faisman's review against another edition
5.0
Very interesting read on the leafcutter ants showing how this society exists and multiplies, complete with many beautiful photos.
As the author describes, the ants form the town of the insect world, with leafcutter ants forming the domesticated farming cultures as they curate their mutualistic fungus. As humans developed farming to grow their civilizations to the pinnacle of animal success, so ants have cultivated their fungus to expand their populations upwards, with the leafcutters forming this pinnacle of insect evolution.
As the author describes, the ants form the town of the insect world, with leafcutter ants forming the domesticated farming cultures as they curate their mutualistic fungus. As humans developed farming to grow their civilizations to the pinnacle of animal success, so ants have cultivated their fungus to expand their populations upwards, with the leafcutters forming this pinnacle of insect evolution.
eely225's review against another edition
4.0
The book is focused on one sub-group of ants, but it also serves as a good introduction to ants in general. The text is a combination of amazingly detailed photos and renderings alongside descriptions of life and routines in a leafcutter ant colony at various stages of development. 90% of it was at least intelligible to me as a lay person, which is as much as you can ask for when encountering a topic as foreign to me as this one.
A mark of success for the book is how many times I had to put it down and tell my wife what I'd just read.
The book does a good job of illustrating key elements of leafcutter ant life, like foraging, waste disposal, colony development, and reproduction. It felt like it was missing a chapter on larval development, but my guess is that that element was not different enough among the leafcutters compared to other ants. Still, reading the book, you'll feel much more equipped to know where to start to learn more about this fascinating topic on your own.
A mark of success for the book is how many times I had to put it down and tell my wife what I'd just read.
The book does a good job of illustrating key elements of leafcutter ant life, like foraging, waste disposal, colony development, and reproduction. It felt like it was missing a chapter on larval development, but my guess is that that element was not different enough among the leafcutters compared to other ants. Still, reading the book, you'll feel much more equipped to know where to start to learn more about this fascinating topic on your own.
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