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Nature. Nonfiction. HTML:In this darkly comical look at the sinister side of our relationship with the natural world, Stewart has tracked down over one hundred of our worst entomological foes—creatures that infest, infect, and generally wreak havoc on human affairs. From the world’s most painful hornet, to the flies that transmit deadly diseases, to millipedes that stop traffic, to the “bookworms” that devour libraries, to the Japanese beetles munching on your roses, Wicked Bugs delves into the extraordinary powers of six- and eight-legged creatures. With wit, style, and exacting research, Stewart has uncovered the most terrifying and titillating stories of bugs gone wild. It’s an A to Z of insect enemies, interspersed with sections that explore bugs with kinky sex lives (“She’s Just Not That Into You”), creatures lurking in the cupboard (“Fear No Weevil”), insects eating your tomatoes (“Gardener’s Dirty Dozen”), and phobias that feed our (sometimes) irrational responses to bugs (“Have No Fear”). Intricate and strangely beautiful etchings and drawings by Briony Morrow-Cribbs capture diabolical bugs of all shapes and sizes in this mixture of history, science, murder, and intrigue that begins—but doesn’t end—in your own backyard.… (more)
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The Book Report: Amy Stewart, perpetratrix of [Flower Confidential] (a book I loathed), has given us bite-sized bios of horrible, horrible, horrible little creepy/crawly or fly-y/stingy horrible things with lots of horrible legs and horrible, horrible ways
My Review: I've finished it, and so far I've determined that I suffer from:
--scabies
--Guinea worm disease
--tapeworm
--Lyme disease
--elephantiasis
--bilharzia
--sand-fly infestation under my itchy toenail
I've taken eleven showers with surgical scrub so far. I expect that, when I go outside next after the haz-mat suit is delivered, I shall be ridiculed...but I *won't* be a feast for the horrible disgusting vile scary critters this book is about!
"Bugs" here is used to describe a broad range of critters, from the microscopic tot he large, and from insects and spiders etc. through various kinds of worms. The tags range from "deadly" to "horrible", with stops at "painful", "dangerous",
The writing and the wonderful production values in the book help to ease one through all the revoltingness, though, and make the book both an entertaining and darkly fun read. Each pest, or category of pest, gets its own short essay, complete with lurid details about what's so icky about them.
The artwork by Briony Morrow-Cribbs adds much to the enjoyment. Even the most skin-crawly of critters somehow looks better in her wonderful illustrations (and somehow less likely to give one nightmares), especially combined with the excellent layout and the 2-color printing. It's a very elegant book.
I got this at least a year ago, after loving 2 of her other books- "Drunken Botanist" and "Wicked Plants". I'd recommend these too. I'd put of reading this one, though, because bugs do make my skin crawl in general. I would not recommend it to the currently phobic!
It's a great book on scary. revolting, and creepy topics that are nonetheless a part of life- and it's beautifully done. Recommended- with caution!
It's probably not a brown recluse spider bite.
I'm never ever going to the Amazon. Ever.
I'm also never going to Japan. That's partly because of sushi, Godzilla, and radiation, but the radiation is going to make Godzilla and those Asian Giant Hornets even bigger.
No matter how
I'm even more thankful for clean water.
Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.
It's a highly entertaining series of descriptions and stories regarding certain insects/bugs/spiders/etc.
Not for the overly squeamish, nor for those who have some sort of bug phobia (reading
I am not ready to vacate the surface of the earth after reading this, but I do feel that perhaps being born, raised and a lifetime resident of Northern California is the best place to be on earth. Seeing as the author is from my area, I wonder if she purposely didn't want to write/know about beasties here? ;) In my heart of hearts, I'm hoping it is simply because we don't have horrifying critters around.
Needless to say, I will never eat pork again and I am slathering myself in mosquito repellent nightly. I have a whole new respect for these mighty bugs and the
Book Season = Spring
Everywhere we look, on every continent (baring only Antarctica, though I wouldn't put it past a future species of hardy cockroach to find a way to live there eventually), in every country, in every type of terrain, there is always some "bug" living there willing to make a human being's life unbearable (or in the case of some parasites, only another fellow bug's life).
From the Asian Giant Hornet to the Rocky Mountain Locust to the ordinary Mosquito, all are here to make our lives miserable, by spreading disease (Malaria is popular with Mosquitoes), destroying crops (a Rocky Mountain Locust cloud once ate its way across the U.S. Southwest) and causing a great deal of pain (the sting of the Asian Giant Hornet has been described as being "like driving a hot nail through your leg"). The Bug World clearly has it "in" for mankind.
The exotic "Asian Giant Hornet", is so large (5 centimeters from head to tail) that when they fly they actually resemble small birds. Thankfully, the Giant Hornet is only native to Asia, where members of the species can be seen foraging in garbage cans for bits of discarded fish to carry back to their young.
Then there is the ordinary "Nightcrawler", which though long thought to be good for the soil, has actually been proven to sometimes be bad for the soil, destroying the much needed spongy duff layer that native plants (it is accidentally imported Nightcrawler species members doing this) require in order to germinate and grow.
