Bugged

Finished July 5

Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Them by David MacNeal, with illustrations by Michael Kennedy

This informational books looks at bugs through many lenses, with each chapter looking more closely at one particular type of bug. After an interesting encounter with an entomologist studying dung beetles mentioned in his introduction, the author continues to tell engaging stories about his journalistic research into this subject and his willingness to explore unusual activities to do so. 

His first chapter is about collectors of bugs, looking at entomologist taxidermy. Here, as in all the following chapters, he talks about the history of this subfield of entomology, the pioneers in the field, what we know from anthropological history, and what we are learning now. This chapter has a closer look at beetles, and public education.

The second chapter looks at burrowing insects, with a concentrated look at ants. 

The third chapter looks at reproduction both in the wild and in laboratories. Here there is a closer look at spiders.

The fourth chapter looks at insects that fly, and here he looks at fleas, mosquitoes, and other carriers of disease, as well as disease in the forest industry.  He travels to Brazil as part of his research. 

The fifth chapter looks at entomological pests and he accompanies a pest control operator on the job. Here there is a closer look at bedbugs and cockroaches. He also looks at insecticide use in agriculture. 

The sixth chapter looks at beneficial aspects of insects and the role they play in the economy. He covers the use of beneficial insects in pest control, how insects process both natural and manmade waste and even visits a body farm research facility in Texas. Another interesting aspect here is the use of entomology in criminal cases. 

The seventh chapter looks at medicinal uses of bugs from folk medicine to more recent clinical applications. He even tries to outfit his own pet cockroach with a robotic implant. One interesting potential use of the combination of technology and insects is in search and rescue situations. He also talks about how studying insect anatomy can help in medical applications. 

The eighth chapter looks at businesses that make money from bugs from silkworms to natural dyes to ecotourism. He looks at the pet insect business in Japan and issues around smuggling insects across borders.

His ninth chapter looks at insects as food and we see Chirps, chips made from crickets, ground bugs becoming protein powder, and . He looks at the difficulty of overcoming mindset around eating bugs, and goes on a Food Bug Crawl in Tokyo which includes fried caterpillars, ant-ohol drinks, black wasp larvae boiled with couscous, kebabed combos, and even spiders and centipedes. Back home, he even hosts a dinner including bugs as food for a group of friends. 

His final chapter looks at honeybees and the problems of colony collapse and other disease outbreaks. He goes to a Scottish monastery to see their bee operation and to Greece to try their unique honeys. 

I found this book both educational and entertaining. As this book is from 2017, I'm sure that there are more recent discoveries and advances in knowledge that have happened since.