Sex on Six Legs:
Lessons on Life, Love and
Language from the Insect World
Marlene Zuk
People are more afraid of insects than
of death, or so says a survey that Zuk
cites a bit skeptically. (Heights and
public speaking are supposedly scarier
than both.) Surveys aside, bugs certainly have a PR problem, and Zuk is
out to win friends for them.
Her wry, amiable volume makes a
case for appreciating the wonders and
weirdnesses of the most numerous of
animals. As she puts it, an insect-of-the-month calendar might not have to
repeat a species for well over 80,000
years. The book thus falls into the paradoxical tradition of the why-not-to-hate-bugs book that appeals especially
to people who already love them. An
earlier classic of this microgenre, May
Berenbaum’s Bugs in the System, has
amused insect enthusiasts since 1996,
and Zuk, a behavioral ecologist, focuses
on more recent research.
Despite the title, which depending
Measure of the Earth:
The Enlightenment Expedition
That Reshaped Our World
Larrie D. Ferreiro
Barely two centuries after Columbus
found that the world wasn’t flat, scien-
tists set out to establish whether it was
really round. The question required
comparing the distance between
degrees of latitude in Europe — which
had been measured — with that dis-
tance in the Arctic
or at the equator.
In his latest book,
Ferreiro gives life to
three French scien-
tists and their 1736
geodesic mission to
the equator. Astrono-
mer Louis Godin,
mathematician Pierre Bouguer and
geographer Charles Marie de La Conda-
mine offer a snapshot of another time.
The scientists traveled to a plateau
near Quito in South America. There
on personal tastes can be a plus or a
minus for a commuter read, the book
gives clear accounts of a wide range of
research beyond sex: insect personali-
ties, wasp facial recognition, fruit flies
artificially bred for intelligence, slave-
making ants, hitchhiking blister bee-
tles and much more. One of the more
unusual sections is the first, the obliga-
tory chapter on why
anybody should care
about insects. Along
with the expected
discussions of eco-
logical importance
and value for human-
kind, Zuk articu-
lates the emotional
appeal of humans’
six-legged neighbors. They give people
“the ability to glimpse another world,” a
spot-on phrase for one of their charms.
As Zuk asks, “Who needs to be able to
see dead people when you can see live
insects?” — Susan Milius
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011,
272 p., $25
they surveyed a 215-mile line and used
it to calculate giant imaginary triangles
using geometry, trigonometry, a device
called a quadrant, star sightings and
land distance measurements. Triangulating nearby peaks of the Andes with
points on the ground, they found that
one degree of latitude was shorter at
the equator than in Europe. In other
words, the Earth bulges at the equator.
At times the story can bog down in
detail, but surprises make up for it. The
mission was the first large international scientific expedition attempted
and led to the discoveries of rubber
and cinchona bark — the source of quinine — and the naming of Ecuador.
Not until 1743, after the calculations
were complete, did the scientists realize they had also determined Earth’s
size. La Condamine found out belatedly; he was on the first scientific expedition down the Amazon. Another time
indeed. — Nathan Seppa
The Wild Life
of Our Bodies
Rob Dunn
A biologist explores
how “clean living” has
made people sicker
in some ways. Harper,
2011, 290 p., $26.99
Virtual Water
Tony Allan
Learn why it takes
140 liters of water to
make a cup of coffee
in this exploration of
the water use hidden
in everyday life. I.B. Tauris, 2011,
368 p., $18
Among African Apes
Martha M. Robbins and
Christophe Boesch, eds.
Tales and photos from
primate researchers
give readers a vivid
look into the lives of
apes. Univ. of California Press, 2011,
182 p., $29.95
Future Science
Max Brockman, ed.
Essays by 19 young
scientists explore how
science will answer
questions ranging
from nature versus
nurture to understanding infinity.
Vintage Books, 2011, 247 p., $15.95
On the Origin
of Tepees
Jonnie Hughes
An entertaining tour
of the American West
shows how ideas
spread through the cultural land-
scape. Free Press, 2011, 302 p., $25
How to Order To order these books or others,
visit www.sciencenews.org/bookshelf. A click on
a book’s title will transfer you to Amazon.com.
Sales generated through these links contribute
to Society for Science & the Public’s programs
to build interest in and understanding of science.
