Customer Reviews

Insectopedia

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is about those moments when you've thought the cockroach in the sink was staring back at you. It is not about entomology, and it's not science. It's about how human imagination brings insects into view in unexpected ways, and it's about the ways insects can show people in a curious light. It's about finding out that you are surrounded by thousands of bugs that never bother you, and it's about that moment of sickness when you learn how many spiders you swallow at night. The writing doesn't argue but rather demonstrates through the use of often dainty details and metaphors that can be as fragile as the wings of a fly. Sometimes the language can be too fragile - but overall it's generous, playful, and quite a joy to read.

Insectopedia is an intriguing study of the human world through its relationships with insects. Why do we have such a visceral revulsion to cockroaches, but not (for example) ladybugs? What does the intricate communication methods of bees (physical movement), pine beetles (auditory), and ants (chemical) say about our verbal language? How does a fly process visual information -- and can we ever really "see" from another creature's viewpoint?

Particularly interesting chapters include a first hand account of Chinese cricket fighting, the history of the theory of evolution through insect study, and the amazing chapter about honeybee dances -- great cocktail party fodder! Did you know researchers can translate bees' dances into coordinates (as in, "there's a great stash of spilled jam 90 yards to the southeast")? Who *doesn't* find this stuff fascinating?!

The author is an anthropologist, not an entomologist. If you're looking for a simple guide to insects, this is not the book you're looking for. But if you're curious about how the worlds of insects and humans collide, Insectopedia is an interesting read. You know that insects outnumber humans by some 200 million to one, right? I, for one, welcome the knowledge about our future insect overlords.

Insectopedia is an ingenious, original book by brilliant scholar and writer that goes deep
into a miniature world that reflects and philosophizes on just about everything in the human size world.
Insectopedia gives the reader all at once the spirit of l9th century delirious excitement, modernist story telling,
highly sophisticated humor in the telling, and an incisive journalistic account of particular places that few have gone to.
Hugh Raffles' writing and the accounts of his mysterious journeys are a pure and absolute pleasure to read.

--- Toni Schlesinger

I love this book. Such an unusual, creative, and interesting way to think about the world - examining human life through our relationships with insects. There are so many fascinating stories here and they take you all over the world, to meet people in China, Japan, Africa, Switzerland, and other places and discover their lives through their unusual and intriguing connections to insects. Along the way, I learned not only many new facts about both people and insects but also, and this is no exaggeration, a new way of looking at the world and its inhabitants, human and animal. And a fun read to boot!

This is a great, funny, well-written and engaging book. No, it's not a true encyclopedia, but instead jumps all over the place, throughout time and across continents and illustrates just a tiny fraction of the fascinating things there are to learn about the insect world. It was fun to read and kept me turning the pages to find out what else there was to learn.

The title is misleading, this is not a comprehesive look at the world of insects. Rather, it's an idiosyncratic collection of some of the odd and fabulous stories of how human beings interact with insects. Some of it is historical/cultural, some is current. The book strikes a balance between items that can easily interest most readers and in-depth sections on more arcane subjects. It is never boring. I highly recommend it.

I was afraid I was not going to be able to understand the book - but the topic was so charming that I decided to give it a shot. Besides insects always fascinated and scared me: all those legs and eyes, funny hairs, some are slimy, and others sting and hurt. Human beings scare me too: insects and humans together are just one scary nightmare.
I finally decided to start reading it a couple of weeks ago and to my surprise, I am really enjoying it, even if at times I do not indeed understand some passages. I am also surprised that some of my hesitations about insects are also studied in the book.
Overall this has been a curious experience for me and I am glad I finally decided to read it.

Hugh Raffles's Insectopedia is a beautifully and ever-so-carefully constructed opening into the world(s) of insect/ human relations, inviting readers to reconsider how we think about these little animals, both in our lives and in the lives which are their own. Perhaps the discomfort of some reviewers comes from the inability of the writing to fit squarely in science/ nature writing or in literature (technical vs. descriptive), as it forces the question of where the boundary may lie. This book is not merely about insects, but about the possibilities of knowing them and the possibilities of writing grandly about something so... small.

What begins as a professor's thoughts on our relationship with the insect world quickly becomes a fascinating study of man and beastie. Look elsewhere for details of insect science (although there is a wealth of information), Raffles focuses on how we study, relate to, share much in common with and can learn from the annoying critters around us. If you give this book a little time, it will take you to places that seem at once new and familiar. "What oft was thought but ne'er so well expressed" indeed.

This is truly a fascinating read. Each chapter touches into a completely different subject matter. This book will transform the
way you view these little powerful friends we share the planet with.