Customer Reviews

Backyard Bugs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ms. Laughlin offers us 50-odd stunningly beautiful full-color portraits of more or less common insects, spiders, centipedes and other "bugs," along with commentary ranging from her experience with a particular bug to where she was in her life when the photo was taken. Apt literary quotes add a final delicious spice to this sumptuous book. Some scientific information is included but we are rightly urged to first marvel, and ask questions later.

The author sees the wonders of the everyday insect and inspires that wonder in me through her written description of each bug and the clear photograph of each insect. She has a wonderful sense of humor and can tell a good story which holds my interest and keeps me turning the pages and savoring each bug story. The author writes about the crablike spiny orb weaver spider. "I found her in an azalea tree in northern Florida. These tiny spiders live on the edges of woodlands and in shrubby gardens. Their range extends from the southeastern United States west to California. They eat the small insects that they catch in round, vertical webs that they weave anew each night. The male is even smaller than the female and is seldom noticed, unlike most males in the animal kingdom." I have given this book to adults and children who marvel at the wonders of nature and who love a good story.

I like this book. I am a BIG buglover and have plenty of scientific field guides on insects. Robin's book is more relaxed, casual fun, and very enjoyable.

Her photographs are wonderful and the text light, perfect for introducing insect enthusiasts/children into a world that exists right in their very backyard.

I only withold one star because I really wanted all the insects to literally be from her backyard (she got some help from friends :). Okay, so maybe the follow-up book will do just that...right?

I love this book. It is not a field guide, it's a thing of beauty. More of a Victorian natural history journal with a contemporary twist.Ms Kittrell Laughlin has wonderful photographs of insects that seem to reveal the characters of her subjects, or at least their quirky beauty or strangeness. They are presented in a diminutive sized book that fits it's diminutive subject matter. The text reveals the equally quirky aesthetic, experience and sense of humor of it's author. As a painter I use it as one of the things I look at to set my creative juices flowing.

I would not recommend this book (Backyard Bugs) to anyone wishing real entomological information on the common bugs we find in our own backyards. As Ms Laughlin states "I am a photographer (and interior designer). I am not an entomologist." While the photographs are good the book is sparse on substance. It would make a cute coffee table book to amuse children.

I'd like to respond to Kimberly Wilson's review of my book, Backyard Bugs. She intimates that I "got it published" through connections revealed in the acknowledgement pages. How would she know? Actually, Chronicle Books asked me to do the book based on my postcards of bugs that an editor there had seen. Luckily I had some friends with places where bugs are allowed to exist. PLease pass this on to your reviewer, Miss Know It All. Thanks, Robin K. Laughlin

As a landscape architect and garden consultant, I was taken by the beauty of each of the creatures presented by Robin through her lovely photographs and witty writing. As you start to thumb through this little morsel of a book, you can't help but stop on each page and marvel at the detail, color and uniqueness of each bug.

It's a fascinating piece which my granddaughters will soon be getting copies of.

As others have said this is not a serious book. It's a cute coffee table book or something to be given to the kids. That doesn't make it bad, however. The pictures are wonderful. You get wonderfully clear photos of each bug.

One more thing, this is one of those books that make you wonder how it got published becuase it's so offbeat. The answer, in this case, lies in the acknowlegement page.