Book Review: Wasps, The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect

 

Yes, I have a stack of books sitting under my end table and I am finally getting to some of them to share with you.

My 9-year-old granddaughter is terrified of wasps. As far as I know, she has never been stung, but like most people, she keeps her distance from any wasp, so she doesn't have the opportunity to study them up close. 

This is a completely fascinating look at wasps, their biology, and their role in the ecosystem. Although there is a "family album" at the end of the book, this book is far more than a field guide. The pictures and illustrations are vivid. Chapters on wasp evolution, anatomy, life cycle, diversity, and behavior are well explained and illustrated. The book includes chapters on wasp mimics and predators.

I have to admit I have already spent hours pouring over this richly illustrated and fact-filled book. I expect I will revisit it often.

This book is available for $29.95 from Princeton University Press and Amazon.

Book Review: Trees of Life

 

This large (8 x 11 in) coffee table book would be a wonderful library addition for those fascinated with trees or anthropology. The author chose 80 of what he considers to be the most useful trees from some 60,000 extant species of trees to highlight in this book. The photography and illustrations are beautiful, but I was struck primarily by the insights into how these trees have and do support the societies where they grow.

Some of these trees I had not heard of--after all, most are indigenous to other countries. However, the bits of history, art, medicine, and religion that surround them illustrate the important role these trees have played, and still play, in human history.

One example of an interesting tidbit concerns the pollination of the common fig:

"Looking for spring flowers on a fig is a waste of time: they grow, hidden from sight, inside the fruiting body as part of one of the most bizarre reproductive cycles anywhere in the natural world. As long ago as the fourth century BCE Aristotle knew that a certain wasp that emanated from a wild fig pollinated the flowers and we now know that every species of fig has its own bespoke wasp for a pollinating partner. The female fig wasp bores a tiny hole into the immature fruiting body, lays her eggs inside--pollinating the flowers as she does so--and dies there. Her maile progeny, as soon as they emerge inside the fruit, impregnate the still unborn females and then bore an exit hole, through which the egg-bearing females later emerge to seek their own new fruit." pg 118

This is just one of many interesting facts the author shares in this book. The book is available from Princeton Press for $29.95 and for $25.71 on Amazon.

Book Review: How Plants Work

A few months ago, Princeton University Press was nice enough to send me a copy of How Plants Work: Form, Diversity, Survival, by Stephen Blackmore. I paged through the book quickly and was immediately drawn in by the beautiful pictures. I thought to myself, "I am going to enjoy reading this book."

Well......you know the saying about the best-laid plans, right? I received the book in the middle of the workday, so I set it aside. With one thing and another, I lost track of the book (which is not an easy thing, since the book is not small--a full 8.5 x 11 and 386 pages). My husband is redoing my office. He relocated everything from the supply closets and one half of the office to the other side, while he tore up the carpet to lay tile and got ready to paint. Get the picture? It's not pretty.

I have looked everywhere for this book. Multiple times. I "thought" I put it on one of my bookshelves with my other nature books, but didn't. I looked everywhere, or so I thought. Recently, I was once again in my office, trying to clear out the piles in my office so my husband can do the other half and lo and behold, there was the book. Buried under a pile of stuff my hubby moved. So I am not complete airhead; I was just not very fast about tackling the piles.

It didn't take long for this book to provide a welcome distraction from the office cleaning chore. I was a biology major in college but had only one class in botany. Although I found the subject interesting, I can't say it was my favorite class. The book was dry and the instructor almost as much so. I love to garden and I have houseplants, so I find plants interesting. Dr. Estes from Midwestern State University is a lecturer for our local Texas Master Naturalist training course and is always fascinating--why couldn't I have had an instructor like him many years ago? Anyway, back to the book.

This is not a botany text. The book provides just enough information on a subject to arouse your curiosity to explore the subject more. Even if you don't, you're bound to be even more awed by the plants that surround us.

When you first look at the book, you may be intimidated by the size and think the book is dense. It's not. You can easily thumb through and read the short topics in a few minutes here and there. The 400 color illustrations are beautiful and helpful to understanding.

A number of well known and less well known topics are addressed. I never thought about pollination of plants under water for example, but there is a discussion of that topic in the book. And who has heard of "accessory" fruits versus true fruits? (A strawberry and many other common fruits we love are accessory fruits--I'll let you look up the difference in the definitions.) The discussion of orchid seeds is fascinating.

For the gardeners among us, the discussion of the rhizosphere and root pests is not only interesting but important to nurturing our soil and garden. I could go on, but you get my point. This book is interesting and fun if you're a nature geek.

The book is not cheap at $35, but well worth the cost. The many beautiful illustrations and interesting information will have you returning to the book more than once and the hardcover means it will last. I did look it up on Amazon, and you can purchase it for $26.93 there.

Book Review: The Bees in Your Backyard

I am behind on reading with the holidays, but I am finally getting around to looking at some new books sent to me by Princeton University Press.

I have reviewed several books about bees in the past year, so it might seem another one would be superfluous. Not so! For those interested in knowing what kinds of bees they have in their yards, this guide, The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees, by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril, will help identify which of the common species of bees you see. There are 4,000 bee species in the US and Canada, but thanks to the key in the introduction, you'll at least be able to sort the bee to the appropriate family, and perhaps to the species.

