A stunningly original exploration of the ties that bind us to the beautiful, ancient, astoundingly accomplished, largely unknown, and unfathomably different species with whom we share the world.

For as long as humans have existed, insects have existed, too. Wherever we’ve traveled, they’ve traveled, too. Yet we hardly know them, not even the ones we’re closest to: those that eat our food, share our beds, and live in our homes.

Organizing his book alphabetically with one entry for each letter, weaving together brief vignettes, meditations, and extended essays, Hugh Raffles embarks on a mesmerizing exploration of history and science, anthropology and travel, economics, philosophy, and popular culture to show us how insects have triggered our obsessions, stirred our passions, and beguiled our imaginations.

Raffles offers us a glimpse into the high-stakes world of Chinese cricket fighting, the deceptive courtship rites of the dance fly, the intriguing possibilities of queer insect sex, the vital and vicious role locusts play in the famines of west Africa, how beetles deformed by Chernobyl inspired art, and how our desire and disgust for insects has prompted our own aberrant behavior.

Deftly fusing the literary and the scientific, Hugh Raffles has given us an essential book of reference that is also a fascination of the highest order.

http://insectopedia.org/

全球知名的人类学家带你走进昆虫微小的世界：

万物皆与彼此同在，一扇小小的窄门，将开启整个大千世界

休•莱佛士，耶鲁大学森林与环境研究博士学位，目前任教于纽约“社会研究新学院”（New School for Social Research）人类学系。他致力探索人、动物和无生物之间的关系。《昆虫志》荣获2009年“怀丁作家（非小说项目）奖”、《纽约时报》2010年度好书、2010年“人文人类学学会”所颁发的特别奖、2011年“猎户星座图书奖”（Orion Book Award），着有In Amazonia：A Natural History，也荣获许多奖项。

他游走东西方，通过游吟诗人般的语言写就26段各自独立且内容丰富的篇章：人类不是世界的中心，昆虫比人类早几亿年出现在地球上，他们与自然的关系、与我们人类的关系，能够反映出这个世界真实的状态。