Insights From Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us - Softcover

9781591022770: Insights From Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
This fascinating, beautifully illustrated book profiles twenty "troublesome bugs," showing how the study of these creatures has led scientists to many basic discoveries that have enhanced our understanding of life.The reader learns how an American entomologist was awarded France's gold medal of honor for rescuing the French wine industry from destruction by the aphid-like "grape phylloxera"; how the World Health Organization almost completely eradicated malaria through the use of DDT before the insect adapted to the insecticide and became resistant; how some insects disguise themselves to avoid detection; how others survive the subzero temperatures of winter; why some flies have a uterus and a mammary gland; and many more strange and tantalizing true tales about these wonderful, troublesome "pests"-pests that have taught us vital lessons about survival, nature, and the environment.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:
Gilbert Waldbauer is professor emeritus in the entomology department at the University of Illinois and the author of the highly acclaimed What Good Are Bugs?, The Handy Bug Answer Book, and Millions of Monarchs.
From Publishers Weekly:
The pop-biology premise that all of nature is a source of edification and delight has its limits tested in this engrossing - and quite gross - collection of essays on insect pests. Entomologist Waldbauer (What Good Are Bugs?) profiles a rogue's gallery of unhealthful, unprofitable and unsavory creatures from the mosquito and house fly to an array of agricultural scourges. From their ingenious strategies for wreaking havoc and evading retribution from predators, toxic plant chemicals, insecticides and eradication programs, he gleans lessons about the Darwinian struggle for survival and the complex, easily upset balance of ecosystems. Waldbauer's lucid, engaging style, informed by accessible discussions of his and other scientists' research, maintains a lab-coated tone of interested objectivity. Still, there's a fine line between the wonder of life and the horror of life, and it's pretty much erased when Waldbauer writes of New England towns buried by gypsy moth caterpillars, reviews case studies of humans infested with flesh-eating screwworm maggots, or ticks off the list of insect parts the government tolerates in processed foods (tomato sauces can contain "thirty fly eggs, fifteen fly eggs and one maggot, or two maggots"). Readers may therefore find his lessons on how pests are eradicated - by siccing ladybug predators on them, stamping out their fertility with swarms of radiation-sterilized males or simply torching them with flame throwers - grimly satisfying indeed. Photos. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPrometheus
  • Publication date2005
  • ISBN 10 1591022770
  • ISBN 13 9781591022770
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages311
  • Rating

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Waldbauer, Gilbert
Published by Prometheus (2005)
ISBN 10: 1591022770 ISBN 13: 9781591022770
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_1591022770

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 23.80
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Waldbauer, Gilbert
Published by Prometheus (2005)
ISBN 10: 1591022770 ISBN 13: 9781591022770
New paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
thebookforest.com
(San Rafael, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Well packaged and promptly shipped from California. Partnered with Friends of the Library since 2010. Seller Inventory # 1LAGBP0020S1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 24.95
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Waldbauer, Gilbert
Published by Prometheus (2005)
ISBN 10: 1591022770 ISBN 13: 9781591022770
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard1591022770

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 26.98
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Waldbauer, Gilbert
Published by Prometheus (2005)
ISBN 10: 1591022770 ISBN 13: 9781591022770
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think1591022770

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 27.58
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Waldbauer, Gilbert
Published by Prometheus (2005)
ISBN 10: 1591022770 ISBN 13: 9781591022770
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 1591022770-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 63.96
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Waldbauer, Gilbert
Published by Prometheus (2005)
ISBN 10: 1591022770 ISBN 13: 9781591022770
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks543654

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 64.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Waldbauer, Gilbert
Published by Prometheus (2005)
ISBN 10: 1591022770 ISBN 13: 9781591022770
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.85. Seller Inventory # Q-1591022770

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 62.63
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds