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Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps
‘A funny and beautifully written welcome to the enigmatic, weird and wonderful world of wasps’ DAVE GOULSON, author of SILENT EARTH
There may be no insect with a worse reputation than the wasp, and none guarding so many undiscovered wonders.
Where bees and ants have long been the darlings of the insect world, wasps are much older, cleverer and more diverse. They are the bee’s evolutionary ancestors – flying 100 million years earlier – and today they are just as essential for the survival of our environment. A bee, ecologist Professor Seirian Sumner argues, is just a wasp that has forgotten how to hunt.
For readers of Entangled Life, Other Minds and The Gospel of Eels, this is a book to upturn your expectations about one overlooked animal and the wider architecture of our natural world.
With endless surprises, this book might teach you about the wasps that spend their entire lives sealed inside a fig, about stinging wasps, about parasitic wasps, about wasps that turn cockroaches into living zombies, about how wasps taught us to make paper.
It offers up a maligned insect in all its diverse, unexpected splendour; as both predator and pollinator, the wasp is an essential pest controller worldwide. Inside their sophisticated social worlds is the best model we have for the earth’s major evolutionary transitions. In their understudied biology are clues to progressing medicine, including a possible cure for cancer.
The closer you look at these spurned, winged insects – both custodians and bouncers of our planet – the more you see. Their secrets have so far gone mostly untapped, but the potential of the wasp is endless.
There may be no insect with a worse reputation than the wasp, and none guarding so many undiscovered wonders.
Where bees and ants have long been the darlings of the insect world, wasps are much older, cleverer and more diverse. They are the bee’s evolutionary ancestors – flying 100 million years earlier – and today they are just as essential for the survival of our environment. A bee, ecologist Professor Seirian Sumner argues, is just a wasp that has forgotten how to hunt.
For readers of Entangled Life, Other Minds and The Gospel of Eels, this is a book to upturn your expectations about one overlooked animal and the wider architecture of our natural world.
With endless surprises, this book might teach you about the wasps that spend their entire lives sealed inside a fig, about stinging wasps, about parasitic wasps, about wasps that turn cockroaches into living zombies, about how wasps taught us to make paper.
It offers up a maligned insect in all its diverse, unexpected splendour; as both predator and pollinator, the wasp is an essential pest controller worldwide. Inside their sophisticated social worlds is the best model we have for the earth’s major evolutionary transitions. In their understudied biology are clues to progressing medicine, including a possible cure for cancer.
The closer you look at these spurned, winged insects – both custodians and bouncers of our planet – the more you see. Their secrets have so far gone mostly untapped, but the potential of the wasp is endless.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2022
186 people are currently reading
3845 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews
March 1, 2023
"‘I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars.’" ~Charles Darwin
Many of us dislike wasps because we've been stung or worry about getting stung. We think of a wasp and our brains scream, BAD!, and that's the end of that.
However, there are so many good things about wasps. There are also many more species than those couple social ones we think of as comprising all wasps - primarily yellow jackets, who seem to delight in sinking their tiny, waspy daggers into us.
Learning more about the things we fear can help alleviate it and even sometimes make us appreciate the object of that fear.
I was excited to get this book and learn so many fun things about wasps.
Here are a few:
• "There are over 100,000 species of wasps," compared to only 22,000 of bees. (There are probably several million wasp species that have yet to be described.)
• Bees are actually "wasps that have forgotten how to hunt. The ‘original bee’ was a solitary wasp who turned vegetarian".
• The first ant was a wasp that had lost its wings.
• "Some of the tropical species [of wasps] are the size of a small bird".
• "The sting is much more than a weapon: it is a prey-carrying kebab stick, a medicinal syringe; it delivers preservatives, anaesthetics, antibiotics, mind-altering drugs."
• Wasp "venom components are now used widely to treat inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and tendonitis".
• Wasps are employed to sniff out "explosive materials like TNT, Semtex and gunpowder, or illicit substances like cocaine". In fact, they are better odor detectors than dogs.
• Wasps "can retain spatial maps in their heads for at least 24 hours without reinforcement, and they retain memories of smells for up to 30 days."
• They can also recognize individual human faces. (Don't antagonize one because it will remember you.
• And finally, one to share at your next boring cocktail party: There is a name for insect poo and that name is "frass".
I was surprised to learn how dependent we humans are on wasps and how much they contribute to ecosystems around the world. I had no idea that wasps are also pollinators (among other things).
While bees tend to pollinate plants with petals that are "blue, pink, purple, white or yellow, orientated horizontally, upright or as pendants, with weak odour and strong ridges that act as nectar guides," wasp plants "tend to be brown, green or purple (note there is little overlap with bee flowers here), have a strong odour (again, unlike bee flowers), are bell-, dish- or gullet-shaped, and have no nectar guides."
There is so much information in this book and the author writes well, her passion for wasps leaping off every page. There is an amusing section in which Aristotle comes back to life and she shares our modern knowledge of wasps with an exuberant and wondering him.
There were times when the sheer amount of details became tedious and my interest waned. For the most part though, I'm excited by how much I learned in this book.
And as for our fear of wasps (except for those who are allergic to their venom)? It's overrated. Most of these carnivores have no intention or inclination to sting us.
On the other hand, if you happen to be insect larvae (in which case I'm surprised you're able to read this), you have much to fear.
Parasitoid wasps have evolved to lay their eggs inside those helpless larvae, the baby wasp eagerly munching away on the living flesh of the caterpillar, making its way out into our bright and beautiful world.
I'm sure those insects would agree with Darwin, how he couldn't accept that a beneficent and omnipotent creator would design such a thing!
Many of us dislike wasps because we've been stung or worry about getting stung. We think of a wasp and our brains scream, BAD!, and that's the end of that.
However, there are so many good things about wasps. There are also many more species than those couple social ones we think of as comprising all wasps - primarily yellow jackets, who seem to delight in sinking their tiny, waspy daggers into us.
Learning more about the things we fear can help alleviate it and even sometimes make us appreciate the object of that fear.
I was excited to get this book and learn so many fun things about wasps.
Here are a few:
• "There are over 100,000 species of wasps," compared to only 22,000 of bees. (There are probably several million wasp species that have yet to be described.)
• Bees are actually "wasps that have forgotten how to hunt. The ‘original bee’ was a solitary wasp who turned vegetarian".
• The first ant was a wasp that had lost its wings.
• "Some of the tropical species [of wasps] are the size of a small bird".
• "The sting is much more than a weapon: it is a prey-carrying kebab stick, a medicinal syringe; it delivers preservatives, anaesthetics, antibiotics, mind-altering drugs."
• Wasp "venom components are now used widely to treat inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and tendonitis".
• Wasps are employed to sniff out "explosive materials like TNT, Semtex and gunpowder, or illicit substances like cocaine". In fact, they are better odor detectors than dogs.
• Wasps "can retain spatial maps in their heads for at least 24 hours without reinforcement, and they retain memories of smells for up to 30 days."
• They can also recognize individual human faces. (Don't antagonize one because it will remember you.
• And finally, one to share at your next boring cocktail party: There is a name for insect poo and that name is "frass".
I was surprised to learn how dependent we humans are on wasps and how much they contribute to ecosystems around the world. I had no idea that wasps are also pollinators (among other things).
While bees tend to pollinate plants with petals that are "blue, pink, purple, white or yellow, orientated horizontally, upright or as pendants, with weak odour and strong ridges that act as nectar guides," wasp plants "tend to be brown, green or purple (note there is little overlap with bee flowers here), have a strong odour (again, unlike bee flowers), are bell-, dish- or gullet-shaped, and have no nectar guides."
There is so much information in this book and the author writes well, her passion for wasps leaping off every page. There is an amusing section in which Aristotle comes back to life and she shares our modern knowledge of wasps with an exuberant and wondering him.
There were times when the sheer amount of details became tedious and my interest waned. For the most part though, I'm excited by how much I learned in this book.
And as for our fear of wasps (except for those who are allergic to their venom)? It's overrated. Most of these carnivores have no intention or inclination to sting us.
On the other hand, if you happen to be insect larvae (in which case I'm surprised you're able to read this), you have much to fear.
Parasitoid wasps have evolved to lay their eggs inside those helpless larvae, the baby wasp eagerly munching away on the living flesh of the caterpillar, making its way out into our bright and beautiful world.
I'm sure those insects would agree with Darwin, how he couldn't accept that a beneficent and omnipotent creator would design such a thing!
September 6, 2022
Amazing!
Prof. Sumner readily concedes in this book that wasps have an image problem, “the gangsters of the insect world” as she aptly describes them. She’s definitely on a mission to change perceptions, although in my case she didn’t have to work too hard. I’ve always found the social insects to be quite fascinating.
The “endless forms” of wasps do of course include many species that live as solitary hunters, including the notorious parasitoid wasps. The numerous different species of these lay their eggs on or inside prey species that have been paralysed but not killed, and the wasp larvae then develops by eating the prey animal. One group of parasitoid wasps prompted Darwin to comment that he could not persuade himself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created said wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars. The author describes the many amazing evolutionary aspects of these creatures, and also the astonishing “hyperparasitoid” wasps, which are wasps that parasitise other parasitoid wasps in exactly the same way!
There’s quite a lot in the book about the paper wasps, of the genus Polistes. These are a social species but of a type where individual wasps still have autonomy. They therefore represent something of a halfway house between solitary wasps and the Vespine wasps, which demonstrate the highest levels of sociality. The author argues that Polistes wasps provide many clues about the evolution of sociality, although how exactly it came about is still disputed.
Prof. Sumner comments that she often hears the remark “What are wasps for?” I tend to agree with her view that wasps should not necessarily be “for” any purpose that suits humans, but this is the world we live in, and so the latter part of the book is taken up with arguments that wasps are an important biological control for insect pests. She contends that wasp populations could and should be managed as a natural method of biological control for agricultural pests (as long as the wasp species are native) and as an alternative to the use of pesticides.
A few years ago there were scare stories in the press about the imminent extinction of bees, and the Internet was full of memes containing pictures of deserts accompanied by captions about how the world would look without bees. An apparently fake “quote” attributed to Einstein also circulated, suggesting that humans would only last 4 years if bees became extinct. Bees are unquestionably important pollinators but interestingly, Prof. Sumner argues that the intensive farming of honeybees suppresses other insect pollinators, since the legions of bees empty the food sources contained within the flowers. She quotes various studies that suggest other insect species would “step up” as pollinators if bees were eliminated (not that she is suggesting the latter).
As you might have gathered, this book is generally very focused on the science. Personally I prefer books on natural history to be that way. I must say that wasp researchers are a dedicated bunch. To give just one example, the author describes how one researcher painted 4,185 individual wasps so that she could track the movements of each one. How do you even paint a wasp?
There is one odd section to the book, where Prof. Sumner imagines herself having dinner with a reincarnated Aristotle, who apparently made a close study of bees and wasps. She’s clearly a great fan of “Aris” as she calls him, and at one point even admiringly describes how his hair cascades in curls! It really is quite strange, but we all have our foibles. She also goes a bit anthropomorphic at times, something I usually dislike. In this case I had the impression it was quite light-hearted.
Ultimately, I’m happy to give this book five stars for the almost incredible world it describes.
Prof. Sumner readily concedes in this book that wasps have an image problem, “the gangsters of the insect world” as she aptly describes them. She’s definitely on a mission to change perceptions, although in my case she didn’t have to work too hard. I’ve always found the social insects to be quite fascinating.
The “endless forms” of wasps do of course include many species that live as solitary hunters, including the notorious parasitoid wasps. The numerous different species of these lay their eggs on or inside prey species that have been paralysed but not killed, and the wasp larvae then develops by eating the prey animal. One group of parasitoid wasps prompted Darwin to comment that he could not persuade himself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created said wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars. The author describes the many amazing evolutionary aspects of these creatures, and also the astonishing “hyperparasitoid” wasps, which are wasps that parasitise other parasitoid wasps in exactly the same way!
There’s quite a lot in the book about the paper wasps, of the genus Polistes. These are a social species but of a type where individual wasps still have autonomy. They therefore represent something of a halfway house between solitary wasps and the Vespine wasps, which demonstrate the highest levels of sociality. The author argues that Polistes wasps provide many clues about the evolution of sociality, although how exactly it came about is still disputed.
Prof. Sumner comments that she often hears the remark “What are wasps for?” I tend to agree with her view that wasps should not necessarily be “for” any purpose that suits humans, but this is the world we live in, and so the latter part of the book is taken up with arguments that wasps are an important biological control for insect pests. She contends that wasp populations could and should be managed as a natural method of biological control for agricultural pests (as long as the wasp species are native) and as an alternative to the use of pesticides.
A few years ago there were scare stories in the press about the imminent extinction of bees, and the Internet was full of memes containing pictures of deserts accompanied by captions about how the world would look without bees. An apparently fake “quote” attributed to Einstein also circulated, suggesting that humans would only last 4 years if bees became extinct. Bees are unquestionably important pollinators but interestingly, Prof. Sumner argues that the intensive farming of honeybees suppresses other insect pollinators, since the legions of bees empty the food sources contained within the flowers. She quotes various studies that suggest other insect species would “step up” as pollinators if bees were eliminated (not that she is suggesting the latter).
As you might have gathered, this book is generally very focused on the science. Personally I prefer books on natural history to be that way. I must say that wasp researchers are a dedicated bunch. To give just one example, the author describes how one researcher painted 4,185 individual wasps so that she could track the movements of each one. How do you even paint a wasp?
There is one odd section to the book, where Prof. Sumner imagines herself having dinner with a reincarnated Aristotle, who apparently made a close study of bees and wasps. She’s clearly a great fan of “Aris” as she calls him, and at one point even admiringly describes how his hair cascades in curls! It really is quite strange, but we all have our foibles. She also goes a bit anthropomorphic at times, something I usually dislike. In this case I had the impression it was quite light-hearted.
Ultimately, I’m happy to give this book five stars for the almost incredible world it describes.
July 16, 2022
If you think mycologists and ornithologists are weird and a tad obsessive, you're not ready for entomologists. They love bugs so much they will go out of their way to trap them and vivisect them. For science. I swear this is where the writers for The X-Files got all their material.
I find the topic of this book fascinating, and I am always a fan of books that bring attention to animals that are usually reviled. Wasps are almost at the top of the list, with rats, pigeons, snakes and spiders. I learned a lot about different species of wasps, their social structure and behaviour, nest making and reproduction. Sumner also juxtaposed some of those behaviours against bees and ants, and takes us into the field a few times. Even the cover is pretty.
