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Is your garden troubled by cutworms or aphids? Need to know the best method for preventing the spread of viruses among your houseplants? Look no further than Pests and Diseases, the informative guide to the downside of gardening. Sooner or later, everyone's roses are troubled by black spot. Or maybe you haven't been having success treating known problems with chemical solutions. Pests and Diseases will answer all your questions, from prevention methods to lasting damage repair.
The close-up photos in the "identifying" area are certainly helpful, but are not for the squeamish. And it's not just the creepy crawlies that are a little discomforting--shots of full-blown bacterial infections on tree trunks aren't exactly a welcome sight, either. But to ensure healthy lives for their plants, responsible gardeners need to be as familiar with ladybug larvae as they are with lavender. It's better to recognize these problems in the early stages. Treatments discussed focus on organic and biological methods whenever possible. Beer-traps, barriers, and beneficial bugs are all explained in detail, along with reminders that regular weeding and cleanliness aren't just for looks, but for health as well. When chemical solutions are recommended, proper care is emphasized--not just for you, but for the other plants and animals in your garden. Proper techniques for preparation, treatment, storage, and disposal are gone over at length, as well as stern advice to only use these in moderation, and correctly--if they won't solve the problem thoroughly, then they're not worth the risks involved. Thorough and straightforwardly technical, even beginning gardeners will find it possible to tackle tough problems with this intelligent aid. --Jill Lightner
Book Description
The unrivaled practical handbook for the identification, treatment and prevention of plant problems.
Guidance from the experts in the Identification, treatment, and prevention of plant pests, diseases, and disorders. Whether you need to identify a pest, want to know how to prevent plant problems, or are looking for alternatives to pesticides, you will find the answers in AHS Pests & Diseases. How do you know if an insect is beneficial or destructive? AHS Pests & Diseases identifies valuable insects and pest predators as well as the troublemakers. Can you identify a problem if you don't know the name of a plant? The illustrated catalog of plant problems is grouped according to whether leaves, stems, flowers, roots, or fruits are attacked. Simply compare the photographs with the affected part of your plant to find out what is wrong. Is a particular plant susceptible to disease? The A-Z, plant-by-plant listing tells you which particular ailments individual plants are most likely to suffer from. Are pesticides always necessary? Many common problems can be controlled by good gardening practice and simple preventive measures. AHS Pests and Diseases provides authoritative advice on pesticide-free solutions wherever appropriate. AHS Pests & Diseases is the practical handbook gardeners have been waiting for.
Customer Reviews:
Good Reference Text!.......2007-07-16
Thorough listing and descriptions of various pests and diseases with good suggestions of how to handle.
It's okay.......2007-07-12
This is a book for a more experienced gardener. You almost need to be able to look at a plant and know what the disease/infestation might be before finding it in this book. It would be more helpful to have a section with a listing of plants/trees and their susceptabilities. I actually had to look up the plant in another reference book to find out what disease/infestation a certain plant may be susceptible to, then I was able to look that up in this book.
Poor coverage of diseases and pests.......2007-06-12
First off, it's extremely difficult to identify a pest or disease by description alone. By the cover, which showed picture after picture, I thought for sure each disease or insect infestation would have a picture to help with identification. There were only a handful of the many plant diseases and insect damage that one encounters. I ended up using Davesgarden.com for my diagnosis.
NOT QUITE.......2005-08-10
This book does not really give concrete and detailed pest and desease control methods. It does not give any information about chemicals and insecticides for specific problems. It is actually really useless.
Great reference book.......2005-08-07
This book was purchased for a plant pathology and entomolgy class I am taking. This has been completely invaluable as a reference book for any sort of disease or insect identification.
Amazon.com
There are about 100,000 kinds of insects in North America, so obviously they can't have a field guide in the same way the 650 species of birds do: something both portable and complete. The National Audubon Society has produced a remarkably useful compromise. This guide has photographs and descriptions of 550 insect species and 60 kinds of spiders. Most of the families of arthropods on the continent are covered, as are all of the most common species. It's a very useful resource for any North American naturalist, and the best choice for an adult who is not an expert entomologist. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
Spiders, bugs, moths, butterflies, beetles, bees, flies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and many other insects are detailed in more than 700 full-color photographs visually arranged by shape and color. Descriptive text includes measurements, diagnostic details, and information on habitat, range, feeding habits, sounds or songs, flight period, web construction, life cycle, behaviors, folklore, and environmental impact. An illustrated key to the insect orders and detailed drawings of the parts of insects, spiders, and butterflies supplement this extensive coverage.
