Average customer rating:
- A very easy to read and informative book
- This book is very good for any beginner or anyone just interested in beekeeping.
- Beekeeping for Dummies is awesome!!
- Cannot wait to get started
- recommended reading
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Beekeeping for Dummies
Howland Blackiston
Manufacturer: For Dummies
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Similar Items:
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The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden
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Hive Management: A Seasonal Guide for Beekeepers
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Beekeeping: A Practical Guide
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A Book of Bees: And How to Keep Them
ASIN: 0764554190 |
Book Description
Believe it or not, bees are one of the oldest species of domesticated animals. Archeologists have found evidence of beekeeping, or apiculture, in the Middle East dating back more than five thousand years. If you’ve ever tasted good clover honey, it’s not hard to understand why. But it’s not just for the honey that more than 125,000 people (and growing) in the United States, alone, keep hives. Anyone interested in nature can’t help but be fascinated by those buzzing yellow bundles of energy and the exotic world they inhabit, with all its weird rituals and incredible efficiency. Also, dedicated gardeners appreciate the extra bounty that pollinating bees bring to their fruits, flowers, and vegetable gardens.
In this easy-to-follow guide, Howland Blackiston, one of the nation’s most respected authorities on the subject, takes the mystery (and the sting) out of beekeeping. Taking a step-by-step approach to successful backyard beekeeping, he gets you up and running with all the information you need to:
- Build a hive
- Establish your first colony
- Inspect your hives with confidence
- Maintain healthy colonies
- Deal with pests and fix common problems
- Harvest and enjoy fresh homemade honey
- Bottle and market your honey
Howland Blackiston covers all the bases, from bee anatomy, society, and behavior, to identifying and healing common illnesses afflicting bees. He also offers inventive solutions to most common and many uncommon problems you’re likely to run into. Among other things, you’ll discover:
- Where to put your hive, basic equipment you’ll need, and how to assemble a hive
- The best and safest way to inspect and enjoy your bees
- Year-round tasks a beekeeper must perform to maintain a healthy colony
- How to recognize and deal with common problems with brood production and the precious queen
- How to harvest honey and decide what kind of honey you’d like to make
- Making products from beeswax and propolis
For both fun and profit, beekeeping has become a booming enterprise. A real honey of a book, Beekeeping For Dummies gets you on the road to enjoying this ancient, highly-rewarding, and oh-so-tasty hobby.
Customer Reviews:
A very easy to read and informative book.......2007-10-09
This is a very good and easy to read book and I believe you will learn a lot and enjoy reading it!
This book is very good for any beginner or anyone just interested in beekeeping........2007-09-30
After you get started you'll soon realize that there is a lot of information not in this book, so I think you'll naturally go out to seek for more knowledge, I know I did! For getting people interested and well informed this is a fantastic resource! Couple this will a membership in a local bee club and a saving account for more books, videos, and magazine subscription and your well on your way in wonderful world of beekeeping!
Beekeeping for Dummies is awesome!!.......2007-07-25
I'm new to the world of beekeeping and this book has got to be one of the best resources available. I would definently recommend it for beekeeper of all experience.
Cannot wait to get started.......2007-07-11
I loved the book and cannot wait to get started. Unfortunately, I will have to wait till Spring 2008. The book is very inspiring.
recommended reading.......2007-07-11
There is not a single "tell all" book for beginner beekeepers, however this is a must in the beginner library. My recommendations are
#1 Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston
#2 Beekeeping-A Practical Guide by Richard Bonney
#3 Hive Management by Richard Bonney
in that order.
Product Description
Aquatic Biology and Natural History are subjects of interests to many, whether they be related to one's vocational education, one's avocation, or purely to one's appreciation for the living order of the world. This book has been written not only for entomologists, ecologists, and students of aquatic entomology, but also for sport fishermen, naturalists, and environmental assessment specialists. For those who may not have some vested interested in nature and ecology, this book will provide a pictorial introduction to some of the most fascinating life forms on earth and, hopefully, "wet" the appetite for understanding the aquatic insects, their environment, and their relationship to human life.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent insects!.......2007-02-12
I am very pleased with this text, as an up and coming fisheries biologist, I hope to use it in my future.
book review.......2006-02-25
This book is very detailed and gives accurate descriptions of all aquatic insects. The pictures with in each chapter also depict what the specimen look like. With all the information on the aquatic insects that is provide by this book it would be hard to believe that there is a better book out there.
