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Fireflies, Honey, and Silk
The ink our ancestors wrote with, the beeswax in altar candles, the honey on our toast, the silk we wear. This enchanting book is a highly entertaining exploration of the myriad ways insects have enriched our lives–culturally, economically, and aesthetically. Entomologist and writer Gilbert Waldbauer describes in loving, colorful detail how many of the valuable products insects have given us are made, how they were discovered, and how they have been used through time and across cultures. Along the way, he takes us on a captivating ramble through many far-flung corners of history, mythology, poetry, literature, medicine, ecology, forensics, and more. Enlivened with personal anecdotes from Waldbauer's distinguished career as an entomologist, the book also describes surprising everyday encounters we all experience that were made possible by insects. From butterfly gardens and fly-fishing to insects as jewelry and sex pheromones, this is an eye-opening ode to the wonder of insects that illuminates our extraordinary and essential relationship with the natural world.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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188 people want to read
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May 29, 2017
According to entomologist Gilbert Waldbauer, humans have long seen insects as frightful pests and have, therefore, taken them for granted for centuries. From the sweet nectar of honeybees to the cheerful song of the cricket, insects enrich our lives in myriad ways. In Fireflies, Honey, and Silk, Waldbauer explores the many wonderful ways humans have benefited from insects and reveals the vital role insects play in ensuring the survival of all life on Earth.
Most people are seldom aware of the many insects around them. They do take notice of mosquitoes, house flies, cockroaches, and other annoying insects. But to their own detriment, and to the detriment of humanity’s collective ecological conscience, they unthinkingly assume that all other insects are boring or, even worse, repulsive and pestiferous.
Waldbauer begins with a look at more popular insects, some that are favored by most people and others “that humans have only grudgingly come to appreciate or admire,” beginning with ladybirds (also known as ladybugs), then moving on to one of the most beloved of all insects: butterflies. Interestingly enough, he reveals that in some parts of the world, butterflies have been thought of as “symbols of the souls of the dead, or even the incarnation of the souls themselves.” Waldbauer also discusses dragonflies and fireflies before transitioning to lesser appreciated insects like ants, cotton boll weevils, wooly bear caterpillars, mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. Strangely, he includes fleas on the list of appreciated insects on the premise that fleas were a source of humor in 1579, when a flea landed on the bosom of a beautiful woman and became the envy of every man in the room; and of poetry, citing Jon Donne’s seventeenth century poem, “The Flea.” He tops this off with a mediocre, “risqué” joke about two fleas on a voluptuous woman that was trendy when he was in graduate school.
One day, as night was falling, the fleas when their separate ways to find a cozy place to sleep. When they met the next morning, they asked each other if they had found comfortable shelters. One said that it had slept in a deep valley between two large, round mountains. The other said it wandered into a dense and tangled forest and had slept in a cozy shelter that I had better not mention.
Several chapters are dedicated to insects considered “materially beneficial” because they create a tangible product that humans put to use for financial gain, such as the luxurious silk fibers of silkworms or the golden sweet honey made by bees. In each case, Waldbauer reveals some of the earliest known uses of certain insect-related products. For example, the brilliant red dye, produced by drying and crushing the bodies of the chochineal insect, was used by the Aztecs in 1519 to dye their cloaks.
In some cases, insects themselves have been the source of monetary benefit. Egyptians, Waldbauer points out, rendered jewelry to look like the scarab beetle, which has continued to be the inspiration for jewelry designs for centuries. Egyptians also put beeswax to use with regularity to make “mummies of their embalmed dead by wrapping their bodies in multiple layers of linen cloth that had been soaked with molten beeswax.” Beeswax, the byproduct of bees building the hexagonal cells within their hives, has been a precious commodity for millennia. Though insects are often seen as pests, clearly the byproducts they create are utilized by humans to great effect and benefit, such as “candles made of beeswax; shellac made from lac, the secretion of certain scale insects; and, the sealing wax composed of a mixture of beeswax and lac.”
Humans can also thank insects for paper and ink. The silken walls of communal insect nests were pulled from trees and used as a writing surface in prehistoric and historic times. And while neither insects or their byproducts are used in the making of paper, much inspiration for how paper ought to be made was derived from the techniques employed by insects to build their nests, or so Waldbauer believes.
There are two theories to explain how the Chinese learned to make paper. [. . .] The other theory, which I favor for an obvious reason, is that the discovery was made by watching hornets or other colonial paper-making wasps masticate wood fibers into a pulp that they mixed with their saliva to make the paper of which their nests are composed.
Of greater intrigue is the earliest means of producing ink, for which the tiny gall wasp takes center stage. Waldbauer provides a full account of humans being confused for centuries over the origin of the “tumorlike growths” (called galls) the gall wasp produces. An extract made from galls has long been “the most important ingredient of most permanent inks.”
Whether Waldbauer is introducing insects routinely eaten as sweet or savory treats, emphasizing the ways insects have been employed – in many cases, wrongly – in the practice of medicine, or highlighting how insects have been favored as pets and performers, he relies heavily on the work of other entomologists and scientists to fill the pages of his book. He sometimes neglects to properly introduce important details of the people he mentions, such as their credentials, field of profession, or the title of their published book. He makes very few entomological contributions of his own, resulting in a book that reads like a compilation of facts delivered by a teenager who rushed to compose his research paper the night before it was due.
Waldbauer quotes or paraphrases the work of others, making use of quotations marks (when needed) and giving credit where credit is due, but he doesn’t use superscripted numbers that coincide with a numbered list at the back of the book, nor does he use citations linked to a bibliography; instead, people referenced in his book are listed at the back of the book in order by last name, broken down by chapter. This is not a source of great offense, but the unorthodox format is sometimes difficult to use in an expeditious manner.
Another oddity is Waldbauer’s insistence on citing the Christian Bible to either reinforce scientific facts (such as his suggestion that God “confounded” the language of humans after they attempted to build the tower of Babel, as evidenced, according to Waldbauer, by the science writer Andrew Lawler stating that almost seven thousand languages exist in the world) or to inject his opinion of certain insect-related matters, such as the Western prejudice against eating insects, to which Waldbauer reacts, “Even in the face of starvation, the American farmers – ignoring the words of their Bibles – did not consider eating locusts."
A few illustrations of insects are provided, penned by artist James Nardi. Pictures would have been helpful to increase reader interest and provide helpful visuals to ease reader comprehension of insects they may be unfamiliar with. Illustrations could potentially act as a suitable substitute for pictures but, unfortunately, Nardi’s creations are too rudimentary to be of much use.
Though it contains an alluring array of insect-related facts, Fireflies, Honey, and Silk reads less like an informative, science-based book written by a professional entomologist and more like a research paper poorly compiled by a hobbyist.
Most people are seldom aware of the many insects around them. They do take notice of mosquitoes, house flies, cockroaches, and other annoying insects. But to their own detriment, and to the detriment of humanity’s collective ecological conscience, they unthinkingly assume that all other insects are boring or, even worse, repulsive and pestiferous.
Waldbauer begins with a look at more popular insects, some that are favored by most people and others “that humans have only grudgingly come to appreciate or admire,” beginning with ladybirds (also known as ladybugs), then moving on to one of the most beloved of all insects: butterflies. Interestingly enough, he reveals that in some parts of the world, butterflies have been thought of as “symbols of the souls of the dead, or even the incarnation of the souls themselves.” Waldbauer also discusses dragonflies and fireflies before transitioning to lesser appreciated insects like ants, cotton boll weevils, wooly bear caterpillars, mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. Strangely, he includes fleas on the list of appreciated insects on the premise that fleas were a source of humor in 1579, when a flea landed on the bosom of a beautiful woman and became the envy of every man in the room; and of poetry, citing Jon Donne’s seventeenth century poem, “The Flea.” He tops this off with a mediocre, “risqué” joke about two fleas on a voluptuous woman that was trendy when he was in graduate school.
One day, as night was falling, the fleas when their separate ways to find a cozy place to sleep. When they met the next morning, they asked each other if they had found comfortable shelters. One said that it had slept in a deep valley between two large, round mountains. The other said it wandered into a dense and tangled forest and had slept in a cozy shelter that I had better not mention.
Several chapters are dedicated to insects considered “materially beneficial” because they create a tangible product that humans put to use for financial gain, such as the luxurious silk fibers of silkworms or the golden sweet honey made by bees. In each case, Waldbauer reveals some of the earliest known uses of certain insect-related products. For example, the brilliant red dye, produced by drying and crushing the bodies of the chochineal insect, was used by the Aztecs in 1519 to dye their cloaks.
In some cases, insects themselves have been the source of monetary benefit. Egyptians, Waldbauer points out, rendered jewelry to look like the scarab beetle, which has continued to be the inspiration for jewelry designs for centuries. Egyptians also put beeswax to use with regularity to make “mummies of their embalmed dead by wrapping their bodies in multiple layers of linen cloth that had been soaked with molten beeswax.” Beeswax, the byproduct of bees building the hexagonal cells within their hives, has been a precious commodity for millennia. Though insects are often seen as pests, clearly the byproducts they create are utilized by humans to great effect and benefit, such as “candles made of beeswax; shellac made from lac, the secretion of certain scale insects; and, the sealing wax composed of a mixture of beeswax and lac.”
Humans can also thank insects for paper and ink. The silken walls of communal insect nests were pulled from trees and used as a writing surface in prehistoric and historic times. And while neither insects or their byproducts are used in the making of paper, much inspiration for how paper ought to be made was derived from the techniques employed by insects to build their nests, or so Waldbauer believes.