Customer Reviews:
On par with all the Audobon Guides.......2007-08-30
Very informative like all the Audobon Guides, and lots of photos, which really helps. Only caveat is that I'd like to see them have several volumes to cover ALL insects in North America, as there are too many to cover in just this one guide. Although I am aware that they have separate guides for butterflies.
National AuddubonGuide ;to North American insects &Spiders.......2007-08-11
Absolutely wonderful !!! my dinnette has windows to the West and North, and every morning while having my coffee I find myself referring to it as the butterflies and bees and birds share my lovely flowering trees and bushes...along with the ground squirrels, chip monks, rabbits and multiple birds.....if people could only take their example, it could be a better world.
a good solid field guide.......2007-06-01
As with all the Audubon Field Guides, so with this one: The color photos are the best of the guides; the durable construction with leatherette cover is very good; and the information is generally accurate and descriptive. The index is organized to cross refererence the color plates with the descriptions - it's pretty straight forward when looking up a bug. Yet, the summaries, as in all the Audubon books, are just too brief; this may be the most glaring of its deficiencies. Any future edition could use a fleshing out on the details.
The Audubon books are better than the Stokes and Peterson guides. As a general all round guide, these books have a place in any naturalist's library.
Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts
Good quality guide and colorful images.......2007-05-15
Good quality, very comprehensive book with great color pictures. It could benefit from telling you if the creatires pose any threat to humans or are poisonous, as that's why I bought it!
How to find a spider!.......2006-12-23
I bought this book to look up a particular spider that I get at my house each summer. The book gave me the name and I looked up poison information on the net. The pictures are great and I am very happy with it. This year, we got a different type of spider and this book did not list it, but as a guide to the major varieties, it is the best...
Book Description
Butterflies are among the natural world's most colorful and intriguing creatures, so what could be more useful than a handy field guide with more than 1,000 photographs of all the butterflies of North America north of Mexico, including all true butterflies, the most common skippers, and many migrants and strays. The color plates are visually arranged by shape and color, and thumb-tab silhouettes provide a convenient index to identification of butterflies in the field. The species account for each butterfly provides measurements, descriptions of each stage of the life cycle, and information on coloring or distinguishing markings, flight period, habitat, and range.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Butterfly Guide!.......2007-09-08
The book is so incredibly helpful. We had a butterfly festival at our community garden, and within a few minutes I was able to name all the butterflies we'd seen. I highly recommend this guidebook to anyone who's interested in butterfly watching.
Great field guide!.......2007-08-21
Though it took a bit longer than expected to arrive, i am very pleased. The color photos are great. Some times I wish it had the little map of the US to show the range of the butterflies, but this is not a big deal. Over all a great field guide.
We are so pleased.......2007-08-10
The book is a wealth of information that we wanted, the ordering and delivery could not of been better.
Beautiful butterfly book.......2006-08-18
I loved the book because of the beautiful color pictures,
small size, soft cover, information on the butterflies.
It would be more informative if it had the small United States map
showing each type of butterflies range. I only need info on Minnesota butterflies at this time.
Great help in the field.......2006-08-09
I like this book so much that I gave a copy to my daughter so I could have my own copy back!
Average customer rating:
- Going Blind?
- A Superb Collection ...
- The Ultimate Naturalist
|
Nature Revealed: Selected Writings, 1949-2006
Edward O. Wilson
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
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On Human Nature
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Naturalist
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Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition
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The Future of Life
ASIN: 0801883296 |
Book Description
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson is one of the leading biologists and philosophical thinkers of our time. In this compelling collection, Wilson's observations range from the tiny glands of ants to the nature of the living universe. Many of the pieces are considered landmarks in evolutionary biology, ecology, and behavioral biology. Wilson explores topics as diverse as slavery in ants, the genetic basis of societal structure, the discovery of the taxon cycle, the original formulation of the theory of island biogeography, a critique of subspecies as a unit of classification, and the conservation of life's diversity. Each article is presented in its original form, dating from Wilson's first published article in 1949 to his most recent exploration of the natural world. Preceding each piece is a brief essay by Wilson that explains the context in which the article was written and provides insights into the scientist himself and the debates of the time.
This collection enables us to share Wilson's various vantage points and to view the complexities of nature through his eyes. Wilson aficionados, along with readers discovering his work for the first time, will find in this collection a world of beauty, complexity, and challenge.
Customer Reviews:
Going Blind?.......2007-08-04
Wilson is brilliant and this book contains a wonderful variety of his work in their original form. But why is it reproduced in teeny tiny print? Better buy a magnifying glass too if you want to read everything. Also some articles were originally printed in color so maps and graphs with color coding are lost in black white and gray. I only gave this book two stars for the presentation, not the content.
A Superb Collection ..........2006-06-06
This is a superb collection of over sixty original scientific papers, book extracts and other articles by Ed Wilson, one of the all-time great scientists. Each article is placed into historical context with a new introduction by Wilson. Organized by major theme area rather than chronologically, the book illustrates how Wilson's grander biological theories have been underpinned by a deep, relentless inquisitiveness. Wilson's fascination with the diversity of nature in general and ants in particular really shines through. The production quality of the book is excellent. Even at the full retail price the book is a bargain; the currently discounted Amazon price is astounding. This book is well worth buying even if you have most of the original papers.
The Ultimate Naturalist.......2006-05-17
E.O. Wilson is America's foremost writer on biology, biodiversity, and conservation. (He has two Pulitzer Prizes to prove it.)In "Nature Revealed," we get a look at his most significant writings, just as they appeared in the original journals. This selection gives us a look into the mind of one of today's most brilliant and influential scientists, but it also presents a moving clarification of some of the most important conservation issues facing us today. Everyone who cares about the fate of the earth should read this book.
Average customer rating:
- Agents and Insects
- Interesting
- The Return of a Classic
- Fascinating
- The Hive vs. The Outsiders
|
Hellstrom's Hive
Frank Herbert
Manufacturer: Tor Books
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ASIN: 0765317729
Release Date: 2007-04-03 |
Book Description
In Hellstroms Hive, winner of the 1978 Prix Apollo, Frank Herberts vivid imagination and brilliant view of nature and ecology has never been more evident. America is a police state, and it is about to be threatened by the most hellish enemy in the worldinsects. When the Agency discovered that Dr. Hellstroms Project 40 was a cover for a secret laboratory, a special team of agents was immediately dispatched to discover its true purpose and its weaknessesit could not be allowed to continue. What they discovered was a nightmare more horrific and hideous than even their paranoid government minds could devise.
Customer Reviews:
Agents and Insects.......2007-07-06
This probably worked better as a short story. Hellstrom's Hive is a 1950's, cold war sci-fi tale, nothing more, nothing less. A few grotesque situations in the hive are memorable, the "stumps" for example, but the endless pages of the Agency going through the motions is just plain mind numbing. Pass.
Interesting.......2007-05-30
the blurb is a little misleading, but the book was an overall adventure. It was very action packed and was a real page turner
The Return of a Classic .......2007-05-22
Frank Herbert is one of the all time greatest science fiction writers. He is best known as the author of the Dune series. However, Herbert wrote many other fine works of futuristic literary art. One such is Herbert's 1972 novel Hellstrom's Hive, a new edition of which has just been put out by Tor Books.
Hellstrom's Hive depicts an America that is ruled by a dictatorship. One dissident was a Doctor Nils Hellstrom who created a Project 40 that he persuaded the government to fund, but which Hellstrom was using as a secret laboratory. Upon discovering Hellstrom's duplicity, the dictatorship sends a special team of agents to shut down the lab.
When the agents arrive, they discover that inside the lab there is stuff that places the entire planet's survival in peril. Or it could affect the future evolution of humanity. In any event, it is clear that the mad scientist Dr. Nils Hellstrom has created something truly insane that is nothing short of sick and twisted in its potential effect upon the innocent people of the world.
Readers who try out this forgotten novel will be greatly satisfied by this tale of the future. It is heartily recommended.
Fascinating.......2007-04-06
In Oregon, filmmaking entomologist Nils Hellstrom establishes the human hive in which 50,000 peoplewill live together based on how insects work as a unit regardless of size. The Agency is concerned about the influence of the Hive and has begun spying on the entity especially wanting to steal a metallurgical technology for their personal gain.
Early information proves hard to gather as the agents are easily uncovered by the Hive. Those captured are placed in the dying vats and used as food for the members. Realizing that their first intrusion failed, the Agency sends in a more professional team of experts to learn more about Project 40 and the stunwand.