That said... we need to address the section in which the author pretends to go on a dinner date with Aristotle, with whom she's clearly smitten, and discuss with him the scientific advances that have taken place in the field of entomology in the last 2,000 years. Why is Sumner imagining Aristotle (Aris, for short) as an overly excited, butt wiggling, grinning guy? I mean, maybe he was, but somehow I don't think Aristotle, known misogynist, would have taken anything Sumner had to say seriously because my guy famously thought women were only good for breeding and I would have personally liked to, scientific and philosophical breakthroughs aside, introduce him to a lioness just to prove a point, since according to him nature doesn't outfit females with weapons. I wonder if he also thought all cats were male, since they have claws. Not terribly great logos, pal. ANYWAY. My point is that I disliked being taken along on this fangirling date with a dead guy because the author felt compelled to write self-insert fanfiction about the study of wasps in which she gets validated by her dead celebrity crush. I swear the rest of the book is normal. I think I may go on an imaginary dinner date with her editor in which all my questions about why this choice was made get answered.
I find the topic of this book fascinating, and I am always a fan of books that bring attention to animals that are usually reviled. Wasps are almost at the top of the list, with rats, pigeons, snakes and spiders. I learned a lot about different species of wasps, their social structure and behaviour, nest making and reproduction. Sumner also juxtaposed some of those behaviours against bees and ants, and takes us into the field a few times. Even the cover is pretty.
That said... we need to address the section in which the author pretends to go on a dinner date with Aristotle, with whom she's clearly smitten, and discuss with him the scientific advances that have taken place in the field of entomology in the last 2,000 years. Why is Sumner imagining Aristotle (Aris, for short) as an overly excited, butt wiggling, grinning guy? I mean, maybe he was, but somehow I don't think Aristotle, known misogynist, would have taken anything Sumner had to say seriously because my guy famously thought women were only good for breeding and I would have personally liked to, scientific and philosophical breakthroughs aside, introduce him to a lioness just to prove a point, since according to him nature doesn't outfit females with weapons. I wonder if he also thought all cats were male, since they have claws. Not terribly great logos, pal. ANYWAY. My point is that I disliked being taken along on this fangirling date with a dead guy because the author felt compelled to write self-insert fanfiction about the study of wasps in which she gets validated by her dead celebrity crush. I swear the rest of the book is normal. I think I may go on an imaginary dinner date with her editor in which all my questions about why this choice was made get answered.
May 26, 2022
There is a vibe you get from almost page one of Endless Forms where Dr Seirian Sumner professes her adoration for wasps that you know she gets "that look" a lot. She says as much, throughout the book - and she says she doesn't mind, and is used to it, but you know that at one point she just steered into being thought of as weird and stopped caring. That life journey is replicated in the book - as she flirts with being a bit weird (mainly loving wasps) and then goes completely crazy in Part Five (of Seven), but the point is that this is an expert telling you about the think that she loves with passion, interest and not a little bit of weirdness in the process.
The other thing to note is that - like much of society - its not good enough to express the thing you love, you also have to hate something else. So if Wasps are her Radiohead, Bees are her Coldplay. She hates bees, she calls the lazy wasps that forgot how to hunt and willing to sell themselves into honey slavery for being a bit cute. And this is borderline hilarious in the book as when we get another thrilling anecdote about the wonderful variation and adaptability of wasps we will almost certain get a bee burn too. And the book convinced me to look at Wasp differently, that they pollinate, that they keep down pests, that some make nests which are much more interesting than stupid honey filled hexagons. And whilst as a mathematician I do have a slight problem with the term "Endless" - she certainly convinces that their variety is remarkable.
And then we get to Part Five: "Dinner With Aristole". One of her many early positive references for wasps is Aristoles' early studies into wasps (basically if Aristole are into wasps YOU SHOULD BE TOO). But the book has coasted on low level oddness between the fascinating discussion of wasps up until this point, but Part Five Dr Sumner invites - via the medium of imagination - Aristole to a dinner party. This is a clever way to discuss what antiquity thought about wasps and what we know now, and is a lovely little device if - hold on, she's calling him Aris, saying he's a dapper dresser and explaining that as a progressive philosopher he would happily break his societies taboos on dining with women. By the end of the chapter she's had a minor argument, made up, flirted endlessly (via the medium of wasps), and even allowed him to talk about bees for a bit because she is starstruck. It is a bonkers chapter, and absolutely makes the book more than just a well researched text on our current understanding of wasps. She makes the case eloquently that you don't have to be mad to love wasps, but its helped her a little. A must read.
The other thing to note is that - like much of society - its not good enough to express the thing you love, you also have to hate something else. So if Wasps are her Radiohead, Bees are her Coldplay. She hates bees, she calls the lazy wasps that forgot how to hunt and willing to sell themselves into honey slavery for being a bit cute. And this is borderline hilarious in the book as when we get another thrilling anecdote about the wonderful variation and adaptability of wasps we will almost certain get a bee burn too. And the book convinced me to look at Wasp differently, that they pollinate, that they keep down pests, that some make nests which are much more interesting than stupid honey filled hexagons. And whilst as a mathematician I do have a slight problem with the term "Endless" - she certainly convinces that their variety is remarkable.
And then we get to Part Five: "Dinner With Aristole". One of her many early positive references for wasps is Aristoles' early studies into wasps (basically if Aristole are into wasps YOU SHOULD BE TOO). But the book has coasted on low level oddness between the fascinating discussion of wasps up until this point, but Part Five Dr Sumner invites - via the medium of imagination - Aristole to a dinner party. This is a clever way to discuss what antiquity thought about wasps and what we know now, and is a lovely little device if - hold on, she's calling him Aris, saying he's a dapper dresser and explaining that as a progressive philosopher he would happily break his societies taboos on dining with women. By the end of the chapter she's had a minor argument, made up, flirted endlessly (via the medium of wasps), and even allowed him to talk about bees for a bit because she is starstruck. It is a bonkers chapter, and absolutely makes the book more than just a well researched text on our current understanding of wasps. She makes the case eloquently that you don't have to be mad to love wasps, but its helped her a little. A must read.
August 11, 2022
I almost had three wasp nests destroyed removed recently. Believe me, being stung, butt-naked, in the shower, entirely unexpected, TWICE, will do that to you! Then, not an hour after finding someone who could get rid of our wasps, I found this book on Netgalley… and decided to pause the wasp-extinction until I’d read it.
I’ve often wondered about the differences and similarities between wasps and bees - we all love those cute fluffy bees now, don’t we - ever since learning how very “dependent” our survival is upon them. (Turns out, given that many, many other pollinators exists, humans won’t reeeeally go extinct shortly after bees do.)
I love focussed works of popular science, written by actual specialists in their fields. Seirian Sumner is an excellent advocate for wasps - and I quite enjoy how she loves wasps because they are wasps - and not because of their utility.
Oh, and scientists are WEIRD, y’all - this girl straight-up has an imaginary dinner with Aristotle, just so she can get some things out of her system that wouldn’t otherwise have a place in her book. I mean, Aristotle wouldn't have given her, a female scientist, a second thought.
You know that kid who is obsessed with ONE THING and will talk your ear off every chance they get? That’s Sumner, with wasps - and this book is how you allow them to talk your ear off when YOU have the time.
It’s lovely. Really. But sometimes, this science is a bit too focused - by that, I mean, too intense for the layperson reader. And I am a layperson with a scientific background, but there are parts where I almost went cross-eyed trying to keep up with the jargon.
At the heart of it, Endless Forms is about ecology: it is about fascination with nature for nature’s sake, and not because it has a “point” or a use. It is about understanding the influence of popular culture on what is funded and what gets studied, and understanding that “the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.”
Endless Forms is about obsession. It is about life as a scientist; it is about discovering - unearthing - things that have existed for millennia, and bringing them into our own consciousness.