Buy it for the pictures.......2005-08-16
This book is amazingly beautiful. The illustrations alone make it worth the money. As an aquatic entomologist who teaches an aquatic entomology lab to college students, I find this book to be an invaluable source of high quality images for use in my classes. The pictorial keys are also very helpful - they are very easy to follow and make it almost a simplistic task for a lay person to identify aquatic insects down to the family level. Some of these keys are a little outdated since publication of the book, but they are still helpful for the most part.
My only complaint with this book is that it doesn't go into as much scientific detail as is necessary for a serious student of entomology. Still, this isn't meant to be a textbook or an identification manual for complex identifications lower than the family level. If the book is used as intended by fishermen and ecologists, this is a very helpful book.
And did I mention the ilustrations are amazing?
Aquatic Entomology.......2005-08-10
This is a must have for fly fishermen looking to study entomology as it applies to fishing and fly tying. I saw this book at my local Orvis store (reference only) and one look told me I needed it in my library. The plates and drawings are fantastic. This is a detailed study, but not over the head of most fly fishermen. Match it with Gary Lafontaine's "Caddisflies", Shane Stalcup's "Mayflies - Top to Bottom" and/or Dave Hugh's "Matching Mayflies" and you have the start of a good entomology library for fly fishermen.
Aquatic Entomology even has sections marked by a small image of a tied fly, which are of special interest to the fisherman. Get this book!!
An oldie, but goodie..........2004-12-17
The book is now quite old. There have been several regroupings at the family level since this book has been published so even if you use it correctly, you can incorrectly identify insects. Also, if you are serious about identifying aquatic insects, the family-level keys of this book are insufficient to give your work credibility. Those are the two problems with this book... 1- it is a little out of date AND 2- it is a limited tool for identifying organisms.
All that aside, it is a very good book to teach the CONCEPTS of taxonomy to students. The keys have nice flow charts that teach students to make the kinds of decisions that they need identify insects.
Does it have legs? Or not?
Does it have wings? Or not?
Does it have one claw? Or two?
The keys use pictures so that the process does not become bogged down in terminology. Thus I highly recommend it to teachers and to parents that are helping there child build their own entomology collection. I keep a copy for work shops.
The color plates in the back are beautiful and help convey the appearance of specimens in life. Most of the book has nice grey-scale illustrations.
The Author is a mayfly specialist... one of THE mayfly specialists in the world...
If you are interested in this book there are other titles you may find interesting. Try Reese Voshell's book if you are interested in teaching insects to older kids, or for watershed monitoring groups. [2002: A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America]; it also contains lots of interesting ecologic information.
If you are interested general taxonomy of aquatic insects, try Merritt and Cummins 1996 [An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America]. It provides the best keys to genus-level for most insects. But be aware that a new edition should be out in 2 years or so... this book is not real friendly if you have not had a college-level entomology... but i heard a rumor that that there will be a nice glossary in the new edition that should make it more accessible...
of course not all aquatic invertebrates are insects... if you are interested in these critters (amphipods, snails, etc) try Thrope and Covich 2002 [Ecology and Classification of Freshwater Invertebrates]
Note that, for genus-level-taxonomy, the last two books will require access to a medium to High-quality dissecting microscope and may require a compound microscope. The Books by McCafferty and by Voshell do not require as much magnification...
If you would like further information you can email me and I will be glad to help. brett@thebugguy.org
Book Description
Meticulously researched and illustrated with color photographs,
Insects is a landmark reference book that is ideal for any naturalist or entomologist. To enhance exact identification of insects, the photographs in this encyclopedic reference were taken in the field -- and are not pinned specimens.
Insects enables readers to identify most insects quickly and accurately. The more than 50 pages of picture keys lead to the appropriate chapter and specific photos to confirm identification. The keys are surprisingly comprehensive and easy for non-specialists to use.
Insects features:
- Detailed chapters covering all insect orders and the insect families of eastern North America
- A brief examination of common families of related terrestrial arthropods
- 4,000 color photographs illustrating typical behaviors and key characteristics
- 28 picture keys for quick and accurate insect identification
- Three indexes -- common family names, photographs, general index
- Expert guidance on observing, collecting and photographing insects.
Almost 80 percent of all named animal species are insects and closely related arthropods. This book is required reading for anyone interested in entomology.
