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House Guests, House Pests: A Natural History of Animals in the Home
Today we live in snug, well-furnished houses surrounded by the trappings of a civilized life. But we are not alone--we suffer a constant stream of unwanted visitors. Our houses, our food, our belongings, our very existence are under constant attack from a host of invaders eager to take advantage of our shelter, our food stores and our tasty soft furnishings.
From bats in the belfry to beetles in the cellar, moths in the wardrobe and mosquitoes in the bedroom, humans cannot escape the attentions of the animal kingdom. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but when it's our blood the bedbugs are after, when it's our cereal bowl that's littered with mouse droppings, and when it's our favorite chair that collapses due to woodworm in the legs, it really brings it home the fact that we and our homes are part of nature too.
This book represents a 21st century version of the classic Medieval bestiary. It poses questions such as where these animals came from, can we live with them, can we get rid of them, and should we? Written in Richard Jones's engaging style and with a funky-retro design, House Guests, House Pests will be a book to treasure.
From bats in the belfry to beetles in the cellar, moths in the wardrobe and mosquitoes in the bedroom, humans cannot escape the attentions of the animal kingdom. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but when it's our blood the bedbugs are after, when it's our cereal bowl that's littered with mouse droppings, and when it's our favorite chair that collapses due to woodworm in the legs, it really brings it home the fact that we and our homes are part of nature too.
This book represents a 21st century version of the classic Medieval bestiary. It poses questions such as where these animals came from, can we live with them, can we get rid of them, and should we? Written in Richard Jones's engaging style and with a funky-retro design, House Guests, House Pests will be a book to treasure.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2015
11 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Richard Jones
14 books4 followersRichard 'Bugman' Jones FRES is a British entomologist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and has written many books about insects.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 11, 2017
3.5 rating
"It's only a pest if it reaches pest proportions." Loved this advice!
I found this book randomly while perusing the shelves at the library and thought it would be an interesting read - I was hoping it would have some information on stink bugs. Jones starts the book off by giving a short history on human life and the adaptations we made in shelter over the years. He correlates this to the change and evolution of different pests - mammals, aviary, and insect alike. He then highlights some common pests and what they are looking for when they come into our homes. At times he also discusses, when possible, where the pest originated from and how they were brought inside. I would say about 85% of the creatures Jones comments on are of no actual worry to people - I get the idea from his writing that many of the bugs we worry about are actually the helpful ones we should actually tolerate - such as spiders and centipedes.
"We are not used to them, so we don't understand them; if we don't understand them we fear them, and if we fear them we will not tolerate them."
I enjoyed this book although there were a few set backs - He is an English entomologist, which is fine, but I feel that there may be some different pests in America that were overlooked and I am sure that some he spoke of are not here or less of a concern. I really wanted to read about stink bugs and box elder bugs because they are a nuisance at my house. These were not included in the text or the nice appendix, or short encyclopedia, of common pests. Also, at some points he seems to rush from pest to pest and the transition isn't always smooth. As the reader, I would sometimes think, wait - are we talking about something else here? and then have to go back and re-read.
Good book to calm your fears!
"It's only a pest if it reaches pest proportions." Loved this advice!
I found this book randomly while perusing the shelves at the library and thought it would be an interesting read - I was hoping it would have some information on stink bugs. Jones starts the book off by giving a short history on human life and the adaptations we made in shelter over the years. He correlates this to the change and evolution of different pests - mammals, aviary, and insect alike. He then highlights some common pests and what they are looking for when they come into our homes. At times he also discusses, when possible, where the pest originated from and how they were brought inside. I would say about 85% of the creatures Jones comments on are of no actual worry to people - I get the idea from his writing that many of the bugs we worry about are actually the helpful ones we should actually tolerate - such as spiders and centipedes.
"We are not used to them, so we don't understand them; if we don't understand them we fear them, and if we fear them we will not tolerate them."
I enjoyed this book although there were a few set backs - He is an English entomologist, which is fine, but I feel that there may be some different pests in America that were overlooked and I am sure that some he spoke of are not here or less of a concern. I really wanted to read about stink bugs and box elder bugs because they are a nuisance at my house. These were not included in the text or the nice appendix, or short encyclopedia, of common pests. Also, at some points he seems to rush from pest to pest and the transition isn't always smooth. As the reader, I would sometimes think, wait - are we talking about something else here? and then have to go back and re-read.
Good book to calm your fears!