But really, mostly, it is about wasps.
I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley, and 4th Estate and William Collins, in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve often wondered about the differences and similarities between wasps and bees - we all love those cute fluffy bees now, don’t we - ever since learning how very “dependent” our survival is upon them. (Turns out, given that many, many other pollinators exists, humans won’t reeeeally go extinct shortly after bees do.)
I love focussed works of popular science, written by actual specialists in their fields. Seirian Sumner is an excellent advocate for wasps - and I quite enjoy how she loves wasps because they are wasps - and not because of their utility.
Oh, and scientists are WEIRD, y’all - this girl straight-up has an imaginary dinner with Aristotle, just so she can get some things out of her system that wouldn’t otherwise have a place in her book. I mean, Aristotle wouldn't have given her, a female scientist, a second thought.
You know that kid who is obsessed with ONE THING and will talk your ear off every chance they get? That’s Sumner, with wasps - and this book is how you allow them to talk your ear off when YOU have the time.
It’s lovely. Really. But sometimes, this science is a bit too focused - by that, I mean, too intense for the layperson reader. And I am a layperson with a scientific background, but there are parts where I almost went cross-eyed trying to keep up with the jargon.
At the heart of it, Endless Forms is about ecology: it is about fascination with nature for nature’s sake, and not because it has a “point” or a use. It is about understanding the influence of popular culture on what is funded and what gets studied, and understanding that “the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.”
Endless Forms is about obsession. It is about life as a scientist; it is about discovering - unearthing - things that have existed for millennia, and bringing them into our own consciousness.
But really, mostly, it is about wasps.
I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley, and 4th Estate and William Collins, in exchange for an honest review.
July 15, 2023
I learned some neat things about how cool wasps are from this book, but she lost me at Adam Smith's division of labor. I'm tired of reading nature books that impose capitalist and patriarchal human systems on animals to support the argument that the way we do things is normal and inevitable. Our how great it is when animal intelligence is used by police. I'll take the wasps and leave the rest.
August 15, 2022
Rating: 4.5
Mini Review:
Woah, this one was SO fascinating. I will be honest I never thought I would read or care about a book based around wasps. I don’t like bees or wasps because I am highly allergic to them. However, when I received this one in the mail I was determined to give it a try and am so happy I did. This book had me hooked from the first page to the last. I love a nonfiction book that reads like a fiction story. I feel as though I learned so much from this book and it doesn’t feel like useless knowledge. This book really did help me see wasps differently and even though they still frighten me I can see their beauty and importance in your world. While I do question some information given and some of the writing it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment. I would definitely recommend this one because I do believe people could benefit from reading it. If you're looking for a book about wasps that's interesting, informative, and will keep you engaged then give this one a try!
Thank you so much @harperbooks & @harpercollins for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Mini Review:
Woah, this one was SO fascinating. I will be honest I never thought I would read or care about a book based around wasps. I don’t like bees or wasps because I am highly allergic to them. However, when I received this one in the mail I was determined to give it a try and am so happy I did. This book had me hooked from the first page to the last. I love a nonfiction book that reads like a fiction story. I feel as though I learned so much from this book and it doesn’t feel like useless knowledge. This book really did help me see wasps differently and even though they still frighten me I can see their beauty and importance in your world. While I do question some information given and some of the writing it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment. I would definitely recommend this one because I do believe people could benefit from reading it. If you're looking for a book about wasps that's interesting, informative, and will keep you engaged then give this one a try!
Thank you so much @harperbooks & @harpercollins for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
March 31, 2025
Loved the wasps, but why did she have to do Aristotle so dirty? Goodness.
June 23, 2023
I found this a disappointing book. There's some really interesting nuggets but a lot of it feels tough to wade through. The more jokey stuff didn't land with me and some of the science felt like it wasn't explained well at all and/or it was gone over at great length but without really making anything clearer or explicating anything new. There's a long section on social but not eusocial wasps which is a really interesting concept but a surprising amount relies on you understanding what she means by "gene expression" - but I couldn't understand her explanation at all and her talk of specific instances just baffled me. The section on eusocial wasps was undermined by her bizarre decision to frame it as a dialogue with a reanimated Aristotle - there's a little bit about his early study of bees and wasps, but otherwise it added nothing and just felt irritating.
I really wanted to like this but yeah, the interesting stuff just felt buried.
I really wanted to like this but yeah, the interesting stuff just felt buried.
September 13, 2024
So cool! I love wasps so much already and now I can back it up with cool facts. My heart will not rear until I go wasp watching again. There were potter wasps around my house as a kid and I spent so many hours watching them build their clay nests
did-not-finish
July 15, 2023DNF 22%. I know it’s on the cover but I just can’t stop thinking to myself “shut up about the wasps”
August 24, 2022
Too much wasp cheerleading and not enough quality science. Still, the first chapters were especially interesting.
> The ‘original bee’ was a solitary wasp who turned vegetarian, replacing the protein of meat with the protein of plants – pollen – and so kick-starting the bees’ long co-evolutionary relationship with plants
> Wasps are also ancestors of ants: the first ant was a wasp that lost its wings. Today’s solitary hunting wasps provide us with glimpses of what the original bee and original ant would have been like
> Banks is one of my favourite authors, yet there are only so many copies of The Wasp Factory that I can keep on my bookshelf. It is one of those books that I keep being given by people who have not actually read it themselves, but they know I study wasps and assume that I need a copy.
> The vast majority of hymenopterans are hidden among the tiny and obscure parasitoid wasps. Parasitoids are insects that lay their eggs in (endoparasitoids) or on (ectoparasitoids) other organisms. When the egg hatches into a hungry larva, it proceeds to eat the living host alive as it grows. Parasitoids should not be confused with parasites, which spend their whole life living in or on a host, rather than just the larval stage.
> To make matters more complicated, there are parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs on other parasitoid wasp larvae! These hyperparasitoids (parasitoids that live off other parasitoids) are often even smaller than their hosts – they are ‘micro-wasps’
> Vespula queens, for example, mark their eggs with a long-chained hydrocarbon, which gives eggs a royal perfume, indicating to workers that they shouldn’t destroy them. Normally, workers can’t produce this pheromone and so their eggs smell different, allowing the wasp police to selectively eat worker-laid eggs.
> The ‘original bee’ was a solitary wasp who turned vegetarian, replacing the protein of meat with the protein of plants – pollen – and so kick-starting the bees’ long co-evolutionary relationship with plants
> Wasps are also ancestors of ants: the first ant was a wasp that lost its wings. Today’s solitary hunting wasps provide us with glimpses of what the original bee and original ant would have been like
> Banks is one of my favourite authors, yet there are only so many copies of The Wasp Factory that I can keep on my bookshelf. It is one of those books that I keep being given by people who have not actually read it themselves, but they know I study wasps and assume that I need a copy.
> The vast majority of hymenopterans are hidden among the tiny and obscure parasitoid wasps. Parasitoids are insects that lay their eggs in (endoparasitoids) or on (ectoparasitoids) other organisms. When the egg hatches into a hungry larva, it proceeds to eat the living host alive as it grows. Parasitoids should not be confused with parasites, which spend their whole life living in or on a host, rather than just the larval stage.
> To make matters more complicated, there are parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs on other parasitoid wasp larvae! These hyperparasitoids (parasitoids that live off other parasitoids) are often even smaller than their hosts – they are ‘micro-wasps’
> Vespula queens, for example, mark their eggs with a long-chained hydrocarbon, which gives eggs a royal perfume, indicating to workers that they shouldn’t destroy them. Normally, workers can’t produce this pheromone and so their eggs smell different, allowing the wasp police to selectively eat worker-laid eggs.