Customer Reviews:
Great for Novice and Advanced Entomologists Alike.......2007-09-06
The descriptions of each insect family and the many color photos of representatives of each family are interesting and memorable. This book gave me a fun overview of most insect families, and has a nice picture key that is much easier to use than conventional keys. I am a novice to insects, but as I learn more and more, I have no doubt that I will continue turning back to this book with its wealth of information and photos. This book is truly an intellectual gem - fun to read, and packed with interesting information. A MUST-HAVE for anyone interested in insects.
A top basic reference pick for serious science libraries........2007-05-08
Stephen A. Marshall's INSECTS: THEIR NATURAL HISTORY AND DIVERSITY isn't for the general-interest holding so much as the college-level collection catering to entomologists or students of such. Insects of Eastern North America are the focus in a jam-packed colorful reference displaying insects within their order and including notes on their introduction, habitats, coloring and more. It's the professional's solid reference to identification and habits, making it a top basic reference pick for serious science libraries.
Great Reference.......2007-05-07
My wife and I have a landscaping company and teach gardening. I have been looking for a complete book insects, not just the problem ones. This book has great pictures of the life cycle of the insect not just the adult or larve. Another great book is Garden Insects of North America by Whitney Cranshaw.
Very Happy Customer.......2007-01-09
The book arrived in a timely manner, and was in perfect (new) condition. It was purchased for a Christmas gift, the person receiving it was happy, too! It's an excellent book, well worth the price!! Lots of photographs and information to aid in identifying insects. The best part is that Amazon had this book for sale 20 to 30 dollars less than the first place I has seen it for sale.
Beautifully Photographed Book.......2007-01-04
I bought this book for my entomologist husband and was very impressed with the book.
Book Description
Garden Insects of North America is the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide to the common insects and mites affecting yard and garden plants in North America. In a manner no previous book has come close to achieving, through full-color photos and concise, clear, scientifically accurate text, it describes the vast majority of species associated with shade trees and shrubs, turfgrass, flowers and ornamental plants, vegetables, and fruits--1,420 of them, including crickets, katydids, fruit flies, mealybugs, moths, maggots, borers, aphids, ants, bees, and many, many more. For particularly abundant bugs adept at damaging garden plants, management tips are also included. Covering all of the continental United States and Canada, this is the definitive one-volume resource for amateur gardeners, insect lovers, and professional entomologists alike.
To ease identification, the book is organized by plant area affected (e.g., foliage, flowers, stems) and within that, by taxa. Close to a third of the species are primarily leaf chewers, with about the same number of sap suckers. Multiple photos of various life stages and typical plant symptoms are included for key species. The text, on the facing page, provides basic information on host plants, characteristic damage caused to plants, distribution, life history, habits, and, where necessary, how to keep "pests" in check--in short, the essentials to better understanding, appreciating, and tolerating these creatures.
Whether managing, studying, or simply observing insects, identification is the first step--and this book is the key. With it in hand, the marvelous microcosm right outside the house finally comes fully into view.
- Describes more than 1,400 species--twice as many as in any other field guide
- Full-color photos for most species--more than five times the number in most comparable guides
- Up-to-date pest management tips
- Organized by plant area affected and by taxa for easy identification
- Covers the continental United States and Canada
- Provides species level treatment of all insects and mites important to gardens
- Illustrates all life stages of key garden insects and commonly associated plant injuries
- Concise, clear, scientifically accurate text
- Comprehensive and user-friendly
Customer Reviews:
Very Helpful.......2007-10-03
one shouldn't take this book lightly, it is a large and heavy tome with lots of great information and photos. i think that the author, whitney cranshaw, did a great job in how he presents the information. one bit that i would have liked to have is distribution map. information is given about distribution, but i like to have maps too.
i would have enjoyed even more information on each insect he covers, but that would make the book at least twice it's size. that probably wouldn't work at it is already 656 pages long.
it would also be neat if this author could do books on different regions of our country in this format.
Garden Insects of North America.......2007-07-30
Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs (Princeton Field Guides)
Excellent reference guide. I'm a Master Gardener and it is frequently used when we either have a question of our own or from a Help Line caller. I liked it enough that I felt I needed my own personal copy for home and consulting use.
Wonderful Book for Any Gardener!.......2007-07-01
This book is truly amazing, and seems to be a very comprenehsive reference. I am still a 'budding' gardener, and all-too-often, I find myself in need of identifying a garden pest so that I can eradicate it properly.