August 16, 2025
This book advertised itself as a natural history of house pests, explaining what niche they filled before there were houses. Unfortunately, it is more a laundry list describing the ecology of pests as they exist today with generally a very superficial nod to what food they ate before they became human commensals. Allow me to quote from memory:
"The bacon beetle used to eat dead animals outside. Now it eats meat inside. If you keep your meat in the refrigerator, they won't find it. Flour weevils are beetles that used to eat plants outside. Now they eat piles of plant parts we keep inside. If you keep your flour in a good container, you won't get these beetles except you might anyway because I've seen some crazy stuff."
You want to read a couple hundred pages of that? If so, dive right in. There's a bit more to each topic than that, but that caricature is unfortunately close to the mark in capturing the feel.
"The bacon beetle used to eat dead animals outside. Now it eats meat inside. If you keep your meat in the refrigerator, they won't find it. Flour weevils are beetles that used to eat plants outside. Now they eat piles of plant parts we keep inside. If you keep your flour in a good container, you won't get these beetles except you might anyway because I've seen some crazy stuff."
You want to read a couple hundred pages of that? If so, dive right in. There's a bit more to each topic than that, but that caricature is unfortunately close to the mark in capturing the feel.
August 31, 2017
I picked this up as an impulse buy while traveling drawn in by the cover and illustrations. The premise is excellent- how did the creatures that now commonly share our dwellings get there? And where did they live before humans started building houses? These questions are answered thoroughly, along with copious information about the life cycles and habits of resident insects, especially, since the author is an entomologist. I found that the details were a bit too copious, however, and there was a pronounced streak of self-satisfied storytelling that makes Jones sound a somewhat pedantic- like when he crows about his distinction of putatively being the only member of western civilization who purposely cultivated a case of headlice because, he says, they're not harmful, and we're all just silly for worrying about them. A more deft editor could have streamlined the narrative to exclude the less relevant tangents. As previous reviewers have mentioned, the focus is on UK pests, though some attention is paid to North American and Australian homes, and many are common in both Europe and North America. On the whole, I learned a lot, but it was like listening to an emeritis professor interspersing pearls of wisdom with rambling stories for the joy of hearing himself pontificate.
October 6, 2015
British naturalists go off on some strange kicks, and this is one of them. There's a lot of fascinating trivia here, but it gets repetitive after a while. And it /is/ geared toward UK residents, so the common names for various bugs are the British versions - many that an American wouldn't recognize. I'm pretty sure I'd never heard of a larder beetle or a bacon beetle before. The book is mostly bugs, though there's a few pages about birds in the eaves and a short section on mice and rats. Then it's back to bugs. Mr. Jones is absolutely fascinated by the minute differences between one species of something that lives in England, and another nearly identical species that lives in Europe, and traces both of them back to a nearly identical species from Africa - or a similar path, over and over again. Read just a chapter or two at a time, or start to get annoyed at the sameness. One thing's for sure - after reading this, you'll put a LOT more of your food into Tupperware and Ziploc bags!
January 14, 2018
Depending on how you define "human", humans have been around for around 100,000 years, maybe longer. However, we have only been doing things like growing crops and building houses and granaries to store them in for 10,000 years at the most. Up until about 100 years ago, it was pretty much just part of life that bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, houseflies, moths, mice, rats and the like were in those homes, and often in that food. Houses were warmer, drier, and often less dangerous than the outside world, and this was true for insects and rodents no less than for us.
In the last century or so, however, we have become more and more attached to the idea that everything other than humans (and a few invitees like cats and dogs) needed to stay Out There. So, when they were found to be nonetheless In Here, in our homes, with us, there was not just the sort of annoyance at their thieving or perhaps grotesque behavior that our ancestors no doubt had, but also a bit of existential horror at the thought that the outside world can cross our threshold. The late 20th and early 21st century denizen of the advanced economies of the world, tends to react with horror and/or anger at the realization that there are other animals taking up residence in our homes. There are exceptions, of course.
Richard Jones appears to be one of those exceptions. He relates what is known of the history of scores of different kinds of vermin, and in many cases throws in anecdotes from his own experience discovering them in the places he has lived. One gets the impression that these discoveries were greeted with not so much an "Aaaaugh!" as an "Ooooohhh!" The dedication mentions a certain Catherine Ure who has put up with this kind of thing from him for a few decades now.