July 30, 2022
Just some of my favorite take-aways from this fascinating book - full of intriguing information about wasps and some really creepy new information. The zombification wasps?! Holy nature.
"In stark contrast to bees, wasps are depicted as the gangsters of the insect world; winged thugs; inspiration for horror movies; the ‘sting’ in the tale of thriller novels; conduits of biblical punishment. Shakespeare, Pope Francis, Aristotle, even Darwin struggled to speak favourably of wasps, and questioned the purpose of their existence. Scientists have been victims of this culture too, shunning wasps as research subjects despite the endless forms of these creatures that remain to be studied. It seems the root of this hatred is the wasp’s sting,* its eagerness to keep on stinging,* and its apparent pointlessness in the natural world."
Part One: The Problem with Wasps
"One hundred and twenty-four million years ago, all the bees were wasps. Then one day a wasp forgot how to hunt and developed a taste for pollen, and bees were born. Some of them even evolved special saddlebags on their back legs which helped them carry pollen back to their nests. Bees have become guardians of global ecosystems as pollinators, and a privileged few are honoured friends of humans as providers of honey, wax and other useful products, but the truth is that in evolutionary terms, there is nothing especially unique about bees: they are simply a specialised, vegetarian version of the largest group of wasps–the crabronids."
"Wasps are old. Wasps are varied, bizarre and beautiful. There are probably more species of them on this planet than any other insect (or animals, for that matter). Without wasps, we would have no ants or bees. Their evolutionary history is more mysterious and tantalising than a grandmother’s button box to a small child."
"The more we intrude on nature, the angrier we get with it for bothering us. Nature is an unwanted house guest, a flaw in our perfect gardens, an uprooter of our concrete deserts. We are so busy complaining about how nature disrupts our sterile order that we miss most of the beauty that is under our noses. Perhaps this is why most people today recognise wasps as only the social wasps–those picnic-botherers, loft loiterers, ‘murder hornets’–for it is these particular wasps that we notice when they cross our paths. It’s an awful shame that we don’t take more care to notice the 32,000 other species of hunting wasps–the solitary ones–which comprise 97 per cent of all the world’s stinging wasp species."
"Not all solitary wasps completely paralyse their prey. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the zombification of the American cockroach Periplaneta americana by the Emerald jewel wasp, Ampulex compressa. Several times smaller than its prey, the wasp can’t carry, or even drag, the victim to her burrow. Instead, she has evolved a clever way of manipulating the cockroach such that it will walk itself to its own underground tomb. She delivers just two stings. The first is a rather crude stab at the thorax, designed to disable the prey by temporarily paralysing its front legs. With the cockroach immobilised, the second, more toxic sting can be administered directly into its brain, and the behaviour-changing zombifying magic starts to work. A neurotoxic cocktail blocks the receptors of the neurotransmitter involved in complex movements like walking, which transforms the roach into a zombie slave who can just about walk but cannot resist the commands of its mistress. Using its antennae as a leash, the mistress wasp leads the roach like a well-trained poodle to an underground nursery for baby wasps. The chemical cocktail of the jewel wasp’s venom is among the most remarkable of all the venoms of hunting wasps, a delicate balancing act rendering the prey helpless enough to be led to its own tomb yet alive enough to remain fresh and juicy for the baby wasps to consume, organ by organ."
"Less is known about how hunting wasps, like Ammophila, use chemicals to locate quarry. But it is likely that they use kairomones too as they would have inherited the same chemosensory machinery from the common ancestor they shared with parasitoids. One such example comes from the tiphiid wasps, which hunt scarab beetle larvae feeding on grasses. These wasps can detect the chemicals that the grass releases when it is being eaten by the larvae. In fact, these wasps are so effective at hunting beetles that they have been used as biocontrol agents to control invasive populations of beetles like the Japanese Popillia japonica and oriental Anomala orientalis, which are major pests of turfgrass."
"In stark contrast to bees, wasps are depicted as the gangsters of the insect world; winged thugs; inspiration for horror movies; the ‘sting’ in the tale of thriller novels; conduits of biblical punishment. Shakespeare, Pope Francis, Aristotle, even Darwin struggled to speak favourably of wasps, and questioned the purpose of their existence. Scientists have been victims of this culture too, shunning wasps as research subjects despite the endless forms of these creatures that remain to be studied. It seems the root of this hatred is the wasp’s sting,* its eagerness to keep on stinging,* and its apparent pointlessness in the natural world."
Part One: The Problem with Wasps
"One hundred and twenty-four million years ago, all the bees were wasps. Then one day a wasp forgot how to hunt and developed a taste for pollen, and bees were born. Some of them even evolved special saddlebags on their back legs which helped them carry pollen back to their nests. Bees have become guardians of global ecosystems as pollinators, and a privileged few are honoured friends of humans as providers of honey, wax and other useful products, but the truth is that in evolutionary terms, there is nothing especially unique about bees: they are simply a specialised, vegetarian version of the largest group of wasps–the crabronids."
"Wasps are old. Wasps are varied, bizarre and beautiful. There are probably more species of them on this planet than any other insect (or animals, for that matter). Without wasps, we would have no ants or bees. Their evolutionary history is more mysterious and tantalising than a grandmother’s button box to a small child."
"The more we intrude on nature, the angrier we get with it for bothering us. Nature is an unwanted house guest, a flaw in our perfect gardens, an uprooter of our concrete deserts. We are so busy complaining about how nature disrupts our sterile order that we miss most of the beauty that is under our noses. Perhaps this is why most people today recognise wasps as only the social wasps–those picnic-botherers, loft loiterers, ‘murder hornets’–for it is these particular wasps that we notice when they cross our paths. It’s an awful shame that we don’t take more care to notice the 32,000 other species of hunting wasps–the solitary ones–which comprise 97 per cent of all the world’s stinging wasp species."
"Not all solitary wasps completely paralyse their prey. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the zombification of the American cockroach Periplaneta americana by the Emerald jewel wasp, Ampulex compressa. Several times smaller than its prey, the wasp can’t carry, or even drag, the victim to her burrow. Instead, she has evolved a clever way of manipulating the cockroach such that it will walk itself to its own underground tomb. She delivers just two stings. The first is a rather crude stab at the thorax, designed to disable the prey by temporarily paralysing its front legs. With the cockroach immobilised, the second, more toxic sting can be administered directly into its brain, and the behaviour-changing zombifying magic starts to work. A neurotoxic cocktail blocks the receptors of the neurotransmitter involved in complex movements like walking, which transforms the roach into a zombie slave who can just about walk but cannot resist the commands of its mistress. Using its antennae as a leash, the mistress wasp leads the roach like a well-trained poodle to an underground nursery for baby wasps. The chemical cocktail of the jewel wasp’s venom is among the most remarkable of all the venoms of hunting wasps, a delicate balancing act rendering the prey helpless enough to be led to its own tomb yet alive enough to remain fresh and juicy for the baby wasps to consume, organ by organ."
"Less is known about how hunting wasps, like Ammophila, use chemicals to locate quarry. But it is likely that they use kairomones too as they would have inherited the same chemosensory machinery from the common ancestor they shared with parasitoids. One such example comes from the tiphiid wasps, which hunt scarab beetle larvae feeding on grasses. These wasps can detect the chemicals that the grass releases when it is being eaten by the larvae. In fact, these wasps are so effective at hunting beetles that they have been used as biocontrol agents to control invasive populations of beetles like the Japanese Popillia japonica and oriental Anomala orientalis, which are major pests of turfgrass."
