Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by jessrock
The Insect World of J. Henri Fabre by Jean-Henri Fabre
4.0
I first made note of the title The Fascinating Insect World of J. Henri Fabre while reading [b:The Teenage Liberation Handbook|305758|The Teenage Liberation Handbook How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education|Grace Llewellyn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173576511s/305758.jpg|932937], and then came across it again while re-reading Annie Dillard's [b:Pilgrim at Tinker Creek|12527|Pilgrim at Tinker Creek|Annie Dillard|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166504397s/12527.jpg|2280883], where Fabre and his experiments are quoted at length.
It was Dillard's interest in Fabre that made me choose to read this book, a collection of excerpts from his other works (with titles such as The Life of the Scorpion, The Hunting Wasps, and The Glow-worm and Other Beetles). Fabre, like Dillard, writes about his observations of nature, although Fabre was much more singleminded in his interests: He was fascinated by instinct and by insects. Many of his experiments centered around the question of whether insects have a kind of rationality or whether they operate entirely on instinct (and he came to conclude that the latter is nearly always the case).
Fabre recounts caterpillars so reliant on their silk trails that they will walk until exhaustion following a circular path if they cannot find a piece of silk leading off of the circle; giant nocturnal moths that travel for miles following the scent of a single female; and scorpions that enact seemingly tender and loving rituals before mating, only to have the female consume the male after the act. Fabre's passion for his experiments and observations is so palpable that it is hard not to share his infatuation with creatures that otherwise might seem like singularly unpleasant material for leisure reading (dung-beetles, weevils, and grubs).
Although I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who didn't already have an interest in nature-writing and a certain love of the less cuddly aspects of creation, I enjoyed Fabre's fascinating insect world and his obvious love for his subjects.
It was Dillard's interest in Fabre that made me choose to read this book, a collection of excerpts from his other works (with titles such as The Life of the Scorpion, The Hunting Wasps, and The Glow-worm and Other Beetles). Fabre, like Dillard, writes about his observations of nature, although Fabre was much more singleminded in his interests: He was fascinated by instinct and by insects. Many of his experiments centered around the question of whether insects have a kind of rationality or whether they operate entirely on instinct (and he came to conclude that the latter is nearly always the case).
Fabre recounts caterpillars so reliant on their silk trails that they will walk until exhaustion following a circular path if they cannot find a piece of silk leading off of the circle; giant nocturnal moths that travel for miles following the scent of a single female; and scorpions that enact seemingly tender and loving rituals before mating, only to have the female consume the male after the act. Fabre's passion for his experiments and observations is so palpable that it is hard not to share his infatuation with creatures that otherwise might seem like singularly unpleasant material for leisure reading (dung-beetles, weevils, and grubs).
Although I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who didn't already have an interest in nature-writing and a certain love of the less cuddly aspects of creation, I enjoyed Fabre's fascinating insect world and his obvious love for his subjects.