The book has 900 full-color photos. The chapter on the natural history of bees is fascinating and for those of us who are trying to entice bees to our yards and gardens, there is a fair amount of information on plants and other actions you can take to provide appropriate habitat for your bees. Personally, I liked the little boxes of interesting information set off from the main text--a lot of interesting tidbits there.

This book was published December 16 and can be purchased from Princeton University Press for $29.95. I checked Amazon, and it is available there in both paperback and kindle versions for a few dollars less. Remember our local charities by purchasing through smile.amazon.com.

Book Reviews: Bees, Bees, Bees!

As I noted in my last post, I will be doing a pollinators workshop at River Bend on September 23. I've been doing research to ensure I have the most current and accurate information possible, and I happened to receive two books about bees to review for Princeton University Press. I must be living right.

The first book, Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide, is a review of all of the species of bumble bees in North America north of Mexico. We don't have a lot of bumble bees here (as I discovered in the book, bumbles bees like cooler temperatures--like me), so I was surprised at the numbers of bumble bee species in North America. We supposedly could expect to find three species of the possible 46 in our area (although that is not confirmed.)

The species accounts are interesting. As you would expect in an identification guide, there are pictures of the bees, range maps, and a discussion of their habitat, favorite plants and identifying characteristics. I was surprised at the variation in coloration of the same species of bumble bees, making identification more of a challenge than one might think. However, this little book was more than an identification guide, including their life cycle, how to attract bumble bees to your yard, specific plants to include in your landscape and conservation status and threats. Overall, a fascinating look at these important insects. If you are a "bug person" this would be an excellent addition to your library.

The second book I received from Princeton University Press was The Bee: A Natural History. As much as I enjoyed the bumble bee book, I have to say my geeky self liked this one even more. Although focused more on the honey bee, the book does include the solitary bees and bumble bees. The reason I like this book so well was that it is more than just an identification guide, but includes a lot of interesting information about bee biology and also more tangential topics such as bees in religion. Little snippets like this always draw my attention. Overall, a fascinating look at bees in all their diversity without being overly technical.

The book looks at bees worldwide. Consequently, it is not an in-depth review of bees in our area. If I could have done one thing to make the book more appealing to me personally, it would have been to have more US bees included in the directory portion of the book. But then, that isn't the focus of the book, so it is not a significant detractor and would have made the book too darn big--after all, there are 20,000 species of bees in the world and 4,000 native bee species in North America. This is another outstanding addition to the library of those interested in pollinators, especially the bees.

Christmas is coming up--either of these could be a wonderful gift for you naturalist friend/family member. And the prices won't break the bank either.

Books for the Nature Geeks

I occasionally review bird books on my Charm of Finches blog. I recently received some review copies of other books from Princeton University Press. They aren't bird books, so I thought they would be more suitable for some of the readers of this blog, as I know some of the Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalist follow.

I am a little behind on my reviews, so I am going to put three of them in this one post.

The first book is Bugs Rule! An Introduction to the World of Insects, by Whitney Cranshaw and Richard Redak. This book was originally intended as a basic textbook for nonscience people taking a course in entomology. However, you don't have to sign up for a college course to get, read and enjoy this book. This book is about insects and arthropods (spiders, scorpions, centipedes, millipedes and crustaceans.)

This book is not a field guide, but as a way to get a good general grounding in bugs, it would certainly be a nice supplement to a field guide. Lots of wonderful pictures (830 color photos and additional drawings) help illustrate the information in the text.

Although written as a textbook, there is nothing dry about the writing, if you have any interest in the subject at all. When I originally got the book, I thought it might be a nice giveaway at the local Texas Master Naturalist meeting, but after reading the book, you other Master Naturalists will just have to get your own copy. This beautiful hardback book sells for $55 from Princeton University Press, so it isn't cheap. It is $50.17 from Amazon/$34.09 for your Kindle. But if you have a bug lover on your gift list, you could be a hero with this book.

Another book I have spent hours pouring over is The Kingdom of Fungi by Jens H. Petersen. I have always been fascinated by the fungi and their role as decomposers. For what appears to be such a simple plant is so much more than it appears. Over 800 gorgeous pictures in this book drive home just how beautiful these often overlooked plants are. There isn't a lot of text, but what text there is conveys a lot of interesting information. Even if you didn't have a fascination with fungi, you could enjoy the photographs--they're exquisite. If you also have an interest in this little known family of plants, then you'll spend hours, just like me looking and relooking at the pictures. The book does lead you through some basic taxonomy. Although it is not a field guide, again I can see where this book would help you use your field guide more effectively. You can purchase this book for $29.95 from Princeton University Press or for $19.59 from Amazon.

Another excellent book for you naturalists out there is The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trees (2nd Ed.) by David More and John White. This is an awesome resource for identifying trees, although it is way too big and heavy to carry into the field. This comprehensive book catalogs nearly 2,000 tree species in North America and Europe. With some 5,000 illustrations, there are enough illustrations of leaves, twigs, fruit, bark, etc., to help guide even the least knowledgeable among us (like me.) I have trouble identifying trees outside of the few species I have gotten to know through frequent exposure.  I don't do well with most field guides identifying trees. This one has a lot more detail to help compare similar species. In addition to the usual information found in a field guide, however, this book has more information about the origins of the trees and various cultivars. This would be a fine addition to not only a naturalist's library, but that of a gardener. This book is available from Princeton University Press for $49.95 and from Amazon for $38.40.