September 26, 2024
So I never technically finished this book (just accidentally left it while I went on holiday and then picked up other books and this one got forgotten). I learnt lots of cool wasp facts and it was really cute that it was basically just a rambling little book by an entomologist that really really loves wasps. Like a whole entire chapter is just her yapping about her having a dinner party with Aristotle which I kind of love!! I guess some parts were a bit dense, making it kind of difficult to pick up and start and continue reading- so it could have been a little more concise.
I mean the cover says 'why we should love wasps' and I can't say I quite love them yet but I am definitely now a wasp defender so I guess her aim was achieved! It has very much interested me in the huge diversity of insects and their complex societies and relationships with other species particularly parasitism. Every time I'm just like ugh why do we as humans always assume that we as a species are cleverer than everyone else like OF COURSE these wasps have mega complex societies like really why are we surprised. So now every time someone mentions wasps I talk about this book and tell them a fact they definitely didn't ask or want to hear!
Writing this review has actually made me realise that I very much enjoyed this book so maybe I will go and actually finish reading it! (And now I'm debating whether I want to rate it 3/4 stars)
I mean the cover says 'why we should love wasps' and I can't say I quite love them yet but I am definitely now a wasp defender so I guess her aim was achieved! It has very much interested me in the huge diversity of insects and their complex societies and relationships with other species particularly parasitism. Every time I'm just like ugh why do we as humans always assume that we as a species are cleverer than everyone else like OF COURSE these wasps have mega complex societies like really why are we surprised. So now every time someone mentions wasps I talk about this book and tell them a fact they definitely didn't ask or want to hear!
Writing this review has actually made me realise that I very much enjoyed this book so maybe I will go and actually finish reading it! (And now I'm debating whether I want to rate it 3/4 stars)
November 13, 2022
I read about this book in a thumbnail description in the The New Yorker, and while I am the target audience for this book--someone who is concerned about pollinators, ecology, and the survival of the world, yet who detests wasps--I wasn't sure this book was up my alley. The author is quite learned--she is an entomologist and behavioral ecologist, and a professor at University College London, and she spends the whole of the book trying to charm her readers into realizing that the pesky, whirring, anxiety-provoking yellow jackets and other species of wasps that torment us at most inopportune moments, are not mischievous villains so much as highly underestimated and misunderstood philanthropists Her invocations of wasp characteristics, behavior, social life and culture sparkle with curiosities and insights and she suggests, in an entertaining rather than scholarly manner, that we need to re-examine our relationships with wasps in particular and with nature in general. Doing so would have profound consequences in an age when technological innovations continue to displace and disrupt the lives of wasps and other species. This compelling account of nature’s coherent beauty teaches that it is time for the utilitarian attitude toward nature to be replaced with appreciation and conservation if we are to survive a rapidly warming planet.
May 14, 2024
I may have entered this book from a different place than some other readers did. I already had three favorite wasps before I even started this journey so I wasn't desperately in need of conversion to the cult of wasps.
I learned a lot of things, not the things I anticipated learning when I began reading, but still a lot of fascinating things. I really enjoyed the wealth of new wasp information that I was introduced to, didn't as much enjoy the chapter where we have a little dinner party with Aristotle, but I made it through to the other side and was rewarded with even more scientific wonders of wasps.
Most memorable part of the book?
"Beautiful, sugar-drenched anuses."
"It's a beautifully balanced food web that revolves around an endemic bug with one long, sweet butthole."
I learned a lot of things, not the things I anticipated learning when I began reading, but still a lot of fascinating things. I really enjoyed the wealth of new wasp information that I was introduced to, didn't as much enjoy the chapter where we have a little dinner party with Aristotle, but I made it through to the other side and was rewarded with even more scientific wonders of wasps.
Most memorable part of the book?
"Beautiful, sugar-drenched anuses."
"It's a beautifully balanced food web that revolves around an endemic bug with one long, sweet butthole."
May 21, 2025
An interesting look at wasps that might make you reconsider your hatred of them.
Unfortunately, half of it was slightly derailed by the author taking an Ishmael approach of conveying information through a conversation between two people. She imagined having a dinner party with Aristotle (who apparently is like the earliest wasp scholar), in which she informed him about all the various ways wasp research has advanced since his days. It did not work for me, and I found it kind of cringey. But overall, the book is full of cool and interesting facts about wasps.
Unfortunately, half of it was slightly derailed by the author taking an Ishmael approach of conveying information through a conversation between two people. She imagined having a dinner party with Aristotle (who apparently is like the earliest wasp scholar), in which she informed him about all the various ways wasp research has advanced since his days. It did not work for me, and I found it kind of cringey. But overall, the book is full of cool and interesting facts about wasps.
February 27, 2023
A wonderful overview of the current science about one of the world's most hated insects. More than one person has asked why I picked this up, and I said it's because I'd never seen a book about wasps, and it occurred to me that I don't know anything about wasps, and I am very glad I did. A tad repetitive at times, but a fascinating and interesting read. I really enjoyed the chapter about dinner with Aristotle. :) A reminder that all of nature's creatures have value, not just those that humans like.
February 4, 2024
Not anything wrong objectively. Just don’t feel that saying a species is diverse means that they are somewhat more important. Hard to get through the same horrible phenomenon over and over again. Just feel like it’s way to long. Going from almost identical species to almost identical species gave me pause.
November 23, 2023
The author does a good job of making biology theory approachable and easy to understand. Their passion about wasps ans their functions is contagious and makes the material more interesting. I do recommend this.
May 15, 2025
Made me feel different about the small scar on my right hand from a hornet last year in Malaysia haha.
I felt like the Aristotle bit was milked a little too much, but overall very creative and was scientific and informative without being dry. 4 stars.
I felt like the Aristotle bit was milked a little too much, but overall very creative and was scientific and informative without being dry. 4 stars.
August 8, 2022
This is perhaps the most eccentric science book I’ve ever read. But, you know what? I’m here for it.
August 22, 2025
I went into this as a fan of wasps and had my excitements confirmed and provided swathes of evidence to justify my stance to others
As other reviews mentioned the dinner with Aristotle section changes the pace of this, for me it could have skipped over the imaginary sections as these aside it is one of the most accessible chapters I've read in a book on insects
It was also nice that the book ended on a more optimistic note as I have found many books on insects close with a sense of urgency, which is understandable given the insect apocalypse... but you start to get desensitized by compound tellings
As other reviews mentioned the dinner with Aristotle section changes the pace of this, for me it could have skipped over the imaginary sections as these aside it is one of the most accessible chapters I've read in a book on insects
It was also nice that the book ended on a more optimistic note as I have found many books on insects close with a sense of urgency, which is understandable given the insect apocalypse... but you start to get desensitized by compound tellings
April 3, 2025
Wasps: if you can’t beat them, join them. And that’s what I’ve done. They’re pollinators. They’re pest controllers. They plants their eggs inside of things and let the babies eat them from the inside out. They build little mud huts that pregnant women in Africa crave voraciously. There are so many species of wasp that they could be considered THE default bug. You can fear them, and you can war with them when they come for the narrow opening of your ice cold picnic beer, but you’ve gotta respect them and you’ve gotta protect them. As goes the wasp, so goes the human.
