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A review by bibliocyclist
Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love, and Language from the Insect World by Marlene Zuk
3.0
Why I want to read this book (from a review by Zadie Smith):
This book has given me almost more insect anecdotes than I know what to do with. At dinner, they don't just end the conversation, they end dinner. It is a powerful feeling: I recommend it. Whatever the person sitting opposite thinks he knows about insects, after reading this book I guarantee you will know more. He will say, "Oh, sure, some wasps inject their cockroach prey with a paralyzing poison which allows them to drag the roach back to the wasp nest and keep it fresh." You will sigh and look down at the butter dish. You will inform your friend--not without humility--that there exists a jewel wasp who rather than using simple paralysis injects the roach with "a judicious sting inside its head, so that its nervous system, and legs, still function well enough to allow it to walk on its own." Then the wasp leads the roach to its doom, effectively "hijacking its free will." Zombie-cockroach! And p.s.: if you ever see a silent male cricket failing to attract any females, it's not because he's shy, it's because a fly has, at some earlier point, deposited some tiny larvae on him, and one or more of the resulting maggots have gone into his body, eaten him from the inside, grown as big as the cricket itself, and now live inside inside him. Zombie-cricket-fly! Game, set, match, you.
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory."
Regret, it would seem, is not part of the ant repertoire.
This book has given me almost more insect anecdotes than I know what to do with. At dinner, they don't just end the conversation, they end dinner. It is a powerful feeling: I recommend it. Whatever the person sitting opposite thinks he knows about insects, after reading this book I guarantee you will know more. He will say, "Oh, sure, some wasps inject their cockroach prey with a paralyzing poison which allows them to drag the roach back to the wasp nest and keep it fresh." You will sigh and look down at the butter dish. You will inform your friend--not without humility--that there exists a jewel wasp who rather than using simple paralysis injects the roach with "a judicious sting inside its head, so that its nervous system, and legs, still function well enough to allow it to walk on its own." Then the wasp leads the roach to its doom, effectively "hijacking its free will." Zombie-cockroach! And p.s.: if you ever see a silent male cricket failing to attract any females, it's not because he's shy, it's because a fly has, at some earlier point, deposited some tiny larvae on him, and one or more of the resulting maggots have gone into his body, eaten him from the inside, grown as big as the cricket itself, and now live inside inside him. Zombie-cricket-fly! Game, set, match, you.
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory."
Regret, it would seem, is not part of the ant repertoire.