Extraordinary Insects: Weird. Wonderful. Indispensable. The ones who run our world. cover art

Extraordinary Insects: Weird. Wonderful. Indispensable. The ones who run our world.

Weird. Wonderful. Indispensable. The ones who run our world.

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Extraordinary Insects: Weird. Wonderful. Indispensable. The ones who run our world.

By: Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, Lucy Moffatt - translator
Narrated by: Kristin Milward
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About this listen

*The Sunday Times Bestseller*

‘Extraordinary Insects is a joy’ The Times

A Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year 2019

A journey into the weird, wonderful and truly astonishing lives of the small but mighty creatures who keep the world turning.

Out of sight, underfoot, unseen beyond fleeting scuttles or darting flights, insects occupy a hidden world, yet are essential to sustaining life on earth.

Insects influence our ecosystem like a ripple effect on water. They arrived when life first moved to dry land, they preceded – and survived – the dinosaurs, they outnumber the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches, and they will be here long after us.

Working quietly but tirelessly, they give us food, uphold our ecosystems, can heal our wounds and even digest plastic. They could also provide us with new solutions to the antibiotics crisis, assist in disaster zones and inspire airforce engineers with their flying techniques.

But their private lives are also full of fun, intrigue and wonder –musical mating rituals; house-hunting for armies of beetle babies; metamorphosing into new characters; throwing parties in fermenting sap; cultivating fungi for food; farming smaller species for honey dew and always ensuring that what is dead is decomposed, ready to become life once again.

Here, we will discover life and death, drama and dreams, all on a millimetric scale. Like it or not, Earth is the planet of insects, and this is their extraordinary story.

 Animals Biological Sciences Biology Ecology Ecosystems & Habitats Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science World Ecosystem

Critic Reviews

‘Extraordinary Insects is a joy’ The Times

‘Erudite, enlightening and entertaining (…) a timely reminder of the fragility of our ecosystem and the vital role that insects play in the future of the planet and humanity’s existence’ Countryman

‘Extraordinary Insects is packed with wondrous information. There are more than 200 million insects on Earth for every human being and anyone wanting to learn more about them will find this book fascinating’ Daily Express

‘A fascinating new book [that] tells the remarkable story of insects living right under our noses’ The Sun

‘The enthusiasm of Professor Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson for insects is infectious. She communicates her extensive scientific knowledge in elegant, readable prose. A brilliant, informative read, full of fascinating facts about the species that help keep the world on an even keel.’ Sunday Express

‘[Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson] guides us round a huge cabinet of curiosities, and is the best kind of teacher. The stories she tells are so strange and absorbing that we don’t notice that we’re being systematically educated. [She] champions the insects primarily to champion us. She has a serious purpose, and succeeds magnificently.’ Evening Standard

‘A riotous party of colour, noise and humour, from the scatological to the sublime.’ Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine

‘Sverdrup-Thygeson, a Norwegian professor of life sciences, writes with such infectious and well-informed enthusiasm that it’s impossible not to develop a new-found respect for insects.’ Reader’s Digest

‘This excellent book by a Norwegian entomologist is filled with such infectious enthusiasm for the insect world…It’s a book that will change the way you see the world. A genuine must-read.’ WI Life Magazine

‘A refreshing and surprising insight into some of the most underappreciated critters.’ Magic Radio Book Club

All stars
Most relevant
Absolutely recommend this book. What we don’t know it some times more dangerous than what we do.
Will be listening to it again.

Fantastic

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Nicest book I ever heard and come across, insect is the fascinating and cool. Really recommend

Nice

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Interesting, entertaining, even funny at times, this was a fantastically written, translated and narrated whirlwind tour of the criminally underrated world of insects. I just wish it had been a bit longer as there is so much to explore here, but I suppose this is a wolrd so immense that an in depth look would be huge and maybe not as accessible as this one is.

Outstanding!

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This is a brilliant exposé of the insect’s that control the future
of our planet.
We should - tread carefully, utilize composting and when in
the public arena recognize our FOOD crumbs are part the
insect food chain.
Fabulously funny, instructive and educational, should be
set text for all school children for future proofing our
existence.
As we need Insect’s (not as food) to survive not vice versa.
Thank you so much Kristin Milward for the awe-inspiring
narration of Lucy Moffatt’s translation of
Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson’s researched brilliance :-)

Insect’s at their funniest

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Despite the unnecessarily elongated title this is relatively short book that I feel may have been somewhat to the authors disappointment. I mean this in the kindest sense in that it is quite charmingly written, often going off on little tangents to explain how one idea led to another or the unlikely circumstances under which researchers came to discover something extraordinary about their insect of interest. It reads a little like a Bill Bryson book, you feel the author could go on all day about this or that but for the sake of publishing a book, trains of thought must eventually reach their terminus, even if it approaches a little abruptly.
For somebody like me who enjoys categorising thing in order to solidify new information, this book was the perfect introduction to entomology as it starts off by defining insect phylogeny and breaking them down into their “families” and focuses on those that comprise the most prolific species’. In this way the introductory chapters set out a bit of a roadmap for the book making it easy to stay focused and not get too lost in the undergrowth.
I’d recommend giving this a go, Sverdrup-Thygeson is evidently passionate about her cause and that come across with vigour and intrigue of Bryson and with the warmth of David Attenborough. It’s already inspired me to start planting flowers to attract pollinating insects to my garden, an unexpected benefit that I didn’t have in mind when I started reading.

A factual narrative

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