Extraordinary Insects

There are 200 million insects for every person on Earth. They live everywhere—deep in caves, high in the Himalayas, in the hot springs of Yellowstone, and even in the nostrils of walruses. And they are surprisingly diverse—there are insects with ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Yet in the same time that the Earth’s population has doubled, the number of insects has halved. Most of us don’t see this as a problem, believing that life would be better without them. In fact, life without insects is impossible.

We know that without honeybees we wouldn’t have honey, but few people know that without the tiny chocolate midge there would be no cocoa or chocolate. That a fly larva can clean wounds, and a mealworm larva can digest plastic. That the fruit fly has been involved in research experiments that have won six Nobel Prizes, and that several species of beetles have played an important role in the development of antibiotics.

“Sting, Buzz, Bite” is a witty and informative introduction to the world of insects. Anne Sverdrup-Tygeson enthusiastically tells about creatures that at first glance seem scary and unnecessary, but are actually indispensable to the ecosystem: they pollinate flowers, provide food for other animals, and contain the spread of harmful organisms. This book is about how much we - and our planet as a whole - depend on tiny insects.