What I love most about this book is that it has pictures of so many different types of the same bug, as well as the different life stages of the bus (for example, it has over 68 different pictures of numerous types of aphids, the different stages, and what the infected plant's symptoms may show). Additionally, the pictures are clearly labeled!
I'm thrilled with this book, and I'm sure I will use it for many, many years to come!
YOU GET YOUR MONIES WORTH WITH THIS ONE!.......2007-04-13
They really don't make one volume books on a given subject much better than this one. Now do keep in mind that one book simply cannot cover every single insect, bug or critter that plague a garden or orchard, but this one comes pretty close. The photographs are wonderful and not only give clear pictures of the adult insect, but also in it's various stages of growth, from egg on up. I am constantly turning to this work for the help I need. Other than using it for my garden and orchard, I also photograph insects and other small creatures and plants for a hobby. Many of these insects are quite difficult to identify and I find myself turning to this volume more and more for initial identification before I grab a more detailed text type book. The written descriptions are quite accurate as is the other information, such as living conditions, geographical locations, life cycle, etc. If you must purchase only one book covering the subject, then this is the one you want. Recommend this one highly.
Best book out there for IDing insects.......2007-01-11
Being a Master Gardener I'm often called upon to identify a garden invader. There are many book available but none have proven adequate. This book does the job well. The photos of the insects in all stages is of great value. This book is divided into sections so that you can research by type of damage or plant being effected. It gives a brief biology lesson and also has a chapter on the "good guys." I'd say this is a must for any gardener. All my friends who have seen it are ordering one for themselves.
Book Description
This lavishly illustrated guide will enable you to identify the caterpillars of nearly 700 butterflies and moths found east of the Mississippi. The more than 1,200 color photographs and two dozen line drawings include numerous exceptionally striking images. The giant silk moths, tiger moths, and many other species covered include forest pests, common garden guests, economically important species, and of course, the Mescal Worm and Mexican Jumping Bean caterpillars. Full-page species accounts cover almost 400 species, with up to six images per species including an image of the adult plus succinct text with information on distribution, seasonal activity, foodplants, and life history. These accounts are generously complemented with additional images of earlier instars, closely related species, noteworthy behaviors, and other intriguing aspects of caterpillar biology.
Many caterpillars are illustrated here for the first time. Dozens of new foodplant records are presented and erroneous records are corrected. The book provides considerable information on the distribution, biology, and taxonomy of caterpillars beyond that available in other popular works on Eastern butterflies and moths. The introductory chapter covers caterpillar structure, life cycles, rearing, natural enemies, photography, and conservation. The section titled "Caterpillar Projects" will be of special interest to educators.
Given the dearth of accessible guides on the identification and natural history of caterpillars, Caterpillars of Eastern North America is a must for entomologists and museum curators, forest managers, conservation biologists and others who seek a compact, easy-to-use guide to the caterpillars of this vast region.
- A compact guide to nearly 700 caterpillars east of the Mississippi, from forest pests to garden guests and economically important species
- 1,200 color photos and 24 line drawings enable easy identification
- Full-page species accounts with image of adult insect for almost 400 species, plus succinct text on distribution and other vital information
- Many caterpillars illustrated here for the first time
- Current information on distribution, biology, and taxonomy not found in other popular works
- A section geared toward educators, "Caterpillar Projects"
- An indispensable resource for all who seek an easy-to-use guide to the caterpillars of this vast region
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful pictures, detailed descriptions........2007-08-23
Super. Beautiful photos and very detailed, and the photo of the adult is also very helpful. My only complaint would be trying to locate a specific caterpiller, some sort of indexing based upon size, color, spines, hairs, etc would be helpful (I'm thinking something along the lines of what is done in "Weeds of the Northeast" (Comstock Books)). Overall an exceptional book.
To Squash or Not to Squash.......2007-05-25
I've waited a long time for a book like this! The photos and descriptions have great detail. Identification is easy enough to be used by a young person and scientific enough to satisfy a professor.
Guides to butterflies and moths seldom contain pictures of the caterpillars of the adult stage insect. This book has pictures of both.
I think having a book like this (are there any others?) is essential for someone who spends time in the garden, or any natural environment.
Now I can know what is living in my garden and eating my plants before I decide to squash or not to squash it.