July 24, 2022
A very interesting book on a not often positivity discussed subject. The author's enthusiasm is infectious and her sense of humor enjoyable. The section "Dinner with Aristotle" brought the book down for me, and I had a little trouble getting through this part. Overall very enjoyable and educational.
Received an ARC in a Goodreads giveaway.
Received an ARC in a Goodreads giveaway.
July 15, 2022
I was intrigued to see that an entire book could be written on wasps. I knew nothing about them outside of seeing them fly around me from time to time. I never gave them much thought. This book shares more information then I would have ever thought to ask but what makes it so wonderful is the way that the author tells her story. She draws you into what she is saying in a way that really makes what I thought would be a boring book into a real page turner. I believe that everyone would benefit from reading this book.
October 17, 2023
Wespen. Eine Versöhnung von Seirian Sumner, übersetzt von Andrea Schmittmann, ist ein unterhaltsames und sehr (SEHR) detailreiches Sachbuch über… Wespen. Ich war sofort neugierig: Eine Versöhnung? Mit den fiesen Biestern, die uns im Spätsommer auf dem Balkon oder der Terrasse, beim Eisessen - ja, eigentlich überall terrorisieren - wie soll das gehen? Allein schon der Klappentext: “Wespen gelten als die Gangster der Insektenwelt, als geflügelte Mörder mit gewaltigen Stacheln, als biblische Strafe und Inspiration für Horrorfilme. Was hat zu diesem miserablen Image geführt? Und haben sie diesen Ruf verdient?”
Ich oute mich hier mal als absoluter Bienen- und Hummelfan. Gibt es was süßeres, als die dicken, flauschigen Kügelchen, die von Blümchen zu Blümchen torkeln? Nein, was Süßeres gibt es nicht. Aber ich habe gelernt: Wespen sind definitiv verdammt cool.
Wusstet ihr zum Beispiel, dass es unzählige Wespenarten gibt, die alle ihren ganz eigenen Beitrag zu unserem Ökosystem leisten - manche sogar als Bestäuber für bestimmte Pflanzen? Einige von ihnen sind Einzelgänger und jagen ihre Beute gnadenlos mit einem Gift, das in der Krebsforschung Anwendung findet. Und manche Arten haben ein reges Sozialleben mit eigentümlichen Gesellschaftskonstellationen.
Seirian Sumner ist nicht nur Professorin für Verhaltensökologie, sondern auch unfassbar großer Fan von Wespen- das merkt man bei der Lektüre durch und durch. Mit ihrem britischen Humor hält sie einen bei der Stange, selbst wenn ich mich teilweise in meinen Bio-LK zurückversetzt gefühlt habe, als von Mendelschen Regeln zur Vererbung und Allelen die Rede war (solche Begriffe werden durchaus gut erklärt). Sumner ist einfach weird. Fast schon obsessiv. Und ich liebte es sehr, wie sie ihre Leidenschaft für ihre Forschung vermittelt.
Ein paar Dinge möchte ich allerdings kritisieren. So hätte ich mir gewünscht, mehr über die gesellschaftliche Rezeption von Wespen in den Medien zu erfahren, wie es der Klappentext verspricht - Bezüge außerhalb der Biologie und Ökologie gab es erstaunlich wenig. Auch das Thema Klimakatastrophe und Artensterben taucht nur am Ende am Rande auf, stattdessen verliert sich Sumner in der Mitte des Buches in einem viel zu langen “Dialog” mit Aristoteles und führt fiktive Zwiegespräche mit ihm, die ehrlich gesagt ziemlich langatmig waren.
Außerdem finde ich es schade, dass Sumner ihre Disziplin nicht einordnet und sich selbst, als britische Forscherin, nur selten reflektiert. Die Art und Weise, wie bestimmte Dinge beschrieben wurden - wenn zum Beispiel “exotischen” Wespenarten angeführt wurden, oder dass das strikte Kategorisieren der Umwelt nie in den Kontext von eurozentrischer Wissensproduktion gesetzt wurde - das würde ich durchaus kritisieren, denn Sumner gibt nie einen Ausblick auf andere Formen von Wissen als der sehr hierarchisch und kategorisierend aufgebauten europäischen/britischen.
Bleibt noch die Frage: Habe ich mich mit Wespen versöhnt? Ja, schon irgendwie. Ich habe gemerkt, wie ich an Blumenwiesen vorbei gegangen bin und eben nicht nur verträumt die pummelige Hummel oder die plüschige Biene beobachtet habe, sondern genauer hingeschaut habe, um die Vielfalt um mich herum wahrzunehmen. Denn noch ist sie vorhanden - und sie ist schützenswert.
Vielen Dank an den Verlag für das Rezensionsexemplar.
Ich oute mich hier mal als absoluter Bienen- und Hummelfan. Gibt es was süßeres, als die dicken, flauschigen Kügelchen, die von Blümchen zu Blümchen torkeln? Nein, was Süßeres gibt es nicht. Aber ich habe gelernt: Wespen sind definitiv verdammt cool.
Wusstet ihr zum Beispiel, dass es unzählige Wespenarten gibt, die alle ihren ganz eigenen Beitrag zu unserem Ökosystem leisten - manche sogar als Bestäuber für bestimmte Pflanzen? Einige von ihnen sind Einzelgänger und jagen ihre Beute gnadenlos mit einem Gift, das in der Krebsforschung Anwendung findet. Und manche Arten haben ein reges Sozialleben mit eigentümlichen Gesellschaftskonstellationen.
Seirian Sumner ist nicht nur Professorin für Verhaltensökologie, sondern auch unfassbar großer Fan von Wespen- das merkt man bei der Lektüre durch und durch. Mit ihrem britischen Humor hält sie einen bei der Stange, selbst wenn ich mich teilweise in meinen Bio-LK zurückversetzt gefühlt habe, als von Mendelschen Regeln zur Vererbung und Allelen die Rede war (solche Begriffe werden durchaus gut erklärt). Sumner ist einfach weird. Fast schon obsessiv. Und ich liebte es sehr, wie sie ihre Leidenschaft für ihre Forschung vermittelt.
Ein paar Dinge möchte ich allerdings kritisieren. So hätte ich mir gewünscht, mehr über die gesellschaftliche Rezeption von Wespen in den Medien zu erfahren, wie es der Klappentext verspricht - Bezüge außerhalb der Biologie und Ökologie gab es erstaunlich wenig. Auch das Thema Klimakatastrophe und Artensterben taucht nur am Ende am Rande auf, stattdessen verliert sich Sumner in der Mitte des Buches in einem viel zu langen “Dialog” mit Aristoteles und führt fiktive Zwiegespräche mit ihm, die ehrlich gesagt ziemlich langatmig waren.
Außerdem finde ich es schade, dass Sumner ihre Disziplin nicht einordnet und sich selbst, als britische Forscherin, nur selten reflektiert. Die Art und Weise, wie bestimmte Dinge beschrieben wurden - wenn zum Beispiel “exotischen” Wespenarten angeführt wurden, oder dass das strikte Kategorisieren der Umwelt nie in den Kontext von eurozentrischer Wissensproduktion gesetzt wurde - das würde ich durchaus kritisieren, denn Sumner gibt nie einen Ausblick auf andere Formen von Wissen als der sehr hierarchisch und kategorisierend aufgebauten europäischen/britischen.
Bleibt noch die Frage: Habe ich mich mit Wespen versöhnt? Ja, schon irgendwie. Ich habe gemerkt, wie ich an Blumenwiesen vorbei gegangen bin und eben nicht nur verträumt die pummelige Hummel oder die plüschige Biene beobachtet habe, sondern genauer hingeschaut habe, um die Vielfalt um mich herum wahrzunehmen. Denn noch ist sie vorhanden - und sie ist schützenswert.