This is a reprint of an interesting 1980s tale focusing on two societies. Frank Herbert goes deep into the Hive so the audience obtains a discerning look at how humans could behave like the social insects that Nils wants to emulate in order for the members to work together for the common good. Within the Hive, a caste system exists for instance the scientists are out of 1950s B movie monster thrillers with all sorts of physical problems. On the other hand, the Agency remains in the shadows so that the audience knows little about them except their obsession over Project 40 and that they appear to be a secret part of the Feds. Science fiction readers will enjoy the HIVE that wants to spread out and assimilate the Outsiders.
Harriet Klausner
The Hive vs. The Outsiders.......2005-12-01
Core concept: the Hive, led by entomologist and filmmaker Nils Hellstrom, is located in remote Oregon. Population 50,000. They have based their lives and organization on lessons learned from insects. Their dwelling extends far underground.
The conflict: an outside agency, called The Agency, is surveilling the Hive, unaware of the reality and immensity of the Hive. The Agency thinks that Hellstrom has created a new metallurgical process. They hope to discover and leverage the technology for the benefit of those supporting The Agency, though the composition of that group is never detailed.
The Agency sends in several members to spy around Hellstrom's farm. They are captured and put in the vats, which are tanks that Hive members willingly go to at the end of their lives. The purpose of the vats is that these members become food for the rest of the Hive. Needless to say, those captured from The Agency did not willingly go the vats.
So, after this opening, The Agency sends in the "A" team to discover what is really going on.
What is really going on is that Hellstrom's film work is a cover (albeit one to bring in revenue) for Project 40. This is a major weapon system that is an extension of the stunwand, another weapon developed by the Hive scientists. The scientists themselves are pretty cool, with monstrous heads, stunted legs, withered arms, servants to carry them around, and massive intellectual capability.
I'll not go through a blow by blow recap; if it sounds interesting, read it. It is a quick read.
The writing about the Hive is fairly interesting, but never rises to that "this is reaaaally cool" threshold. The writing about the members of The Agency and their lives is booooooooring! Did Herbert mean to be so boring in the details of The Agency?
Project 40 actually only comes into any sort of detail at the very end of the book. The scientists perform a demonstration experiment in which they create a new island in the sea near Japan. How a destructive weapon can be used to create land doesn't make sense, but that is what they do. The story ends in a stalemate between the US government and the Hive, with their Project 40 weapon. Hellstrom's crew has the weapon targeted to destroy several hundred square miles around Washington, DC, if the government attacks the Hive.
The book ends by relaying that because of the destructive potential of Project 40, the Hive had acquired the time and space to continue existing. They would use this time to "swarm" out into the Outsider (their term for normal humans) world in order to assimilate Outsiders and take more of the Earth's surface for the sake of the Hive.
Book Description
View a video on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities"
This book is a work of major importance for the development of environmental and behavioral biology; it covers the classification, evolution, anatomy, physiology, and behavior of the higher social insects--ants, social wasps and bees, and termites. Mr. Wilson reinterprets the knowledge of these insects through the concepts of modern biology, from biochemistry to evolutionary theory and population ecology.
Customer Reviews:
A cult following.......2005-04-23
This book has proven unexpectedly influential in the fields of artificial intelligence and pattern formation---make a bunch of agents which follow one or two simple rules, and they can make generic large-scale structures resembling societies.
It's a fascinating structuralist view of societies: rather than say, a Napoleon (or the queen), ants are ruled by hundreds of mindless actions dictated by enviornment (you and me). History, society is a constant pressure.
It's also brilliantly written and highly informative. This is a book for the ages.
Very complete book.......2003-11-22
This book was over my head (I don't have any sort of biology background, just more of a backyard naturalist who is hungry to learn) but nonethless I appreciate it for all the incredible information documented here. Its a very big book - 550 pages long and seems more like a serious reference text book for the student studying insects. In that context I think it'd be perfect. There are great drawinging, very detailed and indeed pretty too. There are insect family trees, drawing of nests and eggs, etc. I find the information in here fantastic. I enjoyed the chapter on behavior since that was what I originally was interested in learning about. Wilson talks about mazes with blind alleys and other neat things that ants do. Anyway, great book just be prepared for it to be very very technical.
Here are some of the chapters:
- Intro: the importance of societal insects
-degrees of social behavior
-the social wasps
- the ants
-the social bees
- the termites
- the presocial ants
- caste: ants
- caste: social bees and wasps
- caste: termites
- the elements of behavior
- communication: alarm
- communication: recruitment
- comminucation: recognition, food, grooming
- symbiosis
- population dynamics
Very good.......2000-11-15
An outstanding book, very enjoyable. Discusses ants, wasps, bees, termites, etc. A little bit dated now, but it still has one of the best overviews of social insects and their evolution of which I am aware. It is also very readable, with numerous illustrations.
