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Grasshopper Dreaming: Reflections on Killing and Loving
Grasshopper Dreaming is a collection of first-person musings about the ethical and philosophical implications of the author's work as an entomologist who specializes in grasshoppers and pest control. Lockwood deftly explores the moral implications of his work and speculates on about the actual relationship between "pests" and humanity if we consider all living creatures to have value in and of themselves, regardless of their usefulness or inconvenience for us. The author, self-described as "a hired assassin for agriculture," offers readers a rich account of the sometimes painful, often odd, occasionally funny, and invariably complex realizations that come out of balancing a religious perspective with the practices of modern science and technology. Based on fifteen years of work, the essays in this book represent the rare and compelling integration of understanding of nature with the perspective of a world-class ecologist and struggling mystic.
- GenresPhilosophyNature
141 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 29, 2019
I can't believe there are only four reviews of this wonderful little book (about 140 small pages). I hope this fifth review convinces a few people to read this thoughtful treatise by an entomologist, who is also a father and, of course, a son. I mention that because those facts play brilliantly into this book.
The layers of his research and his own story slowly unfold through his essays, which each could stand alone but thread a really thought-provoking narrative of life, killing and the human place in our ecosystem. After a curious and very short prologue about a goldfish flopping around on a classroom floor ("what does it mean to own a living thing?" asked his seventh-grade science teacher), he ruminates beautifully on the many hours he has spent observing and appreciating grasshoppers, encouraging his readers to appreciate grasshoppers and all other living things for their own intrinsic value rather than as part of a larger ecosystem.
He then reveals that most of his grasshopper research has actually led very directly to ever more efficient ways to kill the insects en masse to protect grasslands for grazing livestock. He also explores, or rather glances upon, the intersection of science and religion with interesting conclusions, certainly to a science-loving atheist such as myself.
"The truths of science are the gateways to spiritual insight, and religious truths give meaning to the work of science."
Finally, the centerpiece of the book is his longest piece, a 30-page essay that draws parallels between his father's scientific work on the atomic project at Los Alamos before World War II and his own work annihilating grasshoppers.
"The war that is being played out in agriculture is a contest between humans and the natural world to defend our 'way of life' — our consumption patterns, our economy, our expectations of comfort and our demands for convenience. The enemy is the ideology of nature — the notions that resources are finite, that the future has value, that other species have inherent worth, and that the planet is sacred. The grasshopper is not the rancher's enemy any more than the Muscovite was my father's enemy."
Food for thought for sure.
The layers of his research and his own story slowly unfold through his essays, which each could stand alone but thread a really thought-provoking narrative of life, killing and the human place in our ecosystem. After a curious and very short prologue about a goldfish flopping around on a classroom floor ("what does it mean to own a living thing?" asked his seventh-grade science teacher), he ruminates beautifully on the many hours he has spent observing and appreciating grasshoppers, encouraging his readers to appreciate grasshoppers and all other living things for their own intrinsic value rather than as part of a larger ecosystem.
He then reveals that most of his grasshopper research has actually led very directly to ever more efficient ways to kill the insects en masse to protect grasslands for grazing livestock. He also explores, or rather glances upon, the intersection of science and religion with interesting conclusions, certainly to a science-loving atheist such as myself.
"The truths of science are the gateways to spiritual insight, and religious truths give meaning to the work of science."
Finally, the centerpiece of the book is his longest piece, a 30-page essay that draws parallels between his father's scientific work on the atomic project at Los Alamos before World War II and his own work annihilating grasshoppers.
"The war that is being played out in agriculture is a contest between humans and the natural world to defend our 'way of life' — our consumption patterns, our economy, our expectations of comfort and our demands for convenience. The enemy is the ideology of nature — the notions that resources are finite, that the future has value, that other species have inherent worth, and that the planet is sacred. The grasshopper is not the rancher's enemy any more than the Muscovite was my father's enemy."
Food for thought for sure.
October 18, 2017
UNEXPECTEDLY PEACEFUL
I didn't anticipate reading this, I finding myself becoming more at peace with my world. I learned some, but the overall calming na
true of the writing was much more important. It was good to find a writer with such command if language.
I didn't anticipate reading this, I finding myself becoming more at peace with my world. I learned some, but the overall calming na
true of the writing was much more important. It was good to find a writer with such command if language.
September 9, 2021
I did enjoy this book, it covered one man's perspective into the lives of billions of grasshoppers, as well as other teachings and thoughts on religion, spirituality and philosophy in the natural world.
[9/12]
[9/12]
February 9, 2014
There have been no grasshoppers in our yard since First Turkey did them all in 35 years ago. Maybe that's why this title caught my attention. Then its thoughtful consideration of our lives and their meaning caught my soul. <
Grasshopper Dreaming: Reflections on Killing and Loving> by Jeffrey A. Lockwood, Boston, Skinner House Books, 2002.
It’s a rare book, only 138 pages long, that becomes a treasure. I marked thirty-five of those pages because they contained quotable quotes.
Jeffrey Lockwood begins by taking us deep into the Wyoming prairie to watch grasshoppers doing nothing, just being, most of their time. Perhaps we should be called “human doings,” not “human beings,” he suggests. Then he leads us seamlessly into observations about complexity and “...what science cannot fathom, nature still manages to exploit.” Before we realize it, he has led us full circle to ask, “What is a grasshopper good for?’ and concludes with the timeless answer: “...we value our children...because of who they are,” not what they do.
As we learn the details of Lockwood’s work as an etymologist, defending farmland against hordes of grasshoppers, he illustrates his dilemma of what it means to kill. “Taking life, like giving life, can be a sacred act.” Sometimes an essential act, if we are to live.
We watch as Lockwood teaches his children about his job killing grasshoppers, while capturing and releasing insects he finds in his house. In either case, he feels that his obligation is to “...mitigate their potential pain.”
The author notes our need to control as we confront nature’s “absolute indifference” to our existence, encourages us to “...contribute to moving human society through this phase of self-destruction”, and ends with a treasure chest of quotable quotes about the complementary nature of science (how we came to be) and religion (why we came to be).
Grasshopper Dreaming: Reflections on Killing and Loving> by Jeffrey A. Lockwood, Boston, Skinner House Books, 2002.
It’s a rare book, only 138 pages long, that becomes a treasure. I marked thirty-five of those pages because they contained quotable quotes.
Jeffrey Lockwood begins by taking us deep into the Wyoming prairie to watch grasshoppers doing nothing, just being, most of their time. Perhaps we should be called “human doings,” not “human beings,” he suggests. Then he leads us seamlessly into observations about complexity and “...what science cannot fathom, nature still manages to exploit.” Before we realize it, he has led us full circle to ask, “What is a grasshopper good for?’ and concludes with the timeless answer: “...we value our children...because of who they are,” not what they do.
As we learn the details of Lockwood’s work as an etymologist, defending farmland against hordes of grasshoppers, he illustrates his dilemma of what it means to kill. “Taking life, like giving life, can be a sacred act.” Sometimes an essential act, if we are to live.
We watch as Lockwood teaches his children about his job killing grasshoppers, while capturing and releasing insects he finds in his house. In either case, he feels that his obligation is to “...mitigate their potential pain.”
The author notes our need to control as we confront nature’s “absolute indifference” to our existence, encourages us to “...contribute to moving human society through this phase of self-destruction”, and ends with a treasure chest of quotable quotes about the complementary nature of science (how we came to be) and religion (why we came to be).
May 29, 2011
Jeffrey Lockwood does a wonderful job discussing the pesticide war against grasshoppers in the larger context of environmentalism and the consumerism of American culture.
August 16, 2012
A surprising and provocative read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews