In a Desert Garden: Love and Death among the Insects [Paperback]

John Alcock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

When John Alcock replaced the Bermuda grass in his suburban Arizona lawn with gravel, cacti, and fairy dusters, he was doing more than creating desert landscaping. He seeded his property with flowers to entice certain insects and even added a few cowpies to attract termites, creating a personal laboratory for ecological studies. His observations of life in his own front yard provided him with the fieldnotes for this unusual book. In a Desert Garden draws readers into the strange and fascinating world of plants and animals native to Arizona's Sonoran Desert. As Alcock studies the plants in his yard, he shares thoughts on planting, weeding, and pruning that any gardener will appreciate. And when commenting on the mating rituals of spiders and beetles or marveling at the camouflage of grasshoppers and caterpillars, he uses humor and insight to detail the lives of the insects that live in his patch of desert. Celebrating the virtues of even aphids and mosquitoes, Alcock draws the reader into the intricacies of desert life to reveal the complex interactions found in this unique ecosystem. In a Desert Garden combines meticulous science with contemplations of nature and reminds us that a world of wonder lies just outside our own doors.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Alcock (zoology, Arizona State Univ.) has written yet another book dealing with his specialty: desert ecology in the American Southwest. His previous works include The Masked Bobwhite Rides Again (LJ 9/1/93) and Sonoran Desert Summer (LJ 3/15/90). The focus of his new work is the author's own front yard in Tempe, Arizona, and its insect inhabitants. Several years ago, Alcock tore out his typical suburban lawn to re-create a miniature native desert habitat, complete with representative local desert vegetation. He also added a small vegetable garden on one side. Readers will gain insights into how science is practiced as the author's lively, often humorous observations of assorted beetles, bugs, wasps, bees, caterpillars, and butterflies are related to broad concepts of animal behavior, ecology, and survival. Alcock's considerable talent as a nature writer is demonstrated here by his ability to take a subject as seemingly mundane as the insects found in the yard and turn it into a fascinating learning adventure. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?William H. Wiese, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Biologist Alcock calls Arizona home, and that is where he tends a desert garden that provides a working laboratory for observing and appreciating insect behavior. Alcock's limitless curiosity about all manner of bugs propels his latest book--beginning with the story of how he converted an unappealing front lawn area into a minidesert environment. Although Alcock makes no bones about mosquitoes that cause malaria and other dreaded pests that color the way most of us see insects, he nevertheless has written an ode celebrating those small creatures. Whether commenting on the fascinating mating rituals of various mantids, spiders, and beetles, or wondering at the camouflagic accomplishments of grasshoppers, butterfly larvae, and caterpillars, Alcock writes with a wry humor that appears as well in reflections on growing vegetables and cultivating compost. Graced with lively line drawings and color photographs, Alcock's engaging, illuminating text offers delightful reading for all who appreciate the natural world. Alice Joyce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816519706
• ISBN-13: 978-0816519705
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,086,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nature, neighbours and night quests, April 13, 2004

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In a Desert Garden: Love and Death Among the Insects (Hardcover)

John Alcock loves Nature. Sometimes, though, getting from a suburban home to the wilderness he relishes can be tedious. So he brought some of his favoured Sonoran Desert environment to his front yard. Using a ramshackle Kubota tractor, he stripped away the layer of Bermuda grass surrounding his house. Over time, and with no little effort, he transformed that yard into a little pocket of desert environment. All this was more than an exercise in redecorating, however. Alcock studies insects, especially their mating rituals, and this transplanted environment gave him ample opportunity. Even if his practice of crouching over desert shrubbery at odd hours raised a few neighbourhood eyebrows.

Alcock loves what he does, imparting his passion to us with lively prose. His academic background merges with his expressions of feeling to keep this book a delight to read. This blending places his writing skills in a comfortable [and comforting] niche somewhere between E. O. Wilson and John McPhee or David Quammen. He keeps you at ease as he builds the desert floor, inserts shrubbery and vegetables, and welcomes the bird and insect visitors to his creation. He protects the native species of plants and animals where possible, but doesn't summarily reject harmless exotics. And he carefully explains how to tell the difference.

The underlying reason for the garden's transformation was to attract insects. Alcock is at his best in watching, analysing and explaining the life styles of desert bees, wasps, beetles and the rest. How did they develop those behaviours? What do their activities it mean to us humans, who are too often ardently killing the ones in our own gardens. He poses his questions with the puzzlement of fresh discovery. Then, adroitly picking through the available evidence - while calling out for further studies - he sifts through the optional answers to deliver the most likely, and most logical scenario. Yet, at no point are you being "lectured to". Instead, you are introduced to some of the awesome array of variation nature offers. This is no specialist's daunting lecture, but the confessions of a man who finds wonder in small things. It's also, of course, an example for any reader to enter his own yard to consider restoring it some state of origins instead of developer's artificiality.

Alcock's view of his environment isn't wholly without concerns, however. There's no question of his concern for the impact of unrestricted "development". Phoenix, the urban hub of his home in Tempe, is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. With reconstructed landscapes, imported species, proliferating golf courses and a staggering consumption of water, this emblem of "progress" is another urban blight on the landscape. Alcock is uncomfortable with this situation, but nearly helpless to block it. His example of bringing some of the countryside into the city and restoring a bit of balance at a time is an example we should all consider carefully. His book's photo collection will make every gardener smile knowingly. The illustrations portray the object of his studies. With this combination he has produced an example of what a single individual [with some spousal support] can achieve, and told us all about it in this fine book. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Story of a Front Yard, July 14, 2005

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In a Desert Garden: Love and Death Among the Insects (Hardcover)

This book relates some of the observations that Alcock made when he converted his grassy lawn in front of his Arizona house from grass to desert flora. In his neighborhood, residents dutifully maintained wide swaths of green grass through continuous fertilizing, watering, cutting, and trimming. They controlled pests and weeds through spraying, but if they missed one chemical treatment or watering, unwanted species would begin to take over. When Alcock first moved to the area, he went along with local custom for several years. Finally, he asked himself why he was working so hard to maintain grass at such high economic and environmental costs, when it was really the desert surroundings that he enjoyed. It took some effort to kill his lawn and replace it with a yard filled with thriving desert species, but maintenance eventually became much easier and cheaper once he had landscaping fit for the local environment.

As an entomologist, Alcock greatly enjoys observing the insect life in his new yard. In this book, as well as describing how he transformed his yard, he also describes such insects as ladybugs, praying mantises, earwigs, desert termites, paper wasps, bees, grasshoppers, inchworms, whiteflies, mayflies, and aphids. The book is arranged into chapters by topic, including chapters on insects that control pests, compost lovers, insects that sting, camouflage experts, alien insects, and migrating insects. In reading the book, I was struck by how fascinating the lowly insect species can be. The book is written in an informal style appropriate for general readers. It is illustrated with black and white drawings by Turid Forsyth. Scientific sources are listed in a bibliography at the end of the book (but not referenced directly in the text), and there is an index.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, witty, insightful, July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In a Desert Garden: Love and Death Among the Insects (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this intersting, thought provoking book from John Alcock. His thoughts on the modern American lawn should be required reading in the suburbs. The world would be a better place if all would read and comprehend his thoughts on connecting ourselves to the myriad wonders that go on all around us every day.