THEY REALLY DO NOT GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS.......2007-04-13
This is probably one of the most useful and complete field guides, in any category, I have ever used. The 1000 plus photographs alone, are of such quality that they become almost works of art. Clear and very usable. I do a tremendous amount of photography of wildlife, flowere, insects, snakes, and all sorts of other critters. This is one of the field guides I always have handy, as it makes identification so very, very much easier. The book is well designed in that it is rather easy to find what you are looking for. Like another reviewer, I might suggest you go ahead and get the hard cover as it will last longer and this is certainly a book you will be using a lot if this is in an area of your interest. I do wish that all field guides, not matter what genre, could be of this quality and usefulness. Recommend this one quite highly.
Best for this subject.......2007-01-04
This book is great for working with in the field, very helpful with identification.
Must have field guide!.......2007-01-04
Very clear pictures and descriptions. Perfect guide for gardeners, bug people and anyone curious in the out of doors where we always see these guys. Great Job!
Customer Reviews:
Great for any of your gardening friends!.......2001-11-28
This is a great Chrstimas present for any of you who have gardening friends. I loved it! It's also a great coffee table book.
Average customer rating:
- Going Blind?
- A Superb Collection ...
- The Ultimate Naturalist
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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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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.
Book Description
While cultural and scholarly traditions have led us to believe that war and control of nature are separate, there are many more similarities than most people might suspect. Tracing the history of chemical warfare and pest control, Edmund Russell shows how war and control of nature coevolved. Ideologically, institutionally, and technologically, the paths of chemical warfare and pest control intersected repeatedly in the twentieth century. War and Nature helps us to understand the impact of war on nature and vice versa, as well as the development of total war, and the rise of the modern environmental movement. Edmund Russell is an assistant professor in the Division of Technology, Culture, and Communication in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. This is his first book.
Customer Reviews:
creative synthesis.......2003-05-01
In War and Nature Edmund Russell, Associate Professor of Technology, Culture, and Communication at the University of Virginia, cleverly traces the interaction between chemical warfare and pest control from World War I to the Vietnam War. His central thesis is that war and control of nature have coevolved: "the control of nature expanded the scale of war, and war expanded the scale on which people controlled nature" (p. 2). Following up on his dissertation (University of Michigan, 1993), which won the Rachel Carson Prize from the American Society for Environmental History, Russell culled a wide variety of recently declassified U.S. government documents, business publications, and contemporary books and articles. Russell finds that World Wars I and II and the Cold War forged close ties between military and scientific institutions, and efforts to maintain such links became hallmarks of the post-World War II era. Scientifically and technologically, pest control and chemical warfare each created knowledge and tools that reinforced the other (p. 4) For example, on the eve of World War I, there were few U.S. chemical companies. They manufactured primarily low-profit bulk chemicals. In contrast, Germany had the best chemical factories and schools and had the largest output of sophisticated products. Eight German companies made up almost 80 percent of the world's dyes (p. 18). However, the increased use of mustard and chlorine gas in the war boosted the demand by European allies for these chemicals from the United States. The "Chemical Warfare Service" was created within the U.S. Army to employ civilian chemists to conduct research on war gases. This research also stimulated the invention of new insecticides to deal with such menaces as the boll weevil (attacking cotton crops), house fly (spreading typhus), the San Jose scale (damaging fruit trees), and mosquitoes (spreading malaria).
The use of chemicals in warfare is not new. Interestingly, Russell points out that the first recorded use of poison gas was in 428 BC, when Spartans besieging Plataea attempted to kill its defenders by burning wood soaked in pitch and sulfur under city walls (p. 4). However, chemical warfare increased throughout the twentieth century. According to Russell, at least 90,000 people were killed in World War I by gas, and estimated 350,000 were killed by gas in World War II, not including all the victims in Hitler's gas chambers. Even these figures seem low. Russell skillfully shows through cartoons how federal entomologists and chemists used insects in their propaganda as metaphors for human enemies. One cartoon depicts a conversation between two worms, one of them exclaiming: "What! Me sabotage that guy's victory garden? What do you take me for-a Jap? (p. 100)."
