This is a witty, at times humorous, but always insightful journey into the world of insects, those, according to the author “really complicated creatures”. In a tour throughout the history of insects and the insects in history, the author, an anthropologist, presents in several chapters whose titles begin with each one of the letters of the alphabet, explorations and ruminations  about insects in time and space. Air, beauty, Chernobyl, death, evolution, fever/dream, generosity… sex, temptation … yearnings, Zen and the art of Zzz’s. In all, a strange, somehow weird, as much as the subject, and engrossing book, but worth reading.

Insectopedia. Hugh Raffles. New York : Pantheon Books, 2012.