Book Description
Asked to name an insect society, most of us--whether casual or professional students of nature--quickly point to one of the so-called eusocial marvels: the ant colony, the beehive, the termite mound, the wasp nest. Each is awe-inspiring in its division of labor--collective defense, foraging, and nestbuilding. Yet E. O. Wilson cautioned back in 1971 that sociality should be defined more broadly, "in order to prevent the arbitrary exclusion of many interesting phenomena." Thirty-five years later, James T. Costa gives those interesting phenomena their due. He argues that, in trying to solve the puzzle of how highly eusocial behaviors evolved in a few insect orders, evolutionary biologists have neglected the more diverse social arrangements in the remaining twenty-eight orders--insect societies that don't fit the eusocial schema. Costa synthesizes here for the first time the scattered literature about social phenomena across the arthropod phylum: beetles and bugs, caterpillars and cockroaches, mantids and membracids, sawflies and spiders. This wide-ranging tour takes a rich narrative approach that interweaves theory and data analysis with the behavior and ecology of these remarkable groups. This comprehensive treatment is likely to inspire a new generation of naturalists to take a closer look.
Customer Reviews:
The Other Insect Societies.......2007-02-14
Deeply satisfying, well researched, detailed and fascinating review. I recommend it enthusiastically and without reservation.
Book Description
This new edition of the classic handbook describes how to attract butterflies and other beneficial and beautiful insects to your garden.
Butterfly Gardening presents everything the gardener needs to know to create intricate, small-scale ecosystems in an urban or suburban setting that can substitute for the rapidly vanishing habitats that are essential to the survival of butterflies. Contributors to this volume include Miriam Rothschild, an eminent entomologist, avid butterfly gardener, and expert in wildflower conservation, who describes the life cycle of butterflies, how and what they see, and how this relates to "gardening with butterflies." Landscape architect Mary Booth provides imaginative garden designs and easy-to-follow directions for designing and planting. Edward S. Ross, pioneer of close-up nature photography, discusses observing and photographing butterflies.
The book also includes a "Master Plant List" of species that attract butterflies, butterfly food plants listed by geographic region, seed and plant resources, a list of gardening and conservation organizations, and a bibliography of books and periodicals about butterflies.
Customer Reviews:
Too much activist nagging, not enough focus on gardens.......2004-10-09
This was a promising-looking book. It has a good number of very interesting butterfly pictures, attractive diagrams of bedding layouts, and photos of useful flowers. However, I was greatly disappointed by two things.
First, the personalities of the multiple authors intrude too much in the book. Not only do we read too much of "I" this and "my" that, but the potted biographies are sometimes much too long, self-regarding, and irrelevant. Are they promoting butterflies, or themselves?
Second, I quickly got the sense that the butterfly-gardening discussion is really a Trojan horse for environmental activism. It lectures repeatedly at the reader, when the reader feels like saying: "Stop trying to convert me! I bought the book, didn't I? I'm happy and willing to make a garden that butterflies might like, and that should be enough."
The moralizing starts with the preface, and continues with the introduction by E. O. Wilson. Wilson wags his finger at "prideful Homo sapiens," saying that people are mostly "indifferent or repelled by the generality of insects." Apart from stating that Homo sapiens has every reason to be proud of its accomplishments, I would like to add that people have (naturally) feared insects for excellent reasons: mosquitoes bring malaria, the West Nile virus, and other diseases; pests spoil crops and contaminate food; and the bubonic plague, spread by rat fleas in Europe in the mid-1300s, wiped out one-third of the human population. So don't lecture us about how we're just mindlessly prejudiced against insects (or anything else for that matter).
There are several books on this subject currently available. If you are looking for a book by garden-lovers, for the benefit of other garden-lovers, I would advise you to choose one of them. I would certainly recommend Attracting Birds and Butterflies by Barbara Ellis.
Excellent resource..........2001-09-16
BUTTERFLY GARDENING is a collection of interesting essays about butterflies. Chapters cover gardening tips, including an annotated list of plants that attract butterflies, and various other butterfly related topics such as: "What do butterflies see?"; "The struggle to survive"; "The life cycle of the large white butterfly"; and "Moths in the garden at night." If you love butterflies, you will probably enjoy this book but it won't go a long way toward helping you identify the Red Admiral you spotted on the Frikartii Aster yesterday. Another reviewer referred to this as a starter book, but I don't think of it as that at all although it does introduce a number of important topics.
