Book Review - Life in the Undergrowth
As I mentioned before, I have had the chance lately to get a bit of reading done. While wandering through a used bookstore some time ago, I picked up a copy of Life in the Undergrowth. When I finally received some time to get some reading done, I sat down and went through it.
This is a very entertaining book. If you like insects, and you enjoy watching shows typical of Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel, this book is for you.
It is intended to supplement the television show presented by the BBC of the same name. The book reads very much like one of those shows, which IMHO is good in some ways and bad in some ways.
On the good side, the book is very entertaining. The writing style is gripping and keeps you very interested. Typical with these types of shows, the books moves from one type of insect to another - while explaining some of the fascinating aspects of each.
In particular, I enjoyed reading the history of many different types of invertebrates - when they first appeared and why. This is a great book for appreciating the intricacies of nature and I think it’s almost impossible to read any book about insects and not learn something due to the huge amount there is to learn.
On the negative side, I often found myself asking more questions that the book did not cover. I prefer books that cover a subject in depth and this one did not. It is meant to entertain and give a good overview to the insect world. It does not give a wide amount of information for any one species.
The audience for this book is clearly individuals who are not very familiar with the insect world and just want to be entertained. For entomologist or those who have read a good number of books about insects already (such as myself) it is a bit less interesting.
Therefore, if you don’t know much about the insect world around you, I highly recommend this book. It does not contain technical details, is very entertaining, and will give you a good appreciation of the insect world. If you are not new to insects, I recommend instead that you just watch the television series - though the book is worth a read if you find it in your local library.
Related posts:
- Book Review: Light Science & Magic Nelya often gets upset at me because I often prefer to buy books rather than get them from the library. With the exception of technical books for work - which go out of date quickly - I prefer to buy books and read them over long periods of time than...
- Book Review - For Love of Insects If you want to photograph insects, it is always a good idea to learn more about them. For that reason, I have tried to read a book on them whenever I read a photography book. For those who are curious what the life of an entomologist is truly like, this...
- Book Review - Understanding Shutter Speed Since I had some time off due to the snow here, I took the time to read several books. One book that I had been wanting to read for some time is Understanding Shutter Speed by Bryan Peterson. Since reading Understanding Exposure by the same author, I had been anxious...
- Book review - Take Your Photography to the Next Level While waiting for my 5D Mark II to arrive, I have been reading a number of books. I have also been learning Turkish, but that is the subject of another conversation. In particular, I have been trying to learn how to better compose my pictures. I noticed this book in...
- Book Review - The Photographer’s Eye I have read quite a few photography books and, while most are helpful, in truth most of them do not deserve a place on my book shelf. It would have been perfectly find to borrow them from the library, read them, and return them. This book is one of the...
Tags: book, entomology, insect, invertebrate, life in the undergrowth, review