Book Review - The Complete Insect: Anatomy, Physiology, Evolution and Ecology - Princeton University Press

 

     It's easy to run out of superlatives when talking about this book. For those of us who do not have advanced degrees in entomology yet are no less passionately interested in insects, this is the best guide of its kind - ever.

     My shelves are loaded with works of reference, all frequently consulted, all much loved, some old friends of long standing, but they take a back seat to this work.

     David A. Grimaldi and his team have done a fabulous job of tackling every facet of an insect (the title of the book, The Complete Insect, says it all), in a manner that is comprehensive, detailed, packed with information, yet presented in a manner that is easy to understand and absorb. Page by page your scientific knowledge and appreciation will increase; facts you know will be expanded and enhanced, new data will flow, current trends in research will be revealed, and you will be left in awe of the advances being made almost daily. 

     Every single page in the book, without exception, is illustrated with spectacular colour photographs and charts and diagrams, to enhance the text in more ways than you can imagine. The world of insects in all its colourful and iridescent glory is portrayed in splendid detail, a feast for the eyes, a stimulus for the senses.

     Sadly, as is the case for all life on Earth in the Anthropocene, the future of insects is far from secure.

     Already, in the foreword, warning bells are tolling loudly, "Earth has now embarked on a mass extinction event."

     As global temperatures continue to rise, forests around the world are consumed by out-of-control fires, and humans remove what remains, seemingly without regard for the consequences. Habitat for insects is destroyed, birds that rely on insect larvae to raise their young no longer have homes or food - and the trophic and environmental catastrophe continues and is exacerbated.

     In addition, ".....insects have long been the targets of the most extensive, deliberate poisoning on Earth along with weeds. For this and various other reasons their numbers are dropping; thousands of species are in decline or endangered; many have become extinct."

     This in the face of the fact that insects are vital for crop pollination, provide medical services, facilitate research, are biological agents in controlling herbivorous insects - in short render innumerable services to humankind, all the while pollinating at least eighty percent of the world's flowering plants.

     "Without insects our world will wither and die."

     I continue to hope that we will come to our senses, but that seems like a vain hope. As humans continue to cook when they fall on bubbling asphalt in Arizona, as people die by the hundreds in India from heat-related causes, and all around the world heat causes stress and misery, Asbolus verrucosus is able to withstand extremely high temperatures. It seems pretty certain that insects will survive the Sixth Extinction, as they have past extinction events, but for humans the prospect is grim.

     This book is an important tool for our children, so that they may perhaps become more rational and proactive than their parents and grandparents have been. If knowledge is power, then this book really is empowering.

     Congratulations to all involved for a job very well done

The Complete Insect: Anatomy, Physiology, Evolution, and Ecology - Princeton University Press

David A. Grimaldi, Consultant Editor

Hardcover - US$35.00, ISBN: 9780691243108

368 pages - 150+ colour illustrations - 8.5 x 11 inches (21.25 x 27.5 cm)

Publication date: 15 August, 2023