Eight-Legged Marvels: Beauty and Design in the World of Spiders Review

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(More customer reviews)A wonderful book with beautiful color pictures on each page that show the variety and wonder of spiders. Feared by many, they are actually very useful for humans because they destroy harmful insects, such as flies and mosquitoes, among other disease carrying pests. One thing that amazes me is the enormous variety of spiders and their different lifestyles, all described in detail in this book. Highly recommended for all ages from Jr. High School age persons to college graduates, this readable coffee table book will both entertain and inform.

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Eight-Legged Marvels explores the diversity of colors, shapes, sizes, and behaviors of spiders around the world. Beyond a basic review of the biology of spiders, it offers incentive to think about beauty and design in a fascinating group of animals.

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World Hunger Review

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(More customer reviews)World Hunger is a captivating read that has just enough science and detail to be plausible (which is quite frightening) and enough character development to put you completely in the shoes of the lead characters as the action happens.A quick read, I finished this book in 2 flights and didn't want to put it down.

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Vanguard Corporation, an agricultural company led by a greedy and mercurial CEO, has developed a new line of genetically modified seed products. Designed to significantly increase crop yields and resist drought, pests, and disease in the hopes of reducing hunger in Third World countries, the seeds should also earn huge profits for the firm.
Vanguard's testing in Belarus, Colombia, and India initially goes well, but midway through the crops' development, reports begin to emerge of bizarre insect observations linked to incidents of domestic animal slaughter, and eventually, the death of several people. The high-growth genetic enhancements engineered into the seeds have been transferred into the insects through their ingestion of the test crops.
The strains of these "super" insects are much larger, more aggressive, and increasingly resistant to pesticides and disease than their natural counterparts. As the insects become more plentiful and widespread, Vanguard desperately combats them while dealing with the media, environmentalists, the government, and other distractions. Meanwhile, scientists, entomologists, and field operatives frantically work together to eradicate the new species and deal with the fallout of mankind's apathy toward environmental meddling.

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Insect Lives: Stories of Mystery and Romance from a Hidden World Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a beautifully and cleverly edited eclectic collection of stories, articles, poems, scientific treatises, and even cartoons about insects.There are quaint stories from the eighteenth century, studious articlesfrom the nineteenth, and modern selections from such twentieth centuryexperts as Edward O. Wilson, Roger B. Swain. Karl von Frisch, MayBerenbaum, Harold Oldroyd and others.Charles Darwin is represented,Aristotle, Alfred Russel Wallace, Thoreau, even the Bible makes anappearance.There are selections from a novella, A.S. Byatt's "MorphoEugenia"; poems, Wordsworth's "To a Butterfly," Robert Burns's "To aLouse"; and even a bit of a movie, THEM! (1954).Obviously, editors, Hoytand Schultz are as intent at entertaining as informing.You'll find dozensof different insects here, from house flies and ants to dung beetles andglow-worms to ticks, wasps, silverfish, etc.Each selection is presentedwith a short note from the editors and followed by a bibliographical entry. There is an index of authors and one of subjects.The selections arecollected under various heading, e.g., "Insects Praised," "InsectsReviled," "Insect Architecture," etc.The sheer breath of insect behaviorpresented here is unnerving: How multifarious are the realities of life! Noteworthy is the meticulous care taken with the editing and proofreading. This is a good and strange read.

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Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (Kaufman Field Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)Alas, a good insect field guide is hard to come by. When I ordered the Kaufman guide I was optomistic that it could replace the badly outdated Peterson's guide; sadly this is not the case.

For a neophyte looking to ID your common backyard bugs this would suffice. There are plenty of wonderful pictures that can't otherwise be found in printed form. But for a serious student of entomology this 'guide' is of minimal use. There is virtually no information given to help in IDing a specimen. The guide goes with a purely visual approach which is simply not efficient for studying the great diversity of North American Hexapoda; unfortunately there is still no good choice for an up-to-date compact guide. For exhaustiveness, try picking up a copy of Borror & Delong's.