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 sought to exclude gas from warfare and define the rights of combatants. Public outrage at the use of chemicals as weapons of war continued to mount. After World War II, the Chemical Warfare Service and other chemical companies lobbied Congress vigorously, stressing the need to develop war gases as insecticides, for which increased funding was required. Noted chemists testified before Congress, claiming also that chemical and biological warfare was "more humane" than conventional warfare. According to Russell, who interviewed several of these chemists, Chief Chemical Officer William Creasy inanely argued in 1958 that 25,000 American casualties on Iwo Jima could have been avoided had the U.S. military employed chemical weapons (p. 208). Miracle "psychochemicals" were promoted, such as LSD-25 that could temporarily incapacitate troops but not permanently harm them. Russell cites a US Army propaganda film produced in 1958 in which a cat chased and caught a mouse, inhaled an unnamed gas, and then cowered from another mouse (p. 208). This publicity campaign persuaded Pentagon authorities to increase the U.S. Army's budget to $80,000,000 for chemical research.
Research to fight insects increased simultaneously with the development of chemicals to fight humans. As thousands of families moved to the suburbs in the 1950s, gardening became a popular hobby and stimulated the desire for pest control. Pesticide manufacturers such as Du Pont and Dow increased their marketing to this group of consumers, while federal crop dusting programs using DDT were initiated.
Russell shows how Rachel Carson's publication of Silent Spring in 1962 galvanized the American environmental movement, leading eventually to the ban on DDT in 1972. This immediate bestseller detailed the noxious effects of DDT on plants and animals and characterized pest control as a self-defeating form of warfare (p. 229).
Reading this book, one is struck by the immense irony of the twentieth century and the causal interaction of peace and war. Never before have so many human lives been saved (thanks to pesticides killing disease-carrying insects and increasing crop yields) and so many destroyed (mostly due to incendiaries, but also chemical weapons). Americans got better at saving lives partly because they got better at taking them, and vice versa. While War and Nature is almost too dazzling in its rich detail and sometimes a bit careless in its logic (e.g. implying that human beings should not be considered part of nature), the book breaks new ground in its connection of two traditionally disparate fields of inquiry, environmental and military history. It should be required reading in college courses in both security studies and environmental science.---Johanna Granville, Ph.D. (Stanford University)
angels and insects.......2002-10-01
World War I was just the beginning of an ongoing cultural and scientific process in which chemical based weapons were created and marketed for use against human and insect enemies. Russell reminds us that the cultural, institutional, and political evolution of twentieth century science and warfare in the United States began not with the J. Robert Oppenheimer and the physicists of Los Alamos but with chemists like James B. Conant and his colleagues at Harvard and American University, emergent corporations like Dupont and the Hooker Company, and government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the United States Chemical Warfare Service. With an eye for detail and a witty and readable narrative style, the author assembles scientific papers, declassified governmental and military planning documents, trade journals, and propaganda and advertising literature to reshape our understanding not only of the role of chemistry in warfare, but more importantly the reflexive nature of our understanding and relation to both technology and nature during times of peace.
Book Description
From the rain forests of Borneo to the tenements of Manhattan, winged insects are a conspicuous and abundant feature of life on earth. Here, Robert Dudley presents the first comprehensive explanation of how insects fly. The author relates the biomechanics of flight to insect ecology and evolution in a major new work of synthesis.
The book begins with an overview of insect flight biomechanics. Dudley explains insect morphology, wing motions, aerodynamics, flight energetics, and flight metabolism within a modern phylogenetic setting. Drawing on biomechanical principles, he describes and evaluates flight behavior and the limits to flight performance. The author then takes the next step by developing evolutionary explanations of insect flight. He analyzes the origins of flight in insects, the roles of natural and sexual selection in determining how insects fly, and the relationship between flight and insect size, pollination, predation, dispersal, and migration. Dudley ranges widely--from basic aerodynamics to muscle physiology and swarming behavior--but his focus is the explanation of functional design from evolutionary and ecological perspectives.
The importance of flight in the lives of insects has long been recognized but never systematically evaluated. This book addresses that shortcoming. Robert Dudley provides an introduction to insect flight that will be welcomed by students and researchers in biomechanics, entomology, evolution, ecology, and behavior.
Customer Reviews:
Great coverage, but written for specialists.......2004-02-28
This book has something of a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. A reader who is comfortable reading research literature on insects will find an organized, thoroughly documented and well-balanced summary of current knowledge of insect flight. Unfortunately, Dudley is one of those scholars whose writing is saturated with technical jargon and complex sentences, even when simpler English could make the same point. So while the content is great, reading this work is the mental equivalent of hiking through knee-deep snow. Enthusiastic entomologists will find it worth reading: everyone else will find it hard to follow.
Average customer rating:
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The Sacred Bee
M. Ransome
Manufacturer: Bee Books New & Old
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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