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Review
An extraordinary book. (The Herald )
Product Description
Humans have long been fascinated by ants. While not necessarily brightly coloured or beautiful, ants display some remarkable characteristics that are almost unique in the animal world. They live in intricately organized societies, made up of individuals that cooperate, communicate, and divide up daily tasks. They display amazing ingenuity when it comes to building nests and other structures, finding supplies, or even exploiting other members of the animal kingdom. They are capable too of aggression and violence, of disturbing the apparent peace of their colonies and of sudden fratricidal or matricidal strife. In short, the lives of ants are among the most fascinating in the natural world. This is an account of those lives - looking at the many species of ants around the world, explaining the secret of their huge ecological success, examining the remarkable and varied behaviours that ants exhibit, and tying in molecular biology, genetics, and even cutting-edge developments in robotics, to shed light on what makes ants unique.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a well written, informative and wide ranging review of the life of ants. It's written in an engaging stlye with different facets of the lives of ants being represented by different chapters, therefore there are chapters on colony organization, ecology, reproductive strategies, genetics and even ants as the inspiration for new technologies. Although each chapter starts off simply there is enough detail here to draw in those normally sceptical of insect natural history.
There are sections on leaf cutters and slave makers, and another on invasive ants such as fire ants and argentine ants. The price is good too. If you have any interest inants, social biology or invertebrates in general this is a great read and not at all like a textbook.
There are sections on leaf cutters and slave makers, and another on invasive ants such as fire ants and argentine ants. The price is good too. If you have any interest inants, social biology or invertebrates in general this is a great read and not at all like a textbook.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The second book I read on my own about 50 years ago was about the life of an ant. I learned a lot, but only the "nice" facts were given. In this book, you get the whole story. It is full of fascinating facts of the incredibly many different ways evolution have ordered the complex societies and sexual practises of these tiny-brained creatures. Ants fit well into their native environment, but when they hitchhike to other places they can become serious pest. The book gives a few really worrying examples that you need to know about.
The two authors are scientists themselves and their love of the family Formicidae shines through. Therefore, the somewhat awkward style can be forgiven. But the book would have been easier on the common reader if all the references to fellow scientist had been collected as notes at the end.
The two authors are scientists themselves and their love of the family Formicidae shines through. Therefore, the somewhat awkward style can be forgiven. But the book would have been easier on the common reader if all the references to fellow scientist had been collected as notes at the end.
Format:Paperback
Like some other reviewers I found the writing so dreary at first that I contemplated stopping reading it. However I persevered and the writing improved - or maybe I just got used to it. Anyway, I was rewarded with a fascinating middle section of the book which covers such topics as slave making, army ants, honeypot ants, invader species, colony structure. However, the final few chapters seemed aimed at biologists more than natural historians. For a while I found the discussion on genetics interesting but soon found it hard work.
Overall, it seems a very approachable book. All the chapters are short and there are numerous colour photos, though (at up to 8 per page) some were so small they seem of little value. I think most people will get something from reading the book but it is rather variable in its interest and the quality of its writing
Overall, it seems a very approachable book. All the chapters are short and there are numerous colour photos, though (at up to 8 per page) some were so small they seem of little value. I think most people will get something from reading the book but it is rather variable in its interest and the quality of its writing
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unfortunately, boring
You would think that it's hard to write a boring book about something as interesting and fascinating as ants. However, this book manages to do that. Read more
Published 22 months ago by anonymous
Nice Book
Thoroughly engaging, well written and very informative.
What fascinating lives there ubiquitous yet much overlooked insects have.
What fascinating lives there ubiquitous yet much overlooked insects have.
Published 22 months ago by Shaun
Ants
Though well reviewed in the New Scientist I found this book a little boring; plenty of facts, and ants are inherently fascinating but somehow the writing is bit flat.
Published on 18 May 2009 by Dido
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