Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World - Softcover

Leeches, fire ants, dragonflies and mosquitoes; slime eels, giant squids, earthworms and fleas--this gallery of creepy-crawlies is enough to give anyone nightmares. Yet in his new book, Spineless Wonders, author Richard Conniff succeeds in making his subjects interesting if not exactly attractive. Conniff, a journalist, knows all too well that most people do not share his admiration for the invertebrates of the world, and so he sets out to demonstrate just what marvels of engineering they really are. From discussions of just how these creatures are made and how they survive, he goes on to tell stories about the people who study them. From the scientist who ate the only known specimen of a new species to the leech-farmer in Wales, Conniff paints a vivid picture of invertebrates and the people who love them, making even that slime eel seem almost appealing.

Bugs, bugs, bugs. But what do you know about them, other than that some of them make your skin crawl? Here in the safe remove of narrator Richard M. Davidson's crisp, timed, dramatic reading are the wonderful and weird facts journalist Richard Conniff has gathered about such invertebrates as leeches, moths, fire ants, tarantulas and other spiders, squid, wasps, worms and grubs. Davidson's is the perfect voice for Conniff's hilarious report from down under in the bugs' world. Davidson reports that Conniff found the common medicinal leech had more "inherent dignity and complexity" than any member of the New Jersey board of free-holders. The humor never lets up, and our view of nature is turned upside down. No wildlife lover--whether serious biologist or curious layperson--should pass up this version of life around us. It's as if the Marx Brothers wereinterpreting Darwin for us, except it's all true. D.W.H. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine