Wicked bugs : the louse that conquered Napoleon's army & other diabolical… (original 2011; edition 2011)

Here's what I learned:

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 bad my day is, thanks to disgusting insects, someone is having a worse day.

I'm even more thankful for clean water.

Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. ( )

I enjoyed this, even though I kept saying, "Ick. Oh, yuck. Really? Gross!" all the way through. Guinea worms and bot flies and parasitic wasps and killer hornets... and even more. I was mesmerized and horrified and bemused and educated. Just the thing I needed. ( )

Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly

( )

Stewart may not be a formally trained entomologist like [a:Edward O. Wilson|31624|Edward O. Wilson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1227367019p2/31624.jpg], but she clearly has an admiration for crawly things. Even so, if nuclear testing were to create a race of giant man-eating ants, I bet Stewart would be screaming and tossing Molotov cocktails with the rest of us.

Since, like bugs, we humans are rather species-centric, Stewart has focused this exposé primarily on how insects have impacted mankind through the ages. Here are some examples:

1) The boll weevil infestation that devastated the cotton industry in the South during the late 1800's 'helped' growers make the move to more profitable crops. (Stewart is definitely a 'glass is half full' kind of gal.)

2) The natural tendency for bees and wasps to sting anybody who pisses them off makes them a handy weapon. Ancient Mayans and Greeks liked to fling hives at their enemies, and during World War I the Germans would bury them as a sort of natural land mine.

3) Stewart lists various bug related phobias. The one at the top of my list is helminthophobia, the fear of being infested with worms. My paranoia does at least have a rational basis: I once spotted worm bodies in the manure that the local wild horses leave around our house. (Nature is such a garden of good and evil.)

Despite giving me the heebie-jeebies, this book was a neat read. Especially liked how it embedded scientific data and history in an easy to read anecdotal format. And the plentiful line drawings were really well done. ( )

I enjoyed this little book and its companion. They are lighthearted and contain interesting information but are not as in-depth as some might hope. My comments for this one echo mine for Wicked Plants. Wish there were photos, it left me hungering for more information on some species, etc. But overall I enjoyed both books. ( )