Vielen Dank an den Verlag für das Rezensionsexemplar.
October 20, 2022
… and books that told me everything about
the wasp, except why.
- Dylan Thomas (1952)
Summer is the time of year when we regularly meet wasps. They swarm around our picnics and steal bites from our hamburgers and guzzle our milkshakes, sip our sweet mixed drinks whilst we lounge around the pub patio, and construct their elegant papery nest in our attics, eaves or gardening sheds.
Despite their seasonal ubiquity, we know surprisingly little about the daily lives of wasps, of their economic value to the environment and to society, nor their important roles in the ecological niches they fill as both predators and pollinators. But there’s one thing we are clear about with regards to wasps: we don’t like them.
“In stark contrast to bees, wasps are depicted as the gangsters of the insect world; winged thugs; inspiration for horror movies; the ‘sting’ in the tale of thriller novels; conduits of biblical punishment”, writes entomologist Seirian Sumner, a professor of behavioral ecology at University College London, in her debut book Endless Forms: The Secret World Of Wasps (William Collins, 2022). (p. 3)
In this charming but, at times, peculiar, book, Professor Sumner, who has studied the ecology and evolution of sociality in social wasps for more than 20 years, shares her expert insights into wasps’ often surprising secrets and does so with enthusiasm and wit. She introduces you to pioneering wasp researchers — “wasp whisperers” — of the past, noting their unimaginable patience for making painstaking observations, and whose early work built a solid foundation upon which she now builds her own wasp research.
“Wasps are old. Wasps are varied, bizarre and beautiful”, Professor Sumner notes. “There are probably more species of them on this planet than any other insect (or animals, for that matter). Without wasps, we would have no ants or bees. Their evolutionary history is more mysterious and tantalising than a grandmother’s button box to a small child.” (P. 46)
This book presents a detailed study of wasps that is divided into seven ample parts, each comprising a number of chapters that are crammed with fascinating examples of quirky wasp life histories that enrich the topic being discussed, such as wasps’ use of antibiotics to kill fungi that could harm their developing babies, an ancient practice they’ve relied on for more than 68 million years; their powerful sense of smell that is far superior to that of dogs in their ability to sniff out illicit drugs, like cocaine, a variety of explosives, and even dead bodies; and a lengthy and compelling explanation of Hamilton’s Rule and how it explains the evolution (or not) of sociality in wasps. In this book, we also learn that wasps are 100 million years older than bees and that there are ten times more wasp species than bees — and most wasps alive today have yet to be discovered and formally described. We also meet wasps that live their entire lives sealed inside a fig and, astoundingly, wasps that live inside other wasps. Furthermore, we learn that wasps are very useful: as pest controllers; as accidental pollinators of crops; and even in medical science (studying wasp venom helped researchers learn why some patients are so badly affected by Covid-19).
Two sections of color photographs, for a total of 16 pages, are also included. These images show, for example, a Polistes wasp carrying an RFID tag on its back, the tremendous variations in facial patterns in Polistes wasps, a cross-section of mud nests constructed by solitary wasps, a variety of yellowjacket wasp paper nests, some of which resemble abstract art, and of course, some wasps that help people, such as the beautiful jewel wasp, Ampulex compressa, that lays an egg onto a live cockroach she has zombified with her venom, and a wasp pollinating a flower.
I do have one complaint. A rather huge complaint, actually, that can be summed up with just one word: Aristotle. The author includes a lengthy portion of the book (part 5) that features an imagined dinner conversation with Aristotle, a famous misogynist, as a way to juxtapose past research with much-needed future scientific inquiries into the why of wasps. But would Aristotle, a famous misogynist, have listened to anything that Professor Sumner said about anything, or taken it seriously? I seriously doubt this. Further, Aristotle made no secret of his deep dislike of wasps just as he never withheld his negative opinions on women, and this is especially obvious when he dismissed them as having “nothing divine about them”. Wasps, he meant, although I suspect he could have easily said the same things about women.
Although “Dinner with Aristotle” does include interesting and useful information about wasps (most significantly for the book-lovers in the crowd, the invention of paper around 2 millennia ago by a Chinese eunuch who, according to popular myth, was laying under a tree and watching a wasp build cells in her papery nest from chewed-up bark pulp) but I think this information could have been conveyed to the reader in a different, and in a less irksome way. Although I was enjoying the book, I stopped reading it for almost two months after stumbling into her “Dinner with Aristotle”.
Despite my profound dislike for “Dinner with Aristotle”, I found this book to be readable, absorbing and enlightening, and Professor Sumner’s passion to be infectious. She successfully argues that wasps are sophisticated, socially complex and essential to a healthy functioning environment. She shares a wealth of fascinating information about the evolution, astounding variety and many benefits of wasps with grace and an easy humor. This book will appeal to most readers who are looking for an entertaining and informative summer read, especially gardeners, naturalists and wannabe entomologists, or perhaps whilst lounging on a pub patio, watching the local wasps buzzing around and sipping your sweet mixed drink.
NOTE: Originally published at Forbes.com on 3 August 2022.
November 7, 2022
The author, who studies wasps as her specialty, describes and celebrates the roles wasps play in our ecosystems, and the insights they provide into the evolution of social ecosystems. Wasps get a bad rap because of their stings. Once you get past that, however, they play crucial roles in pollination, recycling, and pest control. They build impressive physical structures and intricate family and community arrangements.
I was not a fan of the author's imagined dinner conversation with Aristotle, the great philosopher. He was selected since he provided early insights into the nature and biology of wasps. During the course of the conversation the author corrected his errors and wondered at his quick grasp of the issues involved. It felt a little too "cute" for my liking. Sorry.
Otherwise, the book serves as a great introduction to wasps as a part of the ecosystem, and to the unique biology of these and related insects.
I was not a fan of the author's imagined dinner conversation with Aristotle, the great philosopher. He was selected since he provided early insights into the nature and biology of wasps. During the course of the conversation the author corrected his errors and wondered at his quick grasp of the issues involved. It felt a little too "cute" for my liking. Sorry.
Otherwise, the book serves as a great introduction to wasps as a part of the ecosystem, and to the unique biology of these and related insects.
December 4, 2025
4.5 rounded down to 4.
An incredibly detailed (I loved it but maybe a little too much for non-insect enthusiasts?) account of wasps - their ecology, evolution, behavior, and socio-economic importance described in all its gore!
Wasps are some of the most diverse group of animals on earth and have incredible variation in their behavior and ecology. Other than being an eco-evolutionary tour de force (e.g., evolution of sociality etc.), they serve as important pest removers, pollinators and even possible sources of antibiotics and other chemical cocktails that are important to humans, but these creatures are extremely understudied. This book tries to remediate that. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did!
PS: The writing was good but was a bit winding at times - and sometimes the style changed a bit between chapters.
An incredibly detailed (I loved it but maybe a little too much for non-insect enthusiasts?) account of wasps - their ecology, evolution, behavior, and socio-economic importance described in all its gore!
Wasps are some of the most diverse group of animals on earth and have incredible variation in their behavior and ecology. Other than being an eco-evolutionary tour de force (e.g., evolution of sociality etc.), they serve as important pest removers, pollinators and even possible sources of antibiotics and other chemical cocktails that are important to humans, but these creatures are extremely understudied. This book tries to remediate that. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did!
PS: The writing was good but was a bit winding at times - and sometimes the style changed a bit between chapters.
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