This book joins a growing band that aims to convince non-experts that insects are both fascinating and essential. It is, as George told me himself, “a ‘gift book’ – small format and reasonably priced” (very true at only £10.99) “so that people who know that ‘Uncle Alf quite likes nature’ can buy it for him”. That there is a growing choice of such books is good news. They are all different, as no two entomologists have quite the same slant, and the greater the choice the more likely the word will be spread. George’s is a delight, and his dry humour helps in putting across truly important messages. If Uncle Alf has a short attention span, he’ll see this one through, as the four main chapters are split into bite-sized headed chunks of just a few pages. Chapter 1 covers the basics of insects – their amazing morphologies, biologies and ecologies. Chapter 2 deals with their importance to humans. Chapter 3 explains how we are architects of their, and hence our, decline. Chapter 4 tells us in no uncertain terms what we must do to reverse their decline – it is perhaps the most eloquent and convincing ‘popular’ call to arms that I’ve read. I promise I’ll reduce my meat intake and do my level best not to buy anything containing palm oil.
The 192 pages are complemented with lovely line drawings by Karen King. Whilst the title speaks for itself (and follows a book from the same stable called The Good Bee), George acknowledges that, so far as humans are concerned, some insects are just plain bad.
The book is a one-stop shop for those oft-quoted facts that, as entomologists, we can never find when we need them: there are 325,000 beetle species; arthropods make up 40% of animal biomass although animals only make up 0.4% of total biomass; 1% of insects live in the sea; a brood of Great Tits consumes 120,000 caterpillars). We so-called ‘experts’ will all find things we’ve never known or have forgotten: some insects moult more than fifty times; tsetse flies lay only one egg; a jar of honey involves ten million bee-to-flower forays.
So, that’s Uncle Alf’s Christmas present sorted – and Aunty Anne’s, Sister Sue’s and Nephew Nick’s. They might even try George’s suggestion of ‘insect bathing’ (though maybe not until Spring).
