex: Dating, Mating and Parenting," "Eat or Be Eaten: Insects in the Food Chain," and "From Silk to Shellac: Industries of Insects." Moffatt's translation readily conveys Sverdrup-Thygeson's enjoyment of her subject, with playful and evocative descriptions and an amused tone-the long, bundled-up sperm of the male Drosophila bifurca fruit fly, at full length "20 times as long as the creature itself," resembles "what happens when the kids make dinner and forget to put enough water into the spaghetti pan." Stressing the sheer number of different insect species, she observes that entomologists have named newly discovered ones after pop music stars (the Beyoncé horsefly), and Harry Potter characters (the Ampulex dementor wasp). A short final chapter explicitly about conservation raises concerns while still maintaining a light touch. Sverdrup-Thygeson's unforced humor and ability to quickly highlight salient information makes this a perfect selection for science-loving teenage readers as well as adults. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Insects outnumber humans by billions, yet their lives and ecological importance often pass by unremarked. Sverdrup-Thygeson, a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, offers a lively introduction to the six-legged creatures that share our planet, while making the case that their survival is inextricably linked to ours. The author possesses an infectious enthusiasm for the bugs she profiles and manages to imbue every maxilla and mating habit with wonder. This book explores the basic elements that comprise an insect's life (what they are, what they eat, how they reproduce), marveling equally at the ingenuity of the bumblebee as at the medicinal value of the maggot. Insects decompose plant waste and return nutrients to the soil; they spin silk six times stronger than steel; and they offer models for scientists seeking to prolong life, enter stasis, and even break down human-created waste as fast as we produce it. Ably translated by Moffatt, Buzz, Sting, Bite will foster affection for its winged, creeping, and crawling subjects, even among its most bug-shy readers.--Jenny Hamilton Copyright 2019 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
If you happen to hit the beach at any point this summer, here's a little thought experiment. Scoop up some sand and try to count the grains. Then look left and look right and try to estimate all the trillions of grains around you. And when you finish that, chew on this fact: By some estimates, there are more insects on earth than there are grains of sand on all the world's beaches combined. The sheer scale and variety of insects are impossible for most of us to contemplate, but Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson provides at least a glimpse of their wonder in her charming "Buzz, Sting, Bite." In essence, the book is an extended meditation on a question that Sverdrup-Thygeson, an entomologist at Norway's University of Life Sciences, gets asked all the time: What good are bugs anyway? For one thing, the delightful weirdness of insects opens our eyes to new possibilities in nature. As they age, many species shape-shift (e.g., caterpillar to butterfly) in ways rarely seen outside of fairy tales. One type of beetle, if denied food, actually ages backward, devolving from advanced to simpler stages and shrinking in size. Another answer is that insects have shaped human civilization in unexpected ways. Without durable, waterproof oak gall ink - produced when wasps inject chemical irritants into trees - countless medieval and Renaissance manuscripts would have deteriorated into illegibility. And while we don't often thank heaven for maggots, they've been cleaning wounds and preventing infections for centuries.
Choice Review
Insects are vital to the quality of life. They play essential roles in feeding, clothing, and cleaning up after people with recycling services for biota from aasvogel to Ziziphus. In this informative and engaging narrative, Sverdrup-Thygeson (Norwegian Univ. of Life Sciences) promiscuously weaves together other creatures, events, tragedies, and triumphs with a seamless scholarly integrity that misleads the unwary to think they are being entertained rather than educated. Insects, coffee beans, and civets? Insects and survival of the original Declaration of Independence? Toothsome timber? Crisis with dung down under? Insects, phonograph records, dinosaur preservation, and skin care for fruit? A horsefly and Beyoncé's derrière? Tantric sex that lasts for more than seven weeks!? Homicide, a radiator, and insects solve a case? Darwin, speciation, and irony? Preserving endangered species and eradicating wanton killers of humans--who decides what? This is pithy science, pleasantly presented with honest alacrity to enlist the public to debate serious matters as well as enjoy these small wonders of the world--a world that is not "ours" but on loan for a while. This book should be read and thought about. Summing Up: Essential. All readers. --Marvin K. Harris, emeritus, Texas A&M University
Kirkus Review
A fun introduction to the world of insects.They have existed for some 479 million years; have (mostly) six legs, four wings, two antennae, and a three-segment body; make up over half of known multicellular species; and number 200 million for every single human being living on the planet today. Indeed, we live on the planet of insects, and Sverdrup-Thygeson (Conservation Biology/Norwegian Univ. of Life Sciences) brings it to life in this sharp, good-humored presentation. Why are there so many insects? "Put simply: because they are small, supple, and sexy." It also helps that they can live nearly anywhere, including ice, hot springs, deep in caves, high on mountains, in baptismal fonts, and even your nostrils. The range of species runs from the tinkerbell wasp, which can land on the tip of a human hair and hardly make a disturbance, to the Chinese walking stick, which grows up to 2 feet in length. Insects are a fascinating topic, and the author milks their peculiarities for all they are worth: molting and metamorphosis, communication through scent, tasting with feet, seeing with knees, and listening through ears in their mouths. But the curios are only part of the bigger picture that situates insects in the great schemes of pollination, decomposition, soil formation, food for other creatures, keeping harmful organisms in check, dispersing seed, and even demonstrating solutions to problems that humans can adopt. In other words, insects could get along happily without humans, but humans could not survive without insects. The author's panoptic investigation keeps the narrative fully engaging as she alternates between anecdotes about specific insectsthe aggressive mimicry of the spotted predatory katydid, the cicadas that "dig their way downdown into seventeen years of darkness"to richly telling slices of sciencee.g., the causes of decline in insect numbers.A classy and brightly informative appreciation of insectsall you could ask for in a popular natural history. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
It's rare that we stop to consider the amazing world of insects, unless we swat a mosquito or briefly marvel at a butterfly. Sverdrup-Thygeson (conservation biology, Norwegian Univ. of Life Sciences) leads readers on a fascinating journey through the class Insecta, introducing us to the creatures whose numbers comprise half of the animal kingdom. Insects are ancient; they have survived all five mass extinction events. The author delves into insect anatomy and classification, reminding us that spiders, millipedes, mites, and daddy longlegs are not insects. Sverdrup-Thygeson continues by exploring the many fantastic characteristics of insects. They can see both ultraviolet and polarized light; they practice agriculture; they contain as much protein as beef, without the fat; and they help to solve crimes. Cockroaches can even be used to search for survivors in collapsed buildings. The dung beetle symbolized a god in ancient Egypt, but today our actions are threatening at least a quarter of all insects with extinction. We may not choose to worship insects, the author explains, but we should choose to protect them. VERDICT Appropriate for all readers, in particular those who are concerned about our planet and the creatures with which we share it.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL