Insects-and-Relatives Books

I bought this book for my 8 year old nephew who has a serious interest in bugs. While the book would be good for a wide range of age and interest levels, it was particularly gratifying to find a well-written book for a smart kid. The illustrations are excellent, and the material thoughtful and well-compiled. A good book for any child to read on their own, or with a parent (or an aunt).

You won't believe what you read in this book. To think that there were once bugs SO BIG crawling and flying around this earth. Spiny things, brightly colored things ... if you've had a chance to hear author Camper talk about her great bug models, well, that's a treat. If you have, I bet you've bought this book. If you haven't, then you should read the book for the best information about an amazing group of entomylogical wonders. Well researched, it's a worthwhile book for any bookshelf.

This is a science book for children that has real scientific content. Parents who appreciate a children's book that is based on solid research, and reflects the latest ideas in entomology, paleontology, geology, and other related fields, will enjoy this book as much as their children. Although the reading level is set at 9-12 years, I would recommend it for parents of children aged 7-9 who like to read together with their children. The author lives in Minnesota, where as Garrison Keilor says, all the children are above average. She must be writing for young Minnesotans.

This book fills a long-neglected space on the shelf in the library where I work.There has been so much written for children about dinosaurs and so little about the "smaller" inhabitants of the prehistoric world. The author's text is wonderful. It is a challenge to make "dry" facts fun for kids to read.The artist's images are vivid and pleasing to the eye. This book does not stay on the shelf long. The kids grab it as soon as it comes in!
Kids who love bugs will love this book! Get this title for your library.I promise you will not be disappointed.

This is the best book! I teach elementary school students, and they love it. Ms. Camper has hit on the perfect topic for kids: giant insects and dinosaurs. "Bugs Before Time" is filled with vivid illustrations to complement the fun and highly informed text. Even two sentences can inspire long and lively conversations in class. It's a joy to see my students so excited.
My students, who happen to be learning English as a second language, are eager to read this and they even take it home to enjoy. I couldn't think of a greater success for an educational publication.
This is everything a science book should be: alive, witty, and inspiring. It is a pleasure for adults, too, and makes me want to learn even more. Cheers!!

I am very pleased with this text, as an up and coming fisheries biologist, I hope to use it in my future.

This book is very detailed and gives accurate descriptions of all aquatic insects. The pictures with in each chapter also depict what the specimen look like. With all the information on the aquatic insects that is provide by this book it would be hard to believe that there is a better book out there.

This book is amazingly beautiful. The illustrations alone make it worth the money. As an aquatic entomologist who teaches an aquatic entomology lab to college students, I find this book to be an invaluable source of high quality images for use in my classes. The pictorial keys are also very helpful - they are very easy to follow and make it almost a simplistic task for a lay person to identify aquatic insects down to the family level. Some of these keys are a little outdated since publication of the book, but they are still helpful for the most part.

My only complaint with this book is that it doesn't go into as much scientific detail as is necessary for a serious student of entomology. Still, this isn't meant to be a textbook or an identification manual for complex identifications lower than the family level. If the book is used as intended by fishermen and ecologists, this is a very helpful book.

And did I mention the ilustrations are amazing?

This is a must have for fly fishermen looking to study entomology as it applies to fishing and fly tying. I saw this book at my local Orvis store (reference only) and one look told me I needed it in my library. The plates and drawings are fantastic. This is a detailed study, but not over the head of most fly fishermen. Match it with Gary Lafontaine's "Caddisflies", Shane Stalcup's "Mayflies - Top to Bottom" and/or Dave Hugh's "Matching Mayflies" and you have the start of a good entomology library for fly fishermen.
Aquatic Entomology even has sections marked by a small image of a tied fly, which are of special interest to the fisherman. Get this book!!

Are we talking about Jaws?

Nope. Bugs.

And not just any bugs. These bad boys are terrifying.

For instance we learn about the larvae of the spongilla (rhymes with Godzilla) fly. These "soft-bodied, bristled forms" are equipped with "mouthparts...highly modified into a needle like sucking apparatus".

Yikes! What do these things suck on???

Then there is the giant water bug (Family Belostommatidae) complete with raptorial forelegs with one or two claws each. Clearly excited by these revolting monsters, the author writes, "These spectacular bugs are also known colloquially by several names: (1) fish killers, because they are voracious and will attack small fishes and other small animals such as ducklings; (2) electric light bugs, because dispersing adults are often attracted to lights at night, often far from water; and (3) toe biters, for obvious reasons".

OK - you're beginning to get the idea.

There are 448 pages of this stuff, complete with magnified illustrations and a lurid set of overly lifelike color plates, astoundingly introduced with a quotation from the poem Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins ("Glory to God for dappled things...").

It must be said that this book contains much entomological science (of interest to I'm not sure whom), as well as tidbits of information that will add to the arsenal of the most committed of fly fishermen only.

Recommended for these constituencies - otherwise open at your own risk.