The book includes a few "designs" for butterfly gardens, but they are general, and you would do better to use the garden designs in THE AUDUBON BACKYARD BIRD WATCHER. Let's face it, where the birds are is where their dinner is and dinner for birds is often the larval stage of moths and butterflies. The plant lists in BUTTERFLY GARDENING are adequate. Certainly the best thing to plant is Buddleia..the butterfly bush. This morning I saw three Monarch butterflies on my lavendar flowered Buddleia. The bush also supports a Grandpa Otts morning glory vine which produces flowers that are a dark bluish purple which changes to a purplish magenta. The butterflies were flitting from flower to flower and the color combo was a knockout.
This little book has much to recommend it. From BUTTERFLY GARDENING I learned the value of Parsley for larvae and that no matter how many butterfly boxes one hangs the little critters are visitors not tenants.
best butterfly gardening book!.......2001-08-06
This book actually takes you past the very basic of plant lists (primarily US native plants) and arranging your garden (although it has all that too). It gets into things like a chapter on what butterflies see, their life cycles, butterfly watching tips, conservation, photography,pictures of caterpillars, etc. The photos are fantastic - not just pictures of butteflies on flowers but really close-up pictures of the wings, and butterflies in flight. They also include information on moths which is neat. This book is above and beyond the best book I've seen on butterfly gardening. For those who want to not only attract butterflies but also know what's going on and understand some of their world, this is a great book. I'd buy it all over again!!
Excellent guide book.......2000-09-20
I'm an up and coming butterfly gardener. This book had a great deal of information to share not only regarding what species of flowers to plant, but also about the life cycles of the butterfly and the importance of planting your garden for the entire life cycle - from egg, to caterpillar, to butterfly Discussion focused on butterfly/larva predators and how important they are to the cycle. Tips on photography, particularly in the dark were helpful. The pictures of the butterflies and flowers were exquisite! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the information in it will go a long way in helping me create my dream garden.
A great starter book as well as an advanced resource........1999-12-15
This book gives you comprehensive advice on starting and appreciating a butterfly garden in a small, and easily digestible package. It includes sections on butterfly natural history and identification, garden design, sample garden plans, a plant guide, predators, photography and conservation. It's a great starter book for those interested in creating their own garden but also has a good appendix section for those who want to get a little deeper into the subject. This would make a great gift for someone wanting to start his or her own garden.
Average customer rating:
- amazing
- Wonderful!
- Networks to Socialism, Love and Learn from the Ants
- Fantastic and fun book for everyone from the myrmecologist to the layman...
- Must Read!!! Family Book.
|
Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration
Bert Hölldobler , and
Edward O. Wilson
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
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ASIN: 0674485254 |
Amazon.com
"Look to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise," says the proverb. Bert Hölldobler and E.O. Wilson have joined together to tell how they took this advice and to share the fruits of their wisdom. As Nature said, they "have done for ants what Levi's did for denim." Not just a good-parts version of their magisterial, Pulitzer-winning The Ants, Journey is also a double autobiography--the history of how early enthusiasm developed into an enormously fruitful scientific collaboration. "We, having entered our bug period as children, were blessed by never being required to abandon it," the authors write. Their devotion to their chosen field shines through.
Journey to the Ants gives an outstanding overview of the enormous variety and fascination of myrmecology, from the primitive bulldog ants of Australia to the complexities of weaver ant societies, slave-making ants and agriculture, army ants, and the social parasites concealed within anthills. There is an appendix with practical instructions for collecting individual ants or whole colonies, dead or alive. Hölldobler and Wilson clearly want other children to follow in their footsteps, growing from simple bug love to insights into evolution and society. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
Richly illustrated and delightfully written, Journey to the Ants combines autobiography and scientific lore to convey the excitement and pleasure the study of ants can offer. Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson interweave their personal adventures with the social lives of ants, building, from the first minute observations of childhood, a remarkable account of these abundant insects' evolutionary achievement.
Customer Reviews:
amazing.......2007-08-03
There is few to say that has not been said. It is very well written and the information is mind-boggling.
Wonderful!.......2007-07-09
I loved this book. After reading it I spent the next night telling my wife all I'd managed to remember.
