Customer Reviews

Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles: How Bugs Find Strength in Numbers

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This book, surprisingly, does not concentrate on the social insects, the ants, bees, and termites that have famous and complicated societies. Rather, it describes the less rigid teams or clumps that other insects make, to examine how evolution has exploited living by the numbers. You will find out how ladybirds and tent caterpillers gather to control the weather around them; how milkweed bugs feed together in a way that wouldn't work if they did it individually; why tropical fireflies set up a communal beacon in trees; and how periodic cicadas manage to come out by the billions in thirteen or seventeen year cycles.

Insects are enormously successful and are fascinating and accessible objects for wonder. _Millions of Monarchs_ looks at one aspect of insect behavior, spread in various and intricate forms. Waldbauer's accumulation of facts is impressive (and he can't resist telling us about the analogous group behaviors of say, horse-shoe crabs), and well organized according to the benefits which evolution has made available to congregations of insects. Anyone interested in what insects do will find learning here.

Human beings are pretty bigger than insects but when they come in millions like swarms of locusts they can leave deep marks in our collective imagination as the Biblical plague and the apocalypse masses-bug-like monsters show. Few people had the chance to contemplate Monarch butterflies migrate, but who had cannot forget. You will find here an excellent semi-popular treatment of this fascinating topic, how tiny creatures get together and why. The two mentioned examples are familiar, but Waldbauer tell many different unexpected and instructive stories. This book is another brilliant example of how stunning the world of insects is. Readers are also encouraged to buy and read 'Journey to the Ants : A Story of Scientific Exploration' by Holldobler and Wilson and 'The Thermal Warriors' by Heinrich.

This is a survey book--It has a chapter on each of several types of insects that have social or clustering behavior, but aren't the classic social insects, such as ants or bees. Some of the insects covered are butterflies, notably monarchs, locusts, and ladybugs. There is a fair, but not overwhelming, amount of information on each type of insect. The style is highly readable. I liked the book so much, I went and bought other of Waldbauer's books. Highly recommmended!

A pretty neat book. It gives you interesting insights into the insect world without being too techy. I didn't read it cover to cover but instead I pick it up when I'm wondering about an insect. It has insects that you'd encounter in everyday life which is helpful

This is an extremely fascinating book. To the best of my knowledge, the information about monarchs is accurate and credits respected sources. All the chapters have information that makes you more and more aware of the wonders of the natural world. The chapter on monarchs covers their migration, their toxicity, their eating and mating habits and more. The information is backed up by research data collected in the last 40+ years. I recommend it!

The theme of this book is insect sociality but the author, a distinguished entomologist, does not discuss well known eusocial insects like bees and termites. The concentration is on the lesser known aspects of social behavior in feeding, mating, predation, avoidance of predation, etc., among many insect species. Prof. Waldbauer is a good writer who attacks his subjects with enthusiasm. Underlying all examples in this book is the adaptive importance of even primitive social behavior. The book is organized into a number of relatively short chapters on different aspects of insect sociality, which makes for quick reading.