The Insect Societies (Harvard paperbacks) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

If only because of the rarity of the event and the stature of the author..."The Insect Societies" must be considered a work of major importance. It is certain to influence the focus of research as well as the content of public information on the social insects for years to come...For anyone, layman or specialists, interested in a single, concise, lucid, and authoritative account of the most significant facts and theories about insect societies, "The Insect Societies" is the best available and will be for many years. -- Mary Jane West Eberhard "Natural History"

Review

In comprehensiveness of scope and modernity of outlook The Insect Societies can truly be said to be unique. For many years to come it will surely constitute a benchmark for all those, professional and amateur alike, for whom the social insects offer one of the most compelling and fascinating pageants in all the world of nature. The book is likely to become a collector's item.
--Caryl F. Haskins (New York Times Book Review )

The Insect Societies gives an extraordinarily complete and up-to-date account of the natural history of social insects with their great proliferation of genera, species, and behavioral types...In these fields modern genetics, selection theory, and biomathematics are being developed to explain the evolution of insect societies and their diversity both in size and in longevity. This is one of the growing points in the study of social insects and an undertaking to which Wilson is making important contributions.
--O. W. Richards (Science )

No book on biology in the past 20 years has been as satisfying as this treatise on ants, bees, wasps and termites...It is written with clarity and verve, but what distinguishes it particularly is its catholic mastery of all of biology, from paleontology to formal genetics, from ethology to biochemistry. Nothing less can be an adequate basis for the study of our social colleagues on this earth, and nothing less has its courageous and energetic author settled for. Biology is a whole science, and here it is wholly seen...It is so honest and yet so rich that it attracts and holds by the scent of understanding. (Scientific American )

The book is well illustrated, and written in a clear direct style, with such specialist technical terms as Wilson feels obliged to uses explained in a glossary; evidently he is anxious to reach a wider audience than that provided by professional entomologists--as indeed the book deserves to do...This handsome book will undoubtedly be widely read and influential.
--R. A. Crowson (Nature )

Because ants, wasps, bees, and termites are of importance to man, because of their ecological domination of the land, and because their activities remind man of his own, this encyclopedic work will attract the general reader, students, and biologists as well as entomologists...This comprehensive work must be recognized as an outstanding contribution to biological literature. (Library Journal )

If only because of the rarity of the event and the stature of the author...The Insect Societies must be considered a work of major importance. It is certain to influence the focus of research as well as the content of public information on the social insects for years to come...For anyone, layman or specialists, interested in a single, concise, lucid, and authoritative account of the most significant facts and theories about insect societies, The Insect Societies is the best available and will be for many years.
--Mary Jane West Eberhard (Natural History ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 562 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press (September 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674454952
• ISBN-13: 978-0674454958
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #643,510 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very complete book, November 22, 2003

By	merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This book was over my head (I don't have any sort of biology background, just more of a backyard naturalist who is hungry to learn) but nonethless I appreciate it for all the incredible information documented here. Its a very big book - 550 pages long and seems more like a serious reference text book for the student studying insects. In that context I think it'd be perfect. There are great drawinging, very detailed and indeed pretty too. There are insect family trees, drawing of nests and eggs, etc. I find the information in here fantastic. I enjoyed the chapter on behavior since that was what I originally was interested in learning about. Wilson talks about mazes with blind alleys and other neat things that ants do. Anyway, great book just be prepared for it to be very very technical.

Here are some of the chapters:
- Intro: the importance of societal insects
-degrees of social behavior
-the social wasps
- the ants
-the social bees
- the termites
- the presocial ants
- caste: ants
- caste: social bees and wasps
- caste: termites
- the elements of behavior
- communication: alarm
- communication: recruitment
- comminucation: recognition, food, grooming
- symbiosis
- population dynamics

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, November 15, 2000

By A Customer

An outstanding book, very enjoyable. Discusses ants, wasps, bees, termites, etc. A little bit dated now, but it still has one of the best overviews of social insects and their evolution of which I am aware. It is also very readable, with numerous illustrations.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cult following, April 23, 2005

By	Brandon E. Wolfe (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has proven unexpectedly influential in the fields of artificial intelligence and pattern formation---make a bunch of agents which follow one or two simple rules, and they can make generic large-scale structures resembling societies.

It's a fascinating structuralist view of societies: rather than say, a Napoleon (or the queen), ants are ruled by hundreds of mindless actions dictated by enviornment (you and me). History, society is a constant pressure.

It's also brilliantly written and highly informative. This is a book for the ages.