Networks to Socialism, Love and Learn from the Ants.......2007-06-29
As many have said in the reviews and hard to top, this is a book that the whole family can enjoy as it includes instructions at the end on starting an Ant farm. I would however advise just one point for the kids and that is if the smaller kids are reading it by themselves and that is just tell them to skip over the big technical words and they will get just as much a kick out of it as I did. They can learn the technical words as they progress. But WOW ! , what a great book and the vast implications to so many areas from human society to our entire planet as a whole.
I was mostly interested in myrmecology to learn more about network systems and their benefits and implications, but got way more. The more I read of Edward O. Wilson, the more eager and the more desire I have to read further. My only regret is that it took this long to come across both his and others work.
Of note and besides the many enlightening aspects in the book, my favorite insigt is in the first few pages, as paraphrased, "It would appear that socialism really works under some circumstances; Karl Marx just had the wrong species." If that quote interests you, then the rest of the book will too.
Fantastic and fun book for everyone from the myrmecologist to the layman..........2007-05-25
This book is very informative and extremely entertaining, offering a review of the history and landmark findings of myrmecology by two of the field's greatest minds. While it is not nearly as exhaustive as the authors' great tome The Ants, Journey to the Ants carries a momentum that The Ants at times can lack due to its nature as a technical monograph. Part gripping narrative and part academic text, it offers something for anyone with a healthy interest in biology.
Must Read!!! Family Book........2007-02-03
I have the author's award winning, "The Ants" and it is truly the landmark book on all things Ants. But it is big and difficult for a non-scientist to read through. I recommend it, nonetheless. This book, however, is a wonderful distillation of the key points from the bigger book. It was specificilly written to engage a non-expert on the wonderful and amazing creatures called Ants. They succeed admirably in their attempt to impart good science and information about ants, but they succeed even better in their attempt to write an engaging, thrilling, intellectually stimulating book. Everyone who has the slightest appreciation of nature and love of learning will like this book. Adults can read it straight through, younger readers can sample at will, and younger children will love the pictures and short "readings to". This is one of the best non-technical science books I've read.
Amazon.com
For as long as humans have been telling stories about animals, ants have played the role of hard-working, slavish, mindless drudge, the kind of creature that busily prepares for the future without resting or reflecting. But at least one species, writes Stanford University professor Deborah Gordon in this engaging study, slips free of our stereotypes. The harvester ant, an abundant denizen of the Southwestern deserts, seems to live in a society that is based on something like mutual aid, far from the six-legged dictatorships of fable--and, indeed, far from the human models that storytellers and ethologists alike have imposed on ant congregations. Gordon wonders, "If the ants don't work like a miniature human society, how does a group of rather inept little creatures create a colony that gets things done?" She proposes a number of answers in her wide-ranging book, one of which is this: ants get things done by accident, by experimenting with and constantly testing their surroundings to see what there is to eat, and who else is trying to get at it. Gordon writes with good humor about the daily work of studying insects in the intense heat of the desert, noting, "Over the years I have evolved a costume that includes a long-sleeved shirt, a cap with a kind of curtain around its lower edge, and the largest sunglasses I can find. I look rather like an insect myself." Readers approaching her book will find that they learn a lot about ants in the process--and also a lot about how field scientists get things done themselves. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
Individual ants manage their incredibly complex colonies with no one in charge--how do they do it? Ants have long been regarded as the most interesting of the social insects. With their queens and celibate workers, these intriguing creatures have captured the imaginations of scientists and children alike for generations. Yet until now, no one had studied intensely the life cycle of the ant colony as a whole. An ant colony has a life cycle of about fifteen years--it is born, matures, and dies. But the individual ants that inhabit the colony live only one year. So how does this system of tunnels and caves in the dirt become so much more than the sum of its parts? Leading ant researcher Deborah Gordon takes the reader to the Arizona desert to explore this question. The answer involves the emerging insights of the new science of complexity, and contributes to understanding the evolution of life itself.
Customer Reviews:
Learned More About People.......2007-05-29
This book I found in a used book store, under a table, in San Luis Obispo, CA. Somehow, it jumped out at me (like all good books do -- they seem to choose their own readers).
I found this to be fascinating! Ms. Gordon and her colleagues went to an enormous amount of work to gather the data, and she compliled it in a most interesting way. It was intriguing to me how ants mange their colony lives, with foraging and hunting, etc. Also how ants cooperate primarily by some sort of chemical process, one that can change as conditions vary.
The graph of colony population vs. age was especially interesting. It shows a real-life application of the Logistics Function. Who would ever have thought such a thing would apply to an Ant Colony, of all things???? But it does. Remarkable.
Mostly, though, the analysis of ant colonies seems to have many parallels to human organizations. Like, at a theme park, why do people go stand in long lines at McD's, when an equal-caliber establishment -- right next door -- has very few customers? Or how is it that organizations such as factories really work? And on and on.
I'm really glad I found this book. It will be in my collection permanently, and I will read it again in the future.
Ants Procrastinate??.......2005-06-30
Yes, sometimes ants work hard. They ALWAYS look like they work hard - until you look real closely - and maybe put up a few roadblocks.
Deborah Gordon spent 17 summers virtually memorizing the same 25 acres in Arizona with her students, fooling around with about 300 colonies of harvester ants. She chose them for the scientific reason that they were big enough to see without glasses.
They are efficient? On page 105, Gordon includes a delightful excerpt from Mark Twain about ants. "They pick up something too large, go over obstructions instead of around, when and if they finally drag the prize into the nest, half the time it's worthless and has to be dragged off by midden workers," - the garbage collectors of antdom.
They are subservient to the queen? "Look to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways and be wise: Which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, Provides her meat in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest." Proverbs 6:6. Gordon agrees with the good book...there is no guiding force. They just seem to know what to do and frequently change jobs as needed.
They have an elaborate means of communication? Not that we can see. Their eyesight is poor and they communicate by touching antennaes, and by sensing perhaps 12 different chemicals on each other.
At 4:30 AM Gordon et al get up, eat breakfast, and take a 20 minute trip out of the mountains to the site, where they set up the experiment they have agonized over, or analyze the one in progress. Before noon, as the heat sets in, they go back up the mountain and the ants go back into their mound - their foraging done, and the ant watchers' practical jokes accomplished and recorded. The rest of the day is spent tabulating and analyzing data and dreaming up new tricks in order to tease out more secrets of anthood.
Gordon's process is a good example of the tedious, meticulous work of science. As she developed her data of the mindless pseudo-efficiency of an ant colony, a correllation occured to me about the self organization of stem cells as they differentiate, specialize, and mindlessly create a living entity, guided by only partially known processes (admittedly not a perfect analogy).
This is a good read, an easy read and refreshingly out of the ordinary.
You should read this book if..........2002-07-13
I'm a bit surprised by some of the negative comments about this book, because they seem to have missed its point. This isn't a formal presentation of the author's research. It therefore lacks many details, does not review the full range of other relevant literature, and it has not been honed by a committee of reviewers. What it DOES do is to give the reader who doesn't know anything about ants a very readable narrative account of how one might go about finding out something about them. This book is as much about how to apply the scientific method to the messy world of animal behavior as it is about ants in particular. Gordon's account of how to do that seems to have been mistaken by some as self indulgence. If you're looking for a detailed account of ants, you should see Holldobler and Wilson's 700+ page "The Ants." If you want an introduction to what's interesting about ants and how people go about studying them, Gordon's book is a great read.
A whole world opens before your eyes.......2002-05-25
I LOVE this book. What a rare peek over the shoulder of a true scientist with an inquisitive mind and appreciation for the art and beauty of science, applied to these tiny but incredibly interesting creatures. Within the same nest reside 5 or more ant types based on function. In that nest, some live up to 20 years while others "don't live long enough to EVER eat." I will never look at ants the same. Thank you for an insightful and wonderful story that makes life worth living.
All Work and No Play...........2001-04-01
A book that reads like a thesis is never any fun. Ants at Work takes an interesting premise(Ant colonies are not run with any central organization but on a series of interactions within the society) and then proceeds to suck all the life out of it! Filled with graphs and the mind-numbing detail about how the experiments were laid out, Gordon describes a process that was as painful to read as it was to perform. The science seems valid and for that I commend the author, but where's the wit to lighten the burden of all this research. With few illustrations to break up the monotony, this book will be a bore for all but the most studious of entomologists.
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- An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits (Chapman & Hall/Crc Mathematical and Computational Biology Series)
- Apoptosis: The Life and Death of Cells (Developmental & Cell Biology Series)
- Aquatic Photosynthesis: Second Edition
- Aquatic Photosynthesis: Second Edition
- Bacteria for Breakfast: Probiotics for Good Health
- Beekeeping for Dummies
- Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes (Better Homes & Gardens)
- Biological Investigations Lab Manual
- Biology: A Guide to the Natural World
- Biology, Sixth Edition
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