To be sure, he doesn't just mention personal experience. In the last ten years or so, we have begun to learn a bit more about the history of many of these species, through gene sequencing. In some cases this has revealed what species they split off from, a millennia or ten ago, and what they were doing before they started infesting our houses, barns, or granaries.
In many cases, because they have to change as we (or our homes) change, reading about the biology of these uninvited guests, tells us a bit about how our own lives have changed. When we changed from dirt floors covered with rushes (swept out every few months, perhaps) to floors covered in wood or stone with rugs thrown over them, and then changed again to carpets, it changed which kind of creepy crawlies we had down there by our feet, and how many of them were there. Even if you're not interested in insects or rodents or birds, particularly, Jones makes his book readable and entertaining by telling us how these "guests" lives have changed as ours have changed.
If you're more than a bit squeamish about insects, in particular beetles, then there are a couple parts of this book that may be difficult for you. But even if you are not, like God, "uncommonly fond of beetles", this book is an entertaining tour of just how many other species are living with us, and how.
In the last century or so, however, we have become more and more attached to the idea that everything other than humans (and a few invitees like cats and dogs) needed to stay Out There. So, when they were found to be nonetheless In Here, in our homes, with us, there was not just the sort of annoyance at their thieving or perhaps grotesque behavior that our ancestors no doubt had, but also a bit of existential horror at the thought that the outside world can cross our threshold. The late 20th and early 21st century denizen of the advanced economies of the world, tends to react with horror and/or anger at the realization that there are other animals taking up residence in our homes. There are exceptions, of course.
Richard Jones appears to be one of those exceptions. He relates what is known of the history of scores of different kinds of vermin, and in many cases throws in anecdotes from his own experience discovering them in the places he has lived. One gets the impression that these discoveries were greeted with not so much an "Aaaaugh!" as an "Ooooohhh!" The dedication mentions a certain Catherine Ure who has put up with this kind of thing from him for a few decades now.
To be sure, he doesn't just mention personal experience. In the last ten years or so, we have begun to learn a bit more about the history of many of these species, through gene sequencing. In some cases this has revealed what species they split off from, a millennia or ten ago, and what they were doing before they started infesting our houses, barns, or granaries.
In many cases, because they have to change as we (or our homes) change, reading about the biology of these uninvited guests, tells us a bit about how our own lives have changed. When we changed from dirt floors covered with rushes (swept out every few months, perhaps) to floors covered in wood or stone with rugs thrown over them, and then changed again to carpets, it changed which kind of creepy crawlies we had down there by our feet, and how many of them were there. Even if you're not interested in insects or rodents or birds, particularly, Jones makes his book readable and entertaining by telling us how these "guests" lives have changed as ours have changed.
If you're more than a bit squeamish about insects, in particular beetles, then there are a couple parts of this book that may be difficult for you. But even if you are not, like God, "uncommonly fond of beetles", this book is an entertaining tour of just how many other species are living with us, and how.
June 14, 2018
You pour some milk on your breakfast cereal, and several squirming beetles float to the top. Most of us would recoil in horror, but Britsh entomologist Richard Jones' reaction was "Wow, I wonder what species these are?". His survey of the creatures that have made their homes in human homes is scientifically rigorous but laced with humourous anecdotes such as this, and that is what makes it such a great read. He traces the co-habitaiton of animals, mainly insects, in human dwellings right from the caveman and early-agriculture eras. For all that we feel plagued by these visitors, only a tiny proportion of animals have actually adapted to living in human houses; some insects have done this so well and so thoroughtly that they're no longer found in the wild. He covers all animal visitors and settlers but as an entomologist focuses mainly on insects - and there some great insights. His quirky British humour makes this book an exception in the nature writing field, which features many good books, but they're usually quite serious in the way the extol the wonders of nature. "House Guests, House Pests" is funny as well as informative. One chapter is titiled "Eating us out of house and home" (covering pests that eat our stored foods) while the next chapter is titled "Eating the house and home" (about borers and termites). A sub-heading in the food pests chapter is titled "The greater and lesser of two weevils". After finishing the book, I had not only been informed but had been thoroughly entertained. The volume is also very well-designed, with no photos, just great drawings of the critters featured. A lasting insight is that most of the insect companions we share our houses with are active at night as they like the dark - something to think about when you flick that light off before going to sleep.
August 11, 2025
As someone who feels guilty about killing flies this book was rather lovely and resonated with me when I saw it on the shelf in the shop. I just knew I had to get it, and I wasn't disappointed.