There are two theories to explain how the Chinese learned to make paper. [. . .] The other theory, which I favor for an obvious reason, is that the discovery was made by watching hornets or other colonial paper-making wasps masticate wood fibers into a pulp that they mixed with their saliva to make the paper of which their nests are composed.
Of greater intrigue is the earliest means of producing ink, for which the tiny gall wasp takes center stage. Waldbauer provides a full account of humans being confused for centuries over the origin of the “tumorlike growths” (called galls) the gall wasp produces. An extract made from galls has long been “the most important ingredient of most permanent inks.”
Whether Waldbauer is introducing insects routinely eaten as sweet or savory treats, emphasizing the ways insects have been employed – in many cases, wrongly – in the practice of medicine, or highlighting how insects have been favored as pets and performers, he relies heavily on the work of other entomologists and scientists to fill the pages of his book. He sometimes neglects to properly introduce important details of the people he mentions, such as their credentials, field of profession, or the title of their published book. He makes very few entomological contributions of his own, resulting in a book that reads like a compilation of facts delivered by a teenager who rushed to compose his research paper the night before it was due.
Waldbauer quotes or paraphrases the work of others, making use of quotations marks (when needed) and giving credit where credit is due, but he doesn’t use superscripted numbers that coincide with a numbered list at the back of the book, nor does he use citations linked to a bibliography; instead, people referenced in his book are listed at the back of the book in order by last name, broken down by chapter. This is not a source of great offense, but the unorthodox format is sometimes difficult to use in an expeditious manner.
Another oddity is Waldbauer’s insistence on citing the Christian Bible to either reinforce scientific facts (such as his suggestion that God “confounded” the language of humans after they attempted to build the tower of Babel, as evidenced, according to Waldbauer, by the science writer Andrew Lawler stating that almost seven thousand languages exist in the world) or to inject his opinion of certain insect-related matters, such as the Western prejudice against eating insects, to which Waldbauer reacts, “Even in the face of starvation, the American farmers – ignoring the words of their Bibles – did not consider eating locusts."
A few illustrations of insects are provided, penned by artist James Nardi. Pictures would have been helpful to increase reader interest and provide helpful visuals to ease reader comprehension of insects they may be unfamiliar with. Illustrations could potentially act as a suitable substitute for pictures but, unfortunately, Nardi’s creations are too rudimentary to be of much use.
Though it contains an alluring array of insect-related facts, Fireflies, Honey, and Silk reads less like an informative, science-based book written by a professional entomologist and more like a research paper poorly compiled by a hobbyist.
April 23, 2017
Quite interesting. Very simply written. The illustrations didn't really add much for me, however.
December 28, 2022
Covers many examples of how humans benefit from insects. I definitely learned some things but it was a bit slow. The design of this hardcover is fantastic - my favorite part is probably the endpapers with the embossed honeycomb pattern.
July 8, 2012
I should point out that I'm not a bug person. The more accurate statement is that I freak the heck out when I encounter a bug. Any bug.
There's usually screaming.
And I *loved* this book. I learned so much from it: how awesome (really!) maggots are at debriding wounds (they will eat only decaying cells and not healthy cells), how silkworms are harvested and turned into silk thread, how ink was made from oak galls, how the most brilliant red dye came from insects who ate agave (and how the Aztecs, then Spaniards, made a bundle on harvesting them).
It's truly a delightful ramble through the world of insects and our interactions with them. I can't imagine a person who wouldn't enjoy reading this. It almost -- almost -- made me want to try some of the french fried caterpillars mentioned in the chapter on edible insects.
There's usually screaming.
And I *loved* this book. I learned so much from it: how awesome (really!) maggots are at debriding wounds (they will eat only decaying cells and not healthy cells), how silkworms are harvested and turned into silk thread, how ink was made from oak galls, how the most brilliant red dye came from insects who ate agave (and how the Aztecs, then Spaniards, made a bundle on harvesting them).
It's truly a delightful ramble through the world of insects and our interactions with them. I can't imagine a person who wouldn't enjoy reading this. It almost -- almost -- made me want to try some of the french fried caterpillars mentioned in the chapter on edible insects.
April 11, 2012
This book is really a delightful series of vignettes covering a variety of insects seen as beneficial to humans. Beneficial, as used here, covers the beautiful light of fireflies and the pleasing sounds of crickets to the sumptuousness of silk and the sweetness of honey...not to mention the wound cleansing power of maggot-therapy! I have an interest in entomology (both personal and professional) and this book did teach me many new factoids. However, this is not a book with a true plot or even a tight conversational thread. It is a neat diversion especially if you have an interest in the natural world...an easy read.
August 27, 2010
"The insects we like" are presented in this book in a very NOVA special kind of way, which I liked. The author could have spent a little less text telling the audience what he planned to tell later, and the personal anecdotes could have been integrated more fluidly with fact, but the book was both interesting and enjoyable. I especially liked the way Waldbauer included the original Japanese text of poems he translated to demonstrate people's long held good feeling to certain insects; it added authenticity.
The facts about these insects were well presented and fascinating. Many--like maggots cleaning wounds, crickets being lucky in China, and cochineal dye being valuable to conquistadors--were things I consider common knowledge, but many more--like ant pincers being used to close wounds, silk worms being eaten after silk is extracted, and the scientific studies proving honey's curative powers--were very interesting to learn. While Waldbauer never actually makes the argument that we should eat lower on the food chain, it is clearly presented. I am torn between being grossed out and finding a specialty foods store.
The facts about these insects were well presented and fascinating. Many--like maggots cleaning wounds, crickets being lucky in China, and cochineal dye being valuable to conquistadors--were things I consider common knowledge, but many more--like ant pincers being used to close wounds, silk worms being eaten after silk is extracted, and the scientific studies proving honey's curative powers--were very interesting to learn. While Waldbauer never actually makes the argument that we should eat lower on the food chain, it is clearly presented. I am torn between being grossed out and finding a specialty foods store.
March 29, 2010
Fireflies, Honey, and Silk by Gilbert Waldbauer is a pleasant natural history book about insects and some of the ways in which they are directly used by and benefit humans. Some of the insect-based products discussed include dyes, honey, silk, waxes, and shellac. Waldbauer also discusses other historic and current uses of insects such as for food, decoration or entertainment (i.e. fighting crickets, flea circuses etc.).
The book is structured somewhat disjointedly in which chapters are centered on a central theme (honey for example), but the paragraphs jump from one line of thought to another with no attempt at connecting them. This gives the book an almanac-like quality which is neither bad nor good; it just takes a little getting used to. It does make the book easy to pick up and put down since the quick changes in subject matter make for natural breaks.
The book is structured somewhat disjointedly in which chapters are centered on a central theme (honey for example), but the paragraphs jump from one line of thought to another with no attempt at connecting them. This gives the book an almanac-like quality which is neither bad nor good; it just takes a little getting used to. It does make the book easy to pick up and put down since the quick changes in subject matter make for natural breaks.
February 13, 2010
This book is a series of engaging, entertaining essays about the ways in which insects impact our lives now and in the past. Some incredible information was included. I was fascinated about how silk is created by the silk worms and how it is harvested for human use. The essay on the honeybee was equally informative--especially the explanation on how the bees heat and cool their hives. And where, oh where, are the honey bees going? However, the information about how many insect eggs and parts are legally allowed to be in our food and the importance of the emerging science of "maggot therapy" should not be read while eating lunch at your desk. A really good read and a fascinating look at the importance of insects and their vital place in our environment.
February 10, 2016
Well I rated this book 4/5 even though the writing is not very good. What appealed to me about the book, besides the fact that it's really interesting subject matter, was the silky feel of the cover; the thick, nice quality paper; the honeycomb-embossed front page. The writing was mediocre, at best, however. The author is a retired professor who is clearly highly inspired by his field of interest (entomology) but the book is kind of written like a freshman. Regardless, the information is well stated and interesting (to me a least). I'm not sure if I'd recommend this book but I will tell everyone what I learned from it and be a total know-it-all about bees and ladybugs.
June 30, 2010
I thought this book would be a little more in-depth, but overall it was pretty interesting. My biggest problem is that the author kept quoting sources from the 1800s and early 1900s as if they were written last year. Confusing, and misleading, since I can't believe that cultural practices are exactly the same or as widespread as they used to be. I'm sure some people are still gathering locust eggs or whatever, but is it really still on the same scale? I would have liked to have seen more current information on the topic, and for the historical information to be clearly marked.
March 5, 2013
A gentle stroll through the insect landscape, the ones we like, that is: bees, ladybugs, fireflies, silkworms. Not cutting edge science, but pleasant enough. What I liked best about the book? The endpapers were blind stamped honeycombs. Lovely. A more compelling read might have been about the insects we hate the most. I have a weakness for those fifties insect-fear films, and I suspect that there are bugs in nature far more terrifying than Mothra or Them.
May 22, 2016
This was a such a good book! Lots of interesting details that I hadn't heard before. I loved how many insects were covered and with explanations of their uses. This is also a book you could read again and again as there is so much information.
April 3, 2010
I couldn't get into it. Way too scattered for me to find something to latch onto.
April 20, 2010
Interesting book about the beneficial relationships between certain insects and humans....a little dry, though.
June 19, 2015
This delightful book brings together basic entomology, natural history and human culture into a series of vinyetts. Highly recommended.
May 6, 2016
Accessible and interesting! Thoughtfully written.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews