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libbyajt's review
4.0
I learned so many new things! Schmidt's writing style is very informative without being dry or boring. I think that insects are fascinating, and I was especially captivated by all of the real life stories that were shared about how he collected samples and studied things. Very cool book.
rjordan19's review
5.0
This book was interesting. I picked it up after watching Kings of Pain and learning about Schmidt's work with stinging insects and his creation of the pain scale. The book is easily readable and not filled with dry facts or tons of hard to pronounce words. It was a fun mix of anecdotal stories and information. It's broken into nice sections, with most of the book taking focus on certain species. Schmidt's sense of humor comes through, especially with his pain scale descriptions, which are definitely worth reading. I'm happy to have picked this up!
aslowreader's review
4.0
read it bc coyote peterson raved about it. wasn't necessarily as good or exciting as he said, but still an interesting read.
bookwormie's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
slow-paced
3.25
I expected this book to be more about the pain index came to bee and his adventures gathering that data, but a lot of it was dry encyclopedia information and bio+evolutionary biology of the stinging insects. Momentarily fascinating, but got repetitive...
sisterfibrosis's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Schmidt gives us a new view on hymenopterans, the ants, wasps and bees, with a focus on their stinging abilities. Providing a brief history on the entomological study of these species, he then goes into detail on various groupings and species while discussing their venom and its painfulness! Schmidt is clearly an expert in his field and this book will be a great reference tool for keen naturalists and guide to species of order Hymenoptera.
ndfarrell's review
2.0
So, the author of this book is a biologist passionate about his work, and that shows in his excitement and very (very) detailed look at many different species of ants and wasps and how they evolved to sting, bite, and inject poison. However... the book is full of Latin names and scientific terms that are never defined - making it hard for the layperson to get excited (or even understand) different mechanisms insects employ to protect themselves. There is no narrative to the book, and each chapter feels the same, to the point where when my two-year-old pulled out my bookmark, I could not find my place again ("hmm... have I read this before??"). I commend the author for his effort, but the subject probably would be more exciting for the layperson if handled by an author, rather than a scientist. I think people already knowledgeable about the insect world would find it interesting, but without that background I just couldn't follow along. Two redeeming parts of the book: the pictures and the scale in the back where the sting of each insect studied was described.
mondoweirdo's review against another edition
5.0
This book is everything I want in a science text. Justin Schmidt doesn't shy away from minutiae and depth of technical terms and asides, but he also doesn't skimp on amusing anecdotes or personal narrative. It's a perfect combination of scholarly and entertainment.
caterry's review against another edition
4.0
Received as a gift from Nicolai, Laura & Sorin. My initial interest was sparked by the author's 'sting index', which rates the pain level of various insect stings. However, this book is much more; it explains why some insects (ants, wasps and bees) sting in the first place, and why and how the pain and toxic effects vary from species to species. It also opens the questions of what pain is, and whether it is objectively measurable.
That makes the book sound scientific and dry, which it decidedly is not. The author writes in plain language, which makes the biological science (mostly) understandable. Plus, he has a sense of humor, which I guess you would have to, in order to subject yourself to stinging insects just to see what their sting feels like.
As kids, my brothers and cousins and I would subject red harvester ants to all kinds of torture - firecrackers, kerosene, chlordane, death by drowning, etc., yet somehow I never remember being bitten or stung, though in a karma sense, I richly deserved it. Lucky apparently, since according to the author this species has a memorable sting. On the other hand, africanized bees and fire ants are apparently vastly overrated.
My only disappointment in this book was that the author does not discuss allergic reactions to insect stings in any depth - how and why they occur, or whether a reaction to one species' venom will predispose an individual to react to another insect's sting.
That makes the book sound scientific and dry, which it decidedly is not. The author writes in plain language, which makes the biological science (mostly) understandable. Plus, he has a sense of humor, which I guess you would have to, in order to subject yourself to stinging insects just to see what their sting feels like.
As kids, my brothers and cousins and I would subject red harvester ants to all kinds of torture - firecrackers, kerosene, chlordane, death by drowning, etc., yet somehow I never remember being bitten or stung, though in a karma sense, I richly deserved it. Lucky apparently, since according to the author this species has a memorable sting. On the other hand, africanized bees and fire ants are apparently vastly overrated.
My only disappointment in this book was that the author does not discuss allergic reactions to insect stings in any depth - how and why they occur, or whether a reaction to one species' venom will predispose an individual to react to another insect's sting.
tonstantweader's review against another edition
4.0
Justin O. Schmidt is the entomologist who developed the Schmidt Pain Index that ranks how much pain different insect stings deliver on a scale of 1 to 4 with 4 being the rolling on the ground in agony pain. He wrote The Sting of the Wild to not just tell his pain index story, but to explore how stinging evolved and to what purpose.
His focus is on ants, bees, and wasps, the triumvirate of stinging insects. The insects are both prey and predator. Honeybees and fire ants sting to protect their homes. On the other hand, tarantula hawks (a wasp) stink to paralyze their tarantula prey so they can drag it home to be eaten alive for weeks as their eggs develop into pupa. I sure hope tarantulas don’t feel pain or have awareness because the larvae feed on them while alive and they don’t die until they develop into pupae and eat the brain and nerve cells. It’s so gross.
He also describes the life cycle of several of these species and some of them are fascinating. For example, we are generally told that critters cannot mate across species, that’s kind of what makes them species. However, two species (rough harvester ants and red harvester ants) of harvester ants have a sort of ant orgy where the females of both species mate with males of both species. The eggs fertilized by their own species become reproductives and the eggs fertilized by the other species become the nonreproductive workers. Amazing!
The Sting of the Wild is a great book for lay readers. Think of it as insect gossip, though verified gossip, of course. It has that convivial tone of sharing what’s going on with the Jones, but the Jones are killer bees. It’s full of fun anecdotes including tales of stings in history and tidbits of information such as the infamous “yellow rain” that Gen. Alexander Haig claimed was a chemical weapon dropped on the Hmong in retaliation for their helping the US that turned out to be bee poop.
You don’t have to be a bug lover to enjoy The Sting of the Wild. I sure am not one, but nature is endlessly inventive and Schmidt knows how to make her inventions interesting and enjoyable.
I received a copy of The Sting of the Wild as a gift from John Hopkins University Press with no expectation of review.
The Sting of the Wild at Johns Hopkins University Press
Justin O. Schmidt research publications at ResearchGate
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/9781421419282/
His focus is on ants, bees, and wasps, the triumvirate of stinging insects. The insects are both prey and predator. Honeybees and fire ants sting to protect their homes. On the other hand, tarantula hawks (a wasp) stink to paralyze their tarantula prey so they can drag it home to be eaten alive for weeks as their eggs develop into pupa. I sure hope tarantulas don’t feel pain or have awareness because the larvae feed on them while alive and they don’t die until they develop into pupae and eat the brain and nerve cells. It’s so gross.
He also describes the life cycle of several of these species and some of them are fascinating. For example, we are generally told that critters cannot mate across species, that’s kind of what makes them species. However, two species (rough harvester ants and red harvester ants) of harvester ants have a sort of ant orgy where the females of both species mate with males of both species. The eggs fertilized by their own species become reproductives and the eggs fertilized by the other species become the nonreproductive workers. Amazing!
The Sting of the Wild is a great book for lay readers. Think of it as insect gossip, though verified gossip, of course. It has that convivial tone of sharing what’s going on with the Jones, but the Jones are killer bees. It’s full of fun anecdotes including tales of stings in history and tidbits of information such as the infamous “yellow rain” that Gen. Alexander Haig claimed was a chemical weapon dropped on the Hmong in retaliation for their helping the US that turned out to be bee poop.
You don’t have to be a bug lover to enjoy The Sting of the Wild. I sure am not one, but nature is endlessly inventive and Schmidt knows how to make her inventions interesting and enjoyable.
I received a copy of The Sting of the Wild as a gift from John Hopkins University Press with no expectation of review.
The Sting of the Wild at Johns Hopkins University Press
Justin O. Schmidt research publications at ResearchGate
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/9781421419282/