Having finished this book I feel like I have learned something new and I really enjoyed how ecological theory was shown through various creatures and their way of living and vice versa. This was a unique angle of applying ecological theories and I really appreciate that about this book.
Unfortunately it was still a slog at times. But overall, good.
Having finished this book I feel like I have learned something new and I really enjoyed how ecological theory was shown through various creatures and their way of living and vice versa. This was a unique angle of applying ecological theories and I really appreciate that about this book.
Unfortunately it was still a slog at times. But overall, good.
July 27, 2020
Interesting book about how certain other animals came to live in very close quarters with humans!
November 10, 2020
Creepy critters. Honeybees versus hornets. Death watch beetles. UK centric. It's only a pest if it reaches pest proportions.
January 1, 2021
As someone who happens to enjoy reading insect pest control websites, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Maybe slightly tangential in places, but still a great read, particularly in the context of how animals such as bed bugs became household pests in the first place.
I’d recommend it if you’re even slightly interested in entomological subjects. It’s been a nice little addition to my wannabe entomologist bookcase.
I’d recommend it if you’re even slightly interested in entomological subjects. It’s been a nice little addition to my wannabe entomologist bookcase.
February 3, 2021
Ew, gross... But cool!
June 18, 2024
I just enjoy when people are really really into something. And if that's bugs, so be it.
July 16, 2024
This has been on my shelf for ages, fascinating if itch inducing history of animals invading our homes.
October 6, 2015
A kind of mixed bag here - there are some interesting stories and some boring ones. The author is certainly an expert and passionate about "house guests" (the term he uses for animals such as insects that invade human homes). There are some intriguing story, for example about cockroach and how tough cockroaches are, there are many factors that allow them to survive.
It's amazing how nature (though evolution) guide our house guests to catch up and adapt to our development and resist our efforts to get rid of them. On other hands, there are other parts that's not that interesting, e.g. about mice and rats (at least uninteresting for me). Feel free to skip them because you won't lose any 'story' by skipping those that you don't enjoy.
It's amazing how nature (though evolution) guide our house guests to catch up and adapt to our development and resist our efforts to get rid of them. On other hands, there are other parts that's not that interesting, e.g. about mice and rats (at least uninteresting for me). Feel free to skip them because you won't lose any 'story' by skipping those that you don't enjoy.
May 30, 2016
I did enjoy reading this for the most part. The author explains - very often from the very beginning of time - how pests got to be regarded as such. The explanations are backed by science and evolutionary history, and are interestingly written and sometimes illuminating.
However, the one thing I could not forgive was the failure to include ticks. My home had a huge tick infestation back in the '80s when I had a dog, and it took us 1 whole year to finally be rid of every last one. I can't fathom how and why fleas were included in this book, but not ticks.
However, the one thing I could not forgive was the failure to include ticks. My home had a huge tick infestation back in the '80s when I had a dog, and it took us 1 whole year to finally be rid of every last one. I can't fathom how and why fleas were included in this book, but not ticks.
November 3, 2015
Loved this book. Makes me want to be an entomologist!
April 12, 2017
(3.5 Stars!)
Jones is a likeable and engaging companion and this book is nicely laid out with some charming illustrations and a really nice font to boot, with a nicely detailed appendix at the end which is quite useful too. He puts to bed countless myths, stigmas and outright lies surrounding many insects such as the honey bee and the wasp, apparently the bee is actually more aggressive and when it does sting you its sting leaves you chemically tagged and then even more bees are likely to attack you. He stresses the difference between head lice and clothing lice, apparently middle class kids are as likely to get them as working class ones and that clothing lice are far more rare than the head lice that so many 3-10 year olds pick up.
As you can imagine this is a riot of Latin (a good and bad thing) but it also throws us some other delicious words like synanthropy (the name given to animals that live wholly or significantly with humans) and peridomestic (around, at the edge of or just outside the house). We learn much about many beasties, like the reason behind the tick tapping of the death watch beetle or that the vacuum cleaner has probably done more to remove household pests than anything else over the last 100 years. Apparently "to entomologists, true bugs are really only those insects, with sucking rather than chewing mouthparts, that are in the order Hemiptera." so there you go, though probably most of all we learn that there really is no such thing as good or bad animals, just as there is no such thing as good or bad plants, "a plant in the wrong place is a weed." he explains.
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