However, though the "Millipede" might look creepy and disgusting, they are actually not dangerous to humans, mostly eating dead leaves, except when swarms of them swarm over railroad tracks, literally stopping the trains in their tracks from wheel slippage due to the squished Millipede bodies on the tracks. Or how about the Scottish Millipede which swarm around from April to October, necessitating blackouts in order to keep the millipedes from invading homes.
The nastiest creepy crawly in this collection has to be the "Brazilian Wandering Spider". It doesn't spin a web like most spiders, it actively prowls the forest floor hunting for prey. The bite causes immediate and severe pain, followed by breathing difficulties, paralysis and even asphyxiation. With proper care (and a little luck) victims can survive. However, the most venomous members of this species are definitely capable of killing, with the elderly and young children at the most risk. But what makes the "Brazilian Wandering Spider" the scariest creature in this book is the overt aggressiveness it tends to exhibit, refusing to scurry away at the sight of an aggressor and instead standing its ground and rising up on its hind legs spoiling for a fight. The author Stewart says it best, "Anyone who swats at one of these spiders had better aim to kill, because if it survives a swat with a broom it might try to climb straight up the handle and bite."
"Wicked Bugs" is a fascinating read, but not one for the faint of heart. After reading this treatise on "Bugs" I will never look at this world quite the same way and I will never take humanity's position as the self-proclaimed "top of the food change" for granted.
Excellent read but not for the easily squeamish. Amy Stewart vividly describes what many of the world's pests do, making my DH insist that I stop reading sections out loud to him as they were really too disgusting. But if you like nature, or any interest in
Everywhere we look, on every continent (baring only Antarctica, though I wouldn't put it past a future species of hardy cockroach to find a way to live there eventually), in every country, in every type of terrain, there is always some "bug" living there willing to make a human being's life unbearable (or in the case of some parasites, only another fellow bug's life).
From the Asian Giant Hornet to the Rocky Mountain Locust to the ordinary Mosquito, all are here to make our lives miserable, by spreading disease (Malaria is popular with Mosquitoes), destroying crops (a Rocky Mountain Locust cloud once ate its way across the U.S. Southwest) and causing a great deal of pain (the sting of the Asian Giant Hornet has been described as being "like driving a hot nail through your leg"). The Bug World clearly has it "in" for mankind.
The exotic "Asian Giant Hornet", is so large (5 centimeters from head to tail) that when they fly they actually resemble small birds. Thankfully, the Giant Hornet is only native to Asia, where members of the species can be seen foraging in garbage cans for bits of discarded fish to carry back to their young.
Then there is the ordinary "Nightcrawler", which though long thought to be good for the soil, has actually been proven to sometimes be bad for the soil, destroying the much needed spongy duff layer that native plants (it is accidentally imported Nightcrawler species members doing this) require in order to germinate and grow.
However, though the "Millipede" might look creepy and disgusting, they are actually not dangerous to humans, mostly eating dead leaves, except when swarms of them swarm over railroad tracks, literally stopping the trains in their tracks from wheel slippage due to the squished Millipede bodies on the tracks. Or how about the Scottish Millipede which swarm around from April to October, necessitating blackouts in order to keep the millipedes from invading homes.
The nastiest creepy crawly in this collection has to be the "Brazilian Wandering Spider". It doesn't spin a web like most spiders, it actively prowls the forest floor hunting for prey. The bite causes immediate and severe pain, followed by breathing difficulties, paralysis and even asphyxiation. With proper care (and a little luck) victims can survive. However, the most venomous members of this species are definitely capable of killing, with the elderly and young children at the most risk. But what makes the "Brazilian Wandering Spider" the scariest creature in this book is the overt aggressiveness it tends to exhibit, refusing to scurry away at the sight of an aggressor and instead standing its ground and rising up on its hind legs spoiling for a fight. The author Stewart says it best, "Anyone who swats at one of these spiders had better aim to kill, because if it survives a swat with a broom it might try to climb straight up the handle and bite."
"Wicked Bugs" is a fascinating read, but not one for the faint of heart. After reading this treatise on "Bugs" I will never look at this world quite the same way and I will never take humanity's position as the self-proclaimed "top of the food change" for granted.
This survey of “bugs,” as the author explains, actually goes beyond “true bugs” to include
The stories she tells are fascinating, along with many of them being scary. For example, she reports that scientists speculate that the destruction of the floodwall system of New Orleans that led to so much devastation was caused in part by Formosan subterranean termites. It happens that the seams of the floodwalls are made of waste residue from processed sugarcane, a very attractive food source for the termites. Post-Katrina inspections showed evidence of insect attacks.
Also very interesting was her section on fleas, which helped spread the Bubonic Plague in Europe. Fleas picked up the bacterium Yersinia pestis from rats probably traveling to Europe in the holds of ships from Asia. The fleas then spread the bacteria through vomiting (yes, vomiting) diseased blood into bite sites. The death toll, especially during the initial European outbreak in the fourteenth century, was huge. It was probably made worse by the fact that at the same time, felines, previously used as mousers, came to be seen by the Church as consorts of witches and Satan. Thus cats that that might have otherwise eaten the rats were killed by the thousands.
The section on tapeworms is pretty gross (and therefore very diverting) and the section on how bugs are used in forensic entomology was riveting.
There are many more great stories that come out of this short and highly entertaining book, but I don’t want to spoil them all for readers.