Customer Reviews

The Curious World of Bugs: The Bugman's Guide to the Mysterious and Remarkable Lives of Things That Crawl

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As a naturalist I regularly present educational programs about insects. The abundance and diversity of insects make them a great subject for nature study. Unlike larger animals that flee or become wary, insects often continue their interesting behaviors (hunting, eating, mating, laying eggs, etc) while you watch them. So you get to witness dramas that you don't often see in the rest of the animal world. The Curious World of Bugs explains those dramas better than any insect book I've seen. With nearly 90,000 kinds of insects in North America, it would be easy for a book to overwhelm someone with too much info about bugs, but this book covers the bugs that people are mostly likely to encounter and that are most likely to fascinate or frighten.

I will be enthusiastically recommending this book to participants in my insect programs.

"The Curious World of Bugs" is a very unusual book. Full of charm and very attractively put together, it is 210 pages of lively and detailed information about crawling, hopping and flying insects and other buggy creatures. The book is a complementary side-dish to the popular website "What's that Bug" at whatsthatbug.com, which has been online since the year 2000.

This book's small size belies the great wealth of information inside it. This is not an identification guide but an introduction to the world of bugs, in all of their fascinating strangeness. The scope of the book is worldwide. The illustrations are antique, and this, together with the engaging writing style and decorative layout, end up persuading the reader that the Bugman Daniel Marlos must in fact be a 19th century naturalist reincarnated in the body of a Los Angeles artist.

This is a book that adults can very much enjoy, but it is also a book that an adult can read to an intelligent child who is fascinated with bugs, as so many children are. As the Bugman makes clear, bugs are not scary and repugnant; instead they are worthy of our respect and admiration. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and would highly recommend it.

I ordered this book as soon as I saw it was available, and since I am a big fan of the What's That Bug website, I was not disappointed. It is a great read, lively and entertaining, and very informative for someone with an interest in invertebrates. It is written in easy-to-understand language, unlike some other books that are not really intended to be read by the layman, and it is easy to see the author has a genuine interest in his subject matter. While it contains no actual photographs of insects and spiders, it has plenty of line drawings that are very well done, making it easy to identify, at least at a glance, whatever bug you are looking for. The author's words move you right along in an easy going manner, and I think this is a great book for someone with an interest in 'bugs'. There are enough scientific terms and descriptions in the book to help you identify insects and such, but more importantly, it is just a darn fun read! Using this book in combination with the What's That Bug website will have you on your way to being the smartest guy in the room, at least as far as the lives and habits of all the mysterious and remarkable things that crawl. It is a definite valuable addition to my invertebrate library.

I pre-purchased this book after falling in love with the site that the author runs, whatsthatbug.com . My 7 year old daughter and I enjoyed the little known facts the author provided on each insect and the beautiful illustrations. A great way for people of all ages to learn more about the little insects we share our planet with.

I have been a big fan of the What's That Bug website for quite some time, and found this book to be a charming introduction to the world of insects, arachnids, and other creepy-crawlers. It is a rather basic book, eschewing in-depth information for a more useful general guide. Even the most inveterate bug-haters will find themselves appreciating the bugs all around us.

This is a really good book for the average bug person. Very simply stated and easy to read. This authors website What's that Bug is very interesting and informative.
I have used it often. When I found out he had written a book I had to pick it up.
Amazon shipped fast ! Very pleased w/ this purchase.

I've always enjoyed the study of insects. Most of the library books that I checked out when I was very young were on insects. I took a course in entomology while in college. ONe of the requirements was to make an turn in an insect collection. Enjoyable course. This book has all of the interesting stuff in it: common names and how they came to be, adventures with insects, etc. It reads like a story rather than a scientific book. I keep my insect guide handy so I can look up the various species discussed in "THe Bugman's Guide." Anyone who enjoys the study of insects will really enjoy this book . . and the website which led to its creation.