Insect.   Just add an exclamation point and you may think you're reading about a bad horror movie from the ‘60s, starring Raquel Welch.    Actually, the truth is much less frightening and immensely more fascinating.  Insect is the entomological addition to the vast library of Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books.   Based in London, DK is the world's largest publisher of illustrated reference works and their Eyewitness Books series spans the full breadth of world knowledge from Monet to Sharks to World War II.  This edition is authored by Laurence Mound, a British entomologist and specialist in the taxonomy of the thrips - a tiny gnat-like insect that can be a significant agricultural pest.   With the support of a team of talented photographers he creates a concise, yet detailed, visually impressive overview of the world of insects.

Before I go any further - in the interests of full disclosure - I need to inform the gentle reader that I am a true insect fanatic.  Whether considering the beauty of the Blue Morpho butterfly, the shocking reproductive cycle of the parasitoid wasp or the awe inspiring architecture of the West African termite, I find it all endlessly fascinating.   Almost any entomologically oriented publication is going to capture my interest and Insect succeeds as expected.

Insect is a large, nine by eleven inch, hardcover picture book.  Its 64 pages are crawling with hundreds of bright, often gorgeous, insect photographs.  The life size photos are set against a crisp white background, providing superb contrast so that even the most diminutive detail of these tiny creatures can be appreciated.   High quality drawings, engravings and electron micrographs accompany the photos as necessary.  The book is divided into twenty-seven two page chapters and is engineered to lie flat on the table when opened, allowing for full appreciation of each page of photographs.    Each of the chapters starts with an introductory paragraph, but my eyes were rapidly drawn to the dozens of accompanying images.   The Beetles chapter alone has thirty individual photos.  Each photograph is accompanied by a few sentences of text as well as some small italicized comments, clearly labeling important details.   At first glance the sheer number of photos and notes can seem overwhelming, but I found each chapter to be well organized and laid out in a meticulous and reader friendly style.

Chapter topics include the five major insect groups - beetles, bugs, flies, butterflies/moths and wasps/ bees/ants - as well as insect anatomy, metamorphosis, flight, predation, camouflage, mimicry, aquatic insects, social insects and more.    I feel that the book excels in three different ways. 

First, while supplying plenty of general information, the author never hesitates to include explicit detail, consistently including specific names and unique stories.   I had never heard of Editha magnifica, a wasp from South America that "attacks butterflies as they sit in groups on the ground.  The wasp stings the butterflies one at a time, bites off their wings, and stores the bodies in a burrow in which it lays its eggs.   The developing grubs feed on the butterflies' bodies until they are large enough to pupate". 

Second, and in my mind some of the best parts of the book, are several step-by-step photographic sequences used to display some of the most complex aspects of insect life.  Each of the nine steps of damselfly metamorphosis are featured in marvelously magnified detail and accompanied by equally detailed, yet concise text.   The secrets of cockchafer beetle flight, common wasp nest construction, and Mexican bean beetle metamorphosis - from egg to grub to adult - are displayed in similar sequential style, not only providing enlightening information, but truly reaching the limits of paper and ink when describing such dynamic processes.

Last, but most importantly, is the photography itself.   Almost every photograph stands alone as a work of remarkable artistry.   Highlights include the lantern bug that protects itself by mimicking a baby alligator, the hawkmoth caterpillar that mimics a snake and a mass of green foliage that hides five stick insects that are almost impossible to see without assistance from the author.  

As I expected given my experience with other DK books, Insect is written at a late grade school to middle school level, but the author doesn't make the mistake of oversimplifying the material to the point of boredom.   He doesn't hesitate to define and use big words like metamorphosis and parthenogenesis and uses plenty of formal Latin names for the various creatures he describes.   He frequently refers the reader back to previous sections if a particular topic is reintroduced, a detail I found quite helpful.  The book also includes a detailed index.   Despite its youthful target audience, and even though I have spent many of my numerous years paying attention to various things entomological, I found this book to be thoroughly entertaining, learning many new bits of insect esoterica.   

Insect serves as an exemplary introduction to the world of insects, not hesitating to fully display its vast and worldwide diversity.   The fine balance of outstanding photos and detailed text makes it particularly suited for the visual learner, although some of the images - like a startling six inch wasp head - may be a bit much for the phobic.  This devoted insect buff found this slender volume both attractive and engaging, a quality addition to the DK library

Recommended: Yes