Even with its faults, I would still recommend picking this one up. The Kaufman guide is a good value, even if it will only be useful for the weekend entomologists out there.

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Many insects are difficult even for the experts to identify. In the new Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America, readers will find a wealth of information on the amazing observable behaviors of insects and their fascinating life histories. Naturalists Kenn Kaufman and Eric R. Eaton use a broad ecological approach rather than overly technical terms, making the book accessible and understandable for everyone. The lively and engaging text emphasizes the insects that are most likely to catch our attention but includes information on all groups that can be recognized. The guide is lavishly illustrated, with more than 2,350 digitally enhanced photographs representing every major group of insects found in North America north of Mexico. Comprehensive yet compact, authoritative yet easy to understand, this is the perfect guide for anyone who wants to know more about the fascinating and diverse insects of North America.

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Learning About and Living With Insects of the Southwest: How to Identify Helpful, Harmful and Venomous Insects Review

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(More customer reviews)the book is just what i wanted......information was a littleshort, but covered the basics.the only thing that could have made it better would be to have had actual pictures of the real species.it wasn't disappointing at all!

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Insects of the Southwest describes over 120 of the most common bugs and "creepy crawlies" you're likely to share your house or yard with from day to day.
Provides interesting and important facts and historical information on the many fascinating insects and arthropods that inhabit the Southwest-the region ranging from Southern California through Arizona to Central Texas, and north into Utah, Colorado and Nevada.
Introduces both adults and children to the wonders of observation-while never needing to go more than a few yards from home. Easy-to-read and understand.
Drawings and text help you learn about and identify these tiny creatures and know the difference between some of the fearsome-looking-but-harmless bugs and those that are venomous. Plus, household "pets and pests" and which bugs are which.
Learn about the Africanized "killer" bee spiders and the real pests they eat, the many varieties of cockroaches, crop pests and "flashy bugs" found in the desert and mountains.
Floyd Werner, Ph.D. and Carl Olson, M.S., entomologists at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, share their affection for the diversity and necessity of all creatures. They'll arm us with a fuller knowledge to help us appreciate and respect the role insects play as the recyclers in nature and even dispell some of the fears and misconceptions many of us have about the earth's most numerous inhabitants.

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Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders Review

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(More customer reviews)The Firefly Encyclopedia series are uniformly excellent.There are several current volumes (Insects & Spiders, Reptiles & Amphibians, and Birds).With luck additional volumes will be added (I'd be especially keen to see one on fishes).The series picks up the tradition started with the David Macdonald's "Encyclopedia of Mammals" by having numerous experts contribute information about the organisms they study.Thus, each species or group of organisms is described by the scientists who know them best.The result is a truly amazing compilation of information about each type of organism.

The Insects and Spiders volume contains information from 23 separate contributors about all types of insects and spider-like creatures.Contents include:

Overview of Arthropods:6 pages
Millipedes and Centipedes:6 pages
Insects, general information:14 pages
Separate sections on (sections without indicated page lengths usually 2-3 pages long):Bristletails, Mayflies, Dragonflies & Damselfies, Cockroaches (4 pages), Termites, Mantids (4 pages), Earwigs, Stoneflies, Crickets & Grasshoppers (12 pages), Leaf & Stick Insects, Booklice and Webspinners, Zorapterans & Thrips, Parasitic Lice, Bugs (16 pages), Snakewings & Alderflies, Lacewings, Beetles (16 pages), Scorpionflies, Fleas, Flies (16 pages), Caddisflies, Butterflies & Moths (24 pages), Wasps & Ants & Bees (24 pages)
Arachnids, general information:4 pages
Spiders:14 pages
Mites & Ticks: 6 pages
Scorpions & other Arachnids:4 pages

The book is lavishly illustrated.There are tons of amazing photographs and lots of beautifully rendered drawings.The text is well written and generally easy to follow.Some sections are fairly technical (I have a Ph.D. in Biology and got lost a few times), but probably 90% or more should be accessible to anyone. I strongly recommend this book for biologists, naturalists, and people interested in wildlife.It would make an excellent gift for a young person (probably junior high +) who likes animals.

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