Product Description

Meticulously researched and illustrated with color photographs, Insects is a landmark reference book that is ideal for any naturalist or entomologist. To enhance exact identification of insects, the photographs in this encyclopedic reference were taken in the field -- and are not pinned specimens.

Insects enables readers to identify most insects quickly and accurately. The more than 50 pages of picture keys lead to the appropriate chapter and specific photos to confirm identification. The keys are surprisingly comprehensive and easy for non-specialists to use.

Insects features:

• Detailed chapters covering all insect orders and the insect families of eastern North America
• A brief examination of common families of related terrestrial arthropods
• 4,000 color photographs illustrating typical behaviors and key characteristics
• 28 picture keys for quick and accurate insect identification
• Three indexes -- common family names, photographs, general index
• Expert guidance on observing, collecting and photographing insects.

Almost 80 percent of all named animal species are insects and closely related arthropods. This book is required reading for anyone interested in entomology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2729 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 736 pages

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Insects, comprising more than 80 percent of the approximately 1.5 million animal species that have been formally identified by scientists, play a significant role in our everyday lives. Honeybees pollinate crops; mosquitoes are both a nuisance and potential carrier of disease; cockroaches are unwelcome house guests; butterflies delight children. Written at a level accessible to college students in introductory biology courses as well as motivated laypeople by an entomologist with more than 20 years' experience as a teacher, this guide focuses on families of northeastern North American insects. The geographic scope is loosely defined as east of the Mississippi and north of the state of Georgia.

Arranged in chapters by scientific classification, this work furnishes general information on insect orders and families as well as more specific data on representative individual species. Chapters cover 13 big groups of insects, for example, "Cockroaches, Termites, Mantids and Other Orthopteroids"; "Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids"; "Butterflies and Moths"; "Flies, Scorpionflies and Fleas"; and "Sawflies, Wasps, Bees, and Ants." Each chapter begins with an essay highlighting the characteristics of the group, its natural history, and interesting sidelights on individual species. A separate chapter on observing, collecting, and photographing insects is included.

Some 4,000 detailed color photographs of individual species in their natural environments afford the user the opportunity to view the insects as they appear in life. More than 50 pages of illustrated keys to the identification of insect groups are designed to be as user-friendly as possible; technical taxonomic terms such aspronotum and scutellum are illustrated within the key. Icons alert the user to corresponding photographs and further identification keys. A 21-page "Index of Photographs" refers the reader to page numbers of insects by genus and species as well as some common names. There are no references from broad common insect names such as ladybugs or mosquitoes; therefore, searching by genus and species yields the best results. A separate 23-page general index supplies page references to orders, superfamilies, and families of insects.

Firefly is also the publisher of Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders (2003), which, with its broader geographic range and lower price, might be a first choice for smaller libraries. Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity is notable for its numerous color photographs, accessible language, and relatively simple-to-use identification keys. It is highly recommended for public, academic, and special libraries, particularly those in northeastern North America. Nancy Cannon
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Hugh Danks, Canadian Museum of Nature
An extraordinarily useful book -- attractive and interestingly written, but also rigorously correct.

Review
An impressive book.... Informative and fascinating. (N. Glenn Perrett Sideroads of Caledon and Erin 200704)

Magnificent... thousands of photographs... a delight to read due to Marshall's wry sense of humor and idiosyncratic enthusiasms. (Frederic F. Burchsted American Reference Books Annual 2007)

This is an outstanding contribution to entomology. It will play an important role in the training of insect lovers for the foreseeable future. (William E. Conner American Scientist 200609)

[Outstanding Reference Sources, 2007] Afford[s] the user the opportunity to view the insects as they appear in life. (Reference Sources Committee, ALA Reference and User Services Association Booklist 20070515)

[Selected as one of Booklist's Editors' Choice, 2006: Reference Sources] Detailed color photographs... designed to be as user-friendly as possible. (Booklist 20070101)

Dazzling and tremendously helpful to anyone who wants to know about insects... I'm honored to hold it in my hands. (Ed Kanze Hersam Acorn Newspapers (NY State) 20060914)

Winner of the 2006 Science In Society Journalism Award in the General Book competition (Canadian Science Writers' Association 200710)

This volume is big, beautiful, well written, and informative... I recommend this truly valuable tome very highly. (Paul P. Shubeck, emeritus, Montclair State University Science Books and Film 20080201)

Best Books 2007, Junior High & Young Adult, Zoological Sciences (Science Books & Films 200606)

Over 4000 color photographs taken...in the wild, this book is the most comprehensive photographic overview of insects ever published. (Jeffrey Cumming Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Canada 200607)

This volume is an excellent resource. The book has coffee-table quality combined with practitioner-level relevance. (Marvin K. Harris Science Books and Films 20060803)

The perfect reference book even for those of us with a limited interest in bugs... perfect for birders. (Noreen O'Brien Main Courier-Gazette 200612)

Marshall designed this books so that a reader can easily identify just about any given bug by order or family. (Nathan Whitlock Quill and Quire 200705)

Magnificent ... indispensable ... an unmatched resource. Destined to become a fixture in all general entomological collections. Summing Up: Essential. (P.K. Lago, University of Mississippi Choice 20070616)

The photography is so spectacular that this volume could stand alone as a coffee table book of insects. (Clint D. Kelly, Postdoctoral Fellow, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University BioScience (American Institute of Biological Scien 200705)

[A] jam-packed colorful reference ... for serious science libraries. (Diane C. Donovan The Midwest Book Review 20060915)

[Winner, General Competition, 2006 Science in Society Journalism Award] (National Association of Science Writers 200701)

[2007 Outstanding Reference Source, Reference and User Services Association] 'A wealth of information is provided for the work's less-than-$100 price.' (Jeff Schwartz, 2007 Chair, RUSA Reference Sources Committee American Libraries 20061015)

[STARRED REVIEW] Simply bigger, prettier, and more comprehensive than any previous publication on insects... useful to amateur and professional alike (Annette Aiello Library Journal 200710)

[Selected as one of the 'Outstanding Academic Titles' for 2006] (Choice )

[Starred review] Notable for its numerous color photographs, accessible language, and relatively simple-to-use identification keys. (Nancy Cannon Booklist )

[Selected as one of the 'Best Reference Books of 2006'] (Brian E. Coutts and Cheryl LaGuardia Library Journal )

This volume is an incredibly important, masterfully written, and profusely illustrated work ... destined to become a natural history classic. (Arthur V. Evans, Research Collaborator, Dept of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution and Dept of Recent Invertebrates, Virginia Museum of Natural History The Coleopterists Bulletin 61(3), 2007 )

Groundbreaking. (J.B. MacKinnon Explore )

Visually stunning... accurate... highly accessible to a broad audience, including naturalists, amateur entomologists [and] seasoned professionals.... [I] recommend it whole-heartedly (Gina Penny, Department of Biology, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia Canadian Field Naturalist, vol. 120, no. 1, Jan-Ma )

Clearly this represents the life work of a fine scientist.... I urge every library to make them available. (Gerry Rising, State University of New York Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus The Buffalo News and Buffalo University www.acsu.b )

Customer Reviews

Simply the best book on insects I have ever seen.
I have seen many books on insects, from the Peterson's field guide series to lesser-known works, and none come even remotely close to the coverage, the image quality, or containing the sheer number of insects as does this book. The images are fantastic, the introductory texts to each insect group are informative and anything but dry, and at the end is a good section on observing insects and then a set of highly usable and clear keys to help all budding entomologists identify their insects.

The book is specific to the insects of eastern North America (but many species are found continent-wide, too), and some of the species pictured are to be found in the south, others in the north of the book's area of coverage. The identification keys are likely to work on all common to uncommon examples of the groups of insects to be found in all of Canada and the U.S., but to use the keys some magnification tool is needed (a good hand magnifying lens to dissection microscope). For someone wanting to put names to their collected insects, the keys are worth the purchase price of this book alone.

Though extremely useful for identification, this is NOT a field guide -- it contains over 700 typewriter-size pages bound in hardcover -- it will NOT fit comfortably in your back pocket or your day bag. But, as a professional entomologist I have found it useful to refer to it when someone has brought me an insect -- more often than not it is in the book with a good photograph.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in entomology (the study of insects): gardeners, nature-enthusiasts, collectors, etc. Children will be fascinated by the pictures of "bugs", and this book will hopefully spur a number of them to take up entomology as an entertaining and educational hobby, if not a profession.

Finally, at full price this book is a steal. I have paid much more for lesser quality texts, and if you can snap this up at the reduced price the better for you!

Stunning photographs and fascinating insights into the insect world
This large and very attractive book does an incredible job of capturing the amazing diversity of the insect world through photos and text. The photos are often quite beautiful and offer new perspectives on these tiny creatures that share our planet. Another very useful feature are the identification keys at the back of the book. If you find an insect and don't know what it is, the keys will guide you through the process of figuring out what you have. If you have any interest in insects, this book will provide you with many happy hours of exploration.

Easiest, most thorough insect guide
This very large text is THE text for insect identification in eastern north america.
The keys are relatively easy to follow (as long as you have a dissecting scope), and the parts are even pointed to in the keys, so you know which part of the insect the author is referring to.
Also great about this guide is that it includes arachnids, which some other guides don't include.
The colour photographs are excellent, they are clear and make identification much easier when used with the keys. I used this text to identify insect samples for research, and as an absolute amateur I was able to use the text.
If you have this guide, the only reason you would need any other insect book would be for field use; this book is way too huge for carrying around outside.