Customer Reviews

Practical Entomologist

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Back when I first began my fascination with insects, I picked up a copy of this book hoping it would help me with a project. I was impressed with the way it presents information order by order in true entomologist fashion. The pictures are great and the text informative. I would recommend this book to anyone who is just beginning in entomology and is looking for a great overview of insects and their lives.

To begin with, this book consists of approximately 160 pages. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out, just my visually checking the mass alone, that this is on the beginning and end of all insect collecting or study books. I have some books on my shelf which weight several pounds, and they don't even begin to cover the subject adequately. That being said....

This is a wonderful book for the beginning or budding collector of insect. By collecting, I mean also observing, photographing and yes, actually killing the subject and sticking it to a board. This small volume does cover all the basics of entomology, briefly touching on taxonomy, anatomy and morphology, capturing methods, preserving methods, different photographic methods and a whole lot of practical advice. This book, supplemented with other texts, is a wonderful guide to lead a high school, and yes, even a beginning college group though the process. It makes the lesson plans more interesting and does provide much valuable information. It provides a nice list of biological equipment and supply companies along with a nice list of entomological organizations and their phone numbers and addresses. This is useful information.

Now please note: The earth is populated by thousands and thousands of different insects, groups and subgroups and sub-subgroups. This book IS NOT an insect identification guide. Yes, it does address the characteristics of major groups, but that is it. That is not the purpose of this book. I like to thing of it as a tickler book. It should encourage those who have an interest in this field of study, to search further, read more, to study more, to observe more. This book would be ideal for the home school crowd, as well as a useful tool for the biology teacher starting to address this subject. The text is great, the pictures sharp and clear, and the advice is good and practical. I have been collecting (beetles only please) for around 56 years now. I do wish I had had access to this when I first started out. It certainly would have made my life less complicated.

This is the best of inumerable books I reviewed in helping my kids with their science projects and with their insect collections. There are many easy to perform experiments, a great section on collecting, and a well written text on the subject of entomology.

I purchased this book to be used as a text for a lower div entomology class....amazing. Simple descriptions and GREAT photos. A must have for any amateur entomologist.

I've looked for years for a single tome on entomology which is more than a research paper; one which has images, detailed text, and soul. This book has it all. Universes to explore inside.

This book was the first one I ever bought and it was very helpful.It is just loaded with useful information, and helpful diagrams. However, if you like hands on experiences, its loaded with all kinds of easy to do experiments that are fun and educational. However, due to the amount of scientific words and phrases, I would not recommend this book to children under seven.

I was given this book for Christmas by a classmate in the fourth grade, and it remains one of my favourites. It covers all the basic areas of entomology, and has fascinating pictures from all over the world. There are many subsets which detail different fun projects with bugs, and there's even a whole section on making an insect collection. It's pretty basic, but I would definitely recommend it to kids ages 9-16, and maybe even adults who just want a brief introduction to insects.

The book may be useful for an extreme novice in bug collection and identification, or for helping youngsters. It superficially treats any given group of insects, with less detail than I had anticipated. Most of the insects illustrated are foreign, which was disappointing. This is a book that will sit on the shelf until I decide which nephew to give it to.

My goal in buying this book was to learn how to generally identify different kinds of bugs. The pictures aren't clear, pre-point & shoot digital. I don't collect bugs so I don't know if the suggestions for collecting are spot on or not. A book that I bought later, Field Guide to Insects of North America, by Eric R. Eaton & Kenn Kaufman, has worked well for me. As I live in New England, Mary Holland's book, Naturally Curious, is amazing. She lists month by month what's happening outside and bugs are included. Her photography is incredible. She also has diagrams. If she uses scientific words, she explains their meaning in context rather than a glossary at the end. Using both of these books has helped me begin to understand entomology.

A while back, I found the corpse of an insect and wondered what it might have been, which led me to noticing bugs more than ever before. My curiosity also made me totally unafraid of them. Unfortunately, I knew nothing whatsoever about them.

This book is exactly what I wanted. It talks to me like an intelligent adult and lays out the information in a way appropriate for a beginner. The pictures